Home What We Do For Rotary Clubs Empower the Family Formula For World Peace Contact Us

For Rotary Clubs

 

A service project that recharges member enthusiasm is like finding the tallest and strongest tree in the forest.  It is exhilarating!  Every district governor has a club or two, or more, with challenges.  Empower the Family provides nine benefits impacting your club and community  These benefits overcome nine common leadership challenges facing many Rotary clubs.


Benefit Impact
 
or
 
Leadership Challenge
 


Benefit Impact #1
Enthusiasm
The Empower the Family project:

  • Recognizes and honors exemplary community families and family members.

  • Develops working relationships with other preliminary organizations.

These activities create a new role for the club which renews club member esprit de corps.
 

or


Leadership Challenge #1
Apathy



Club members are apathetic.
 Interest in, and energy for Rotary is low.


Benefit Impact #2
Relationships

  • Family

  • Church

  • School

  • Government

  • Business

  • The Media

And, individuals within these organizations
 

or


Leadership Challenge #2
Relevance

Service above self often lacks understanding and relevance in the fast pace of the information age.  To the new generation, Rotary is a 20th Century relic.
 

 


Benefit Impact #3
Winning Team

People in their early and mid-stages of life's career want to be identified with a winning team or organization.  For example, children receiving an art or other award at school melts the hears of parents.  Empower the Family does that.  Such activities attract younger service-minded parents to become Rotarians.

 

or


Leadership Challenge #3
Lack of Youth

The club is unable to attract younger members and must
rely upon the "old stalwarts."
 

 


Benefit Impact #4
Annual Renewal

As an annual community-wide celebration, Empower the
Family renews each year in its home community.

 

or


Leadership Challenge #4
Recycling

Club leadership is recycled among the same few
members, leading to burnout.

 


Benefit Impact #5
Service and Fellowship

Empower the Family provides community-centered service at its best.  All willing club members may be involved with this project which builds fellowship and friendship within the club and the community.
 

or


Leadership Challenge #5
Lunch/Dinner Club

Often, clubs are perceived as a luncheon or dinner group, or an old man's networking system.

 


Benefit Impact #6
Fundraising Relief

Empower the Family is revenue-neutral to the club.

 

or


Leadership Challenge #6
Fundraising Fatigue

Club members suffer from project fundraising fatigue.  They hesitate to take on a new project because it means raising more money.

 

Benefit Impact #7
Public Relations Bonanza

Being identified with family, church, and school is almost an automatic public relations coup.  This is a project taking place in, and benefiting your local community.  The positive public image of Rotary in the local club are strongly enhanced.  The local media becomes a part of your public relations team.
 

or


Leadership Challenge #7
Public Relations Paralysis

  • The community lacks a true understanding of Rotary and its purpose.

  • In a Rotarian article "What the Heck is Rotary?" (January 2006), a random survey of the public at large ranges from a "traffic circle" to "something relating to tourism" to "Rotary is an old people's group, but they have a good magazine."
     

Benefit Impact #8
New Member Constituency

Parents in the 30-to-50 year age range are attracted to the pro-family agenda provided them and the community by Empower the Family.
 

or


Leadership Challenge #8
Stagnation

  • Club membership stagnates and dwindles.

  • Each year, about 10% of Rotary club members worldwide drift away.  If not replaced, a club will find itself in a membership meltdown.


Benefit Impact #9
Community Leadership

The Rotary club is "front and center" in the community annually
during the Empower the Family Week Celebration.

 

or


Leadership Challenge #9
Community Disconnect

  • The club has a diminished role and image in the community.

  • While international projects like RI's PolioPlus, water, medical, etc. programs may receive admiration, they generally do not make an emotional connection with local residents.

Rotary's capacity on the international stage is dependant upon the strength of its "home" community clubs.

 

You may say, "A project that can do all this must be complex, expensive and require hundreds and hundreds of service hours."  Not so.  The Ohio Mother Club (see "Our History") initiated this project with ten members.  Moreover, this project is a boon to strong clubs, and it meets the goal given Rotary club and district leaders, and all Rotarians, by Past President Glenn E. Estess: 

"Our goal is to increase awareness and establish a better understanding of Rotary's purpose and contributions to society.  I believe that a greater understanding of Rotary will lay the foundation for membership growth and increased pride and enthusiasm among existing members…together we can reach a larger audience and boost our visibility in the community."
 

"What the Heck is Rotary" highlights the wisdom of President Estess's teaching.

 

What the Heck is Rotary?

In a Rotarian article, "What the Heck is Rotary?" (January 2006), a random survey shows Rotary International and local clubs have a long way to go in educating and informing people “what the heck” Rotary really is. While several of the respondents had some understanding of Rotary, many did not. Here is a sample of responses given in the article from individuals in Seoul, Korea; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Oporto, Portugal; Sydney, Australia; and Hamburg, Germany.

"I have seen old people wearing the Rotary badge, but I have not known what they are doing."
~An upscale restaurant employee, Seoul, age 45

"An organization of which members are local VIPs."
~ A 20-year old Seoul policeman

"I think the organization is a humanitarian civic group. I think in high school they gave scholarships."
~ A 35-year old teacher in Evanston

"I know it's international, and recently they had an anniversary, but I have no idea."
~ A 50-year old homemaker from Evanston

"Is that a traffic circle?"
~ A 19-year old student in Evanston

"I don't know what it is."
~ A 52-year old industry worker in Oporto

"I think it's something relating to tourism."
~ A 54-year old Oporto advertising employee

"Rotary is an old people's group, but they have a good magazine. They leave copies on our reading table."
~ A coffee shop employee in Sydney

"Rotary is a nonprofit organization that often helps the underprivileged."
~ A bank manager in Sydney

"Rotary is an association of people with money, for instance, physicians, who support their own members."
~ A 21-year old college student in Hamburg

"Rotary is a club for special people. I really do not know whether that is a group of respectable people, or if they are just having fun together. It is a mystery to me."
~ A retired plumber in Hamburg:

"Rotary is a club for old, rich, and smug male swells."
~ A 42-year old assistant to the personnel manager of a major company in Hamburg:

The above answers suggest that every Rotary club has public relations and awareness challenges. However, in the Mother Club's community, the business community knows about the local Rotary club and supported it through the celebration of the Empower the Family project. The local newspaper treats the Family Week Celebration as a news event. The schools know about the project and supported it. The churches know about it and support it. The village mayors and town councils know about it and support it. Even other service organizations know about the club’s project and support it.

Empower the Family recharges member enthusiasm and increases community awareness and visibility of your Rotary club. This project also establishes a much better understanding of Rotary’s purpose as a service organization and its many contributions to society. With a greater understanding of Rotary’s mission, the pride and enthusiasm amongst existing members is enhanced. This, in turn, should lead to new members.
 

A Protected Project Identity?


World Peace Parents has developed trademarks, including World Peace Parents™ and Empower the Family™ to protect Rotary clubs licensed by World Peace Parents to use the project's identity in their community. The right to use the project, its trademarks, and copyrighted material, and to access project documents from World Peace Parents' website, is granted by a simple, one-page License Agreement. The cost for the license is $100 per annum. By requiring certain minimum license standards, World Peace Parents builds a consistent and unique image benefiting all clubs sponsoring the project.

Next, Empower the Family
 
 

 
 

© Copyright  2006 World Peace Parents.  All Rights Reserved.