Rotary District 5950


April 2008

57 Clubs Participate In Pets:
Fifty-two Presidents-Elect and 21 other future club presidents attended the President-Elect Training Seminar on March 14 and 15.

Ten Ways To Grow Your Club:
Attracting qualified Rotary members is an important task. Membership Director Greg Krauska offers 10 ways to attract those men and women.

District PR Campaign
Kicks Off:
To raise awareness for Rotary and attract new, qualified members, this month the District will launch a public relations campaign dubbed “It’s Not (Just) Your Father’s Rotary.”

View this Newsletter on The District 5950 website.

Comments or questions? Contact the District Executive Secretary Diane Confer. diane@rotary5950.org





Hey Rotarians!

What a GREAT year to be a Rotarian!!! As always, I am proud to be your District Governor. I am currently doing second visits to clubs for special events, recognition days, new member inductions, Foundation info or guest days. I am available to help your club with whatever you need! Contact me at tlaurent@tlaurent.com.

Some highlights of the year thus far:
  • The Rotary Foundation received a $100 million matching gift from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the eradication of polio.
  • Our District is well on its way to our $1 million goal for The Rotary Foundation. We're about halfway there, with many clubs just beginning their focus on their giving for the year.
  • We have had 40 of our 60 clubs participate in an international service project of some sort. YEAH!!!
  • We are well on our way to reaching our $1 million goal for gifts to the Rotary Bequest Society for the year. Anyone wishing to add Rotary to their estate plan or will can be a member of the Bequest Society. (Send me an email for the application, tlaurent@tlaurent.com).
What's Left?
  • We have the Group Study Exchange Team coming from Finland in mid-April. Unfortunately, they cannot visit all the clubs that have requested them, but you will all have a chance to meet them at the District Conference.
  • All the clubs are working on building their leadership teams for next year. Do you have yours in place?
My Quote of the Month:

"Life's meaning comes from serving a cause greater than one's self."
   From Viktor Frankl's 1946 book Man's Search for Meaning

Rotary Rocks!!!



57 Clubs Participate In PETS

By Chris Holm
District Governor-Elect

Fifty-two Presidents-Elect (2008-09) and 21 other future club presidents (2009-2010) attended the President-Elect Training Seminar on March 14 and 15.
This 24-session marathon covered all of the key components that make successful clubs. The program was designed specifically to provide a platform upon which next year's Presidents could establish goals for their clubs, and then develop the strategies to carry them out.

Next year's Rotary International President, D. K. Lee from Korea, has set the theme for the year as "Make Dreams Real," especially for children ages 5 and under. Today, 30,000 children under the age of 5 die every day, and most of them unnecessarily. Six thousand die every day from waterborne diseases, 16,000 die due to malnutrition and 2,500 die because their parents did not know how to take care of them or they were fatally injured because of a lack of proper birthing procedures. The others die not because nobody can help them, but because no one does.

My theme for the District will be "Service," because this is what Rotarians do best. We do polio eradication, safe water, health and hunger, and literacy projects better than any other group - be it non-profit or governmental organization - in the world. This is our strength. We must play from this advantage!

Rotarians need to realize we are "local service clubs with local and international reach." We need to continue to concentrate on our strengths, especially overseas. At the same time, we need to be aware of the problems that are just as big, right here in our own communities. We need to help the kids and partner with community groups that are working with our youth to help better their lives.

My goals for our 60 clubs next year are as follows:
  1. Have Fun!
  2. Send at least one Rotarian on a World Community Service Trip.
  3. Complete a new community service project.
  4. Sustain and grow membership by at least one net person.
  5. Donate to The Rotary Foundation what you pledge (a minimum of $200 per member, per club).
  6. Make sure at least one club member participates on a District committee.
If a Club does one through five, it will qualify for the Presidential Citation!

My goals for the District are:
  1. Develop the District communication system so that it works well.
  2. Develop leaders for the Clubs and District.
  3. Have productive, efficient and effective District leadership events.
Your club Presidents-Elect came home tired, but inspired. They know that if they do their jobs to help your club leaders plan your club's year, put the right leaders in place to execute your club plans, and raise enough money to execute your club's plan, then we all will succeed in making our local and international communities better places to live.

Our job is to work together, one club with another, to do what is needed. We don't care who gets the credit. Our job is to Make Dreams Real. We will turn the dreams of a safe and happy childhood - a childhood that becomes a long and healthy life - into a reality, because all of the world's children are our children

Let's Make Dreams Real for all the children of the World!



