Rotarians meet Paul Harris every day:

As the header photo above indicates, in July a number of District 7600 Rotarians visited Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston to learn more about Rotary operations, The Rotary Foundation, and membership status in Rotary International.  Dana Rieves, the District Communication Officer, took some notes during the visit and composed this short article below.

I had the pleasure of visiting Rotary International Headquarters with the District 7600 delegation in July.  We had a lot of fun and fellowship, but we also leaned a great deal about Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation in the briefings given to is by the Rotary International staff.  

The Rotary Foundation:

Only 7% of Rotarians belong to the Paul Harris Society, but these proud Rotary Donors contribute 44% of the total giving to The Rotary Foundation.  Grants are a growing component of the Foundation and of all of the global grants submitted to the Foundation only 11% are declined.

Membership:

Membership:  There are 1.2 million Rotarians worldwide in over 35,000 clubs.  Female membership is at 21 – 22%.  Overall, there is a member retention rate of 88 – 90%.  Satellite clubs are a growing concept in Rotary and it requires only 8 members to start a satellite club which is affiliated with a home club.

Rotary International Operations:

Rotary International:  Headquartered in Evanston, Illinois, RI employs 520 staff members, many of whom are Rotarians, themselves.  RI has been hard at work revamping some features of rotary.org and now if you visit My Rotary, you will find an updated, more user-friendly interface.  There is an updated club brochure template and an updated club ad template.  Also, what was previously known as the Presidential Citation is now known as the Rotary Citation. There are also lots of goodies to buy at shop.rotary.org.

And how did I meet Paul Harris?  Well, he didn’t move fast enough!