New Future for Oregon Rotary

Posted by Bill Rockwell
As incoming President of the Rotary Club of Oregon, this will be the first of what I hope will be periodic bulletins to help keep members, friends and allies of Oregon Rotary informed.  I hope to make this bulletin useful to keep us connected as we serve the Oregon area.  The first installment will focus on our Future Focus planning discussion and the priorities that have emerged from this.  Please give me your feedback in any way you feel comfortable about the usefulness of this bulletin and how I may improve it. 
Thanks and have a great Rotary Year.
 
Bill Rockwell
President
Rotary Club of Oregon
608-712-9106
These certainly are interesting times.  Participation rates in clubs and organizations is down, veteran service club members are aging out and then along comes COVID.  Challenging indeed. It can argued that the most challenging times for businesses and organizations turn out to be (in retrospect) the most creative and fruitful. Challenges cause us to reassess purpose, commitment and most of all push us to be creative; to change how we serve.  The Rotary Club of Oregon is on the verge of celebrating its 80th anniversary.  It has a long and vital history as part of serving the Oregon Community.  We are challenged certainly, but we are not going away.  As the new President of the club this year, I firmly believe that our upcoming year 2023-24 is our year to shine again.  
 
Planning for our new year got underway back on May 25th with the Oregon Rotary Future Focus planning retreat. Thirteen members got together to share potluck and create a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) on our club.  The results were illuminating for understanding our present position and also provide initial input for prioritizing action.  In the short-term, a "Future Focus Team" was formed consisting of myself, Dan Dick and Andy Weiland.  The team's mission is to keep momentum going on the action plan.  Here is the plan in brief;
 
NEAR TERM

  1. Community Visibility: Form a small team of people to refine and develop a list of Oregon Rotary “Talking Points.  These will include both “Who we are” statements as well as “what we do” statements. Purchase Oregon Rotary polo shirts for use at events. 

  2. Meetings:  Starting in July 2023, maintain current meeting schedule for the near term, but change purpose of the meetings to support and further goals of our Rotary Future plan. Format will be that speakers, discussions and decisions will be focused on how to change what we do and revitalize our club (July-Aug meetings). After that, speakers will support our two core strength areas of Environmental Sustainability and Youth Empowerment. 

  3. Community Demographic/Social Research:  Conduct key interviews, surveys or other social research to help us better understand our community demographics and social needs. 

  4. Plan Fundraising Events:  Develop plans for fund-raising activities for the 2023-2024 year.

SIX MONTHS TO TWO YEARS

  1. Membership Plan:  Look into and develop alternate means of “membership” or affiliations with Oregon Rotary.  Develop targeted appeals (events, media, etc) to offer these options to the public

  2. Meeting Plan:  Based on member input, change meeting times and format to better serve members and further our mission

  3. Community Visibility Plan: Develop a plan for the club to appear at community functions with a booth or literature. Volunteer for other organizations as a Rotary representative. 

  4. Service Project Plan: Using our two strategic themes of Environmental Sustainability and Stewardship and Development and Empowerment of Youth, develop a schedule and staffing plan for each project event.

  5. Community Outreach: Using our demographic and social research, develop purposeful outreach events or contacts to further understand and develop relationships with (especially) under-represented populations in Oregon

  6. Partnership involvement:  Develop a list and hold discussions with possible partners (organizations and individuals) who Oregon Rotary may from time to time synergistically work with on community projects. Communicate regularly with “Friends of Oregon Rotary” to keep them in the loop and invite participation in project work.