The Rotary Foundation and Membership Development The transforming volunteership

There is a direct relationship between Rotary’s Membership Development and The Rotary Foundation. If Rotary’s business is to transform our world in a better place, to transform human beings into better persons, change the paradigm and revert the growing deterioration of values, fighting to maintain the values for which we fight for, the Rotary Foundation while doing good in the world demonstrates that it is totally identified with the Object of Rotary. And it could not be different.

It is worthwhile to remember that it is better to participate of an organization like Rotary that works to transform the world in a better place, than to belong to a crowd that watch all that is happening “over the wall” doing nothing. While developing a project granted by our Foundation, that takes us through the road mentioned above, we are expanding our war shout to insensitivity, to anomy. By doing this and by the visible result of these projects, we create conditions to attract new social responsible members of our community to join us, doing their best to satisfy their anxiety to do good in the world that initially attract them. There is a great difference between doing what is possible and doing the best that is possible. Rotarians must do the best that is possible and not

only what is possible, not only for personal growth but also because an ethical and civic duty.

One of the simple changes that are making a great difference and producing its results in the membership development is promoting the admission of new members on a club by letting them to participate in a club project even before joining officially that club.

The same effect is occurring in the charting process of new clubs allowing potential Rotarians that will be part of this club to participate on a project dedicated to this club’s community, even before the official charting process to occur. Within this innovative process some changes are happening:

Allowing these new potential members to understand what Rotary and its Foundation are allowing them to do, even before they understand what Rotary and the Rotary Foundation are;

By being admitted through a project they can wonder since the beginning, which other projects are in their aim to serve, they could suggest to the club and that will certainly use their talents, putting them to act;

By introducing this new factor in the admission process we will be solving the retention problem at the admission, because a member admitted in this way will not leave the club easily and will not cease to use Rotary Foundation grants to allow the viability of projects with more ambitious and challenging goals;

The amplification of the citizen local view, to a multinational view, by perceiving the effects produced by the introduction of an international partnership with a global grant;

Allows the participation on projects of Rotaractors, opening their vision to a future membership as Rotarians;

The understanding the effects of the contributions, allowing the appearance of the sense of ownership to Rotary and its Foundation, from which we are members and owners at the same time;

These changes can be seen in some ways innovative, but innovating is the road to transform and transform is better than just help.

The concept of Transforming Volunteership involves and compromise citizens with the progress of their community and even of their nation and are essential to development.

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