Ten Ways To Grow Your Club

By Greg Krauska
Membership Director

This month, I would like to share 10 solid ideas for growing your club:
  1. Make your guests feel welcome. It may sound obvious, but it is important that members welcome guests, without appearing too desperate. You don't ask people to marry you on the first date. Take time to get to know your visitors before you get too aggressive.
  2. Ask qualified candidates to join. The operative word here is "qualified." Of all of the people you know, who would make you the proudest if they were to join? Whom would others be most proud of?
  3. Engage new members quickly. Don't hand out committee assignments like homework. Find out your new members' talents and interests and offer them options. Give them a chance to succeed early, not just work.
  4. Print a brochure. Most likely, you would not try to sell most services without well-organized information to help impress your customer and make them feel good about their decision. Take the effort to put together a good brochure. It will make it easier for your members to invite guests, too.
  5. Create a website. In District 5950, you are 60 percent more likely to be a growing club if you have a website. If you want people to find you and to get a good first impression, create a great website. When you do, test it on 10 non-members to get their impressions.
  6. Create a clear process. Give your current members and your potential members a clear idea of how you welcome new members into the club to help them get connected. Recognize that new members won't likely connect if they aren't outgoing. But make your induction and integration process clear and welcoming.
  7. Create "be my guest cards." Print a simple, two-sided business card with a reminder of what your club stands for, when you meet, where you meet, etc. The best way to use this card is to hand-write a letter to a person to let them know that you are considering them for membership and would like to explore how Rotary might fit. Don't just give away free lunch cards. It devalues Rotary.
  8. Put on an Open House. Chanhassen grew from 30 to 56 members in less than three years by identifying the blocks to new members getting connected into Rotary. The Open House was a great way to do it, but it has to be done well to work. Contact me for a "playbook" on how to run an Open House.
  9. Recruit in groups. What if you identified all new members this year as the "Class of 2008?" Give them special recognition and perhaps a special project to help them learn how your club works.
  10. Create an emerging leader fellowship. Do you offer a great opportunity to guide and mentor younger members? If so, create a fellowship program for new members age 30-35 where you sponsor their membership for their first 3 years.
What is the key to making good use of these ideas? It is HOW you do them. Be clear about what your club is about. Think from a non-member point of view. Think from a 30-year old point of view. Make things easy for your members and your next members. Be curious and interested. Don't be too eager.

Attracting qualified Rotary members is an important task. You are not selling Rotary. You are asking people to become engaged in a very special organization. This is a mutual commitment to greatness.


District Public Relations Campaign To Kick Off In April

By Jennifer Bennerotte
PR Director

To raise awareness for Rotary and attract new, qualified members, this month the District will launch a public relations campaign dubbed "It's Not (Just) Your Father's Rotary."
The campaign will include newspaper advertisements and billboards around the District. More than 55 newspaper advertisements have been placed, so you are sure to see at least one part of the campaign locally. See/download the ad.

Help the District's reach of the campaign by adding to it! The Rotary Club of Edina is sponsoring a "Women In Leadership" award in its community. Only women who are not currently Rotarians are eligible for the award. (In other words, only prospective members are eligible for the recognition!) Smaller, less time-consuming initiatives to support the campaign include:

  1. Hold an "invite a woman" or "invite a Gen-Xer" Day (or something similar) as one of your club meetings during the month of April.
  2. Hold an Open House.
  3. Pay for placement of the ad to run a second or third time in your local newspaper. Depending on the newspaper's circulation, most of the ads cost $200 to $400 per insertion.
  4. Place the ad in your members' company or church newsletters.
  5. Run high-resolution color photocopies or prints of the ad and place it on bulletin boards around your community. Public bulletin boards are usually available at churches, schools, coffee shops, service stations and other community gathering spots.
  6. Visit the Rotary International website and order copies of the Humanity in Motion public service announcements, video or print materials. Give copies to your local newspaper, cable television station or radio station. Ask them to use them as public service announcements whenever they have space to fill.
If you have any other ideas or questions about how to implement an exciting addition to the campaign, please write to me at jbennerotte@ci.edina.mn.us.


Upcoming Events

10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, April 25, Leadership Academy, at Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center. Wish you were a better public speaker, a better leader, a better motivator? This session is for you. Cost is $50. (The district will subsidize you if needed. Contact me at tlaurent@tlaurent.com)

Friday, April 25 through Sunday, April 27, District Conference. This is for ALL Rotarians in the District. Its main purpose is to have FUN with other Rotarians. We have fabulous speakers, including motivational speakers, a comedian, an entrepreneur, and a few Rotary-oriented speakers. Bring the whole family. In addition to the water park for the kids, we have campfires, pizza parties and some other stuff planned!

To register, go to www.rotary5950.com. The conference is FREE. You need to register for meals and your hotel room.

We are asking each club to donate a gift basket for a silent auction at the conference. Proceeds are going to Polio Plus Partners. Fill the basket with fun things from your club. For example, the Shakopee basket might include free passes to Valleyfair, free rounds of golf at Stonebrooke Golf Course and a bottle of wine from Winestyles. Be creative!

7 a.m. Saturday, May 3, District Assembly. This is for ALL leadership positions in your club as well as new members who just want to learn "What's Rotary all about?" There are breakout sessions on Community Service, Club Service, Membership, Foundation and International Service; the positions of Secretary and President-Elect; and more!

Sunday, June 15 through Wednesday, June 18, Rotary International Conference in Los Angeles. This is a fabulous experience. Many of our clubs send their Presidents-Elect to this event. We normally have 30-60 people from our District attend the convention. For help with reservations and more information, contact Michael Cavitt at cavitt@inav.net. To register go to www.rotary2008.com.


View this Newsletter on The District 5950 website by clicking here.