How To Become An Active And Vibrant Club
 
By Bob Cassidy
 
This is a look at the new Club Planning & Awards form. While it looks very similar to the old Best Club form, the similarity stops there. This is much more than just a form. It is a new methodology at the district level to get clubs organized and productive while at the same time helping them to recognize, through awards, the members of their club who are doing a lot of things to make the world a better place. How this form will help, is what this article is about.
 
The form is available on the District website for you to download, in both Excel and  PDF formats. The 70 line items are grouped into seven broad categories, which pretty much span the width of Rotary activities. Governor Jim Fusco wants all clubs to read through the line items and highlight the projects and programs that appeal to you. Then, work on them through the year.
 
Some, like attending Presidents-Elect Training Sessions (PETS), sending some of our young adults to Rotary Youth Leadership Association (RYLA), and membership growth are a no brainer. No new members eventually turns into no club.
 
Others, like joint meetings with other Rotary clubs, starting a new Rotary club, or starting a Rotaract club, require a lot of dedication and effort. Governor Jim and the D7910 Steering Committee feel just about everything a club can do, can be squeezed into one of these 70 categories. It is our hope that club presidents and their boards will scrutinize the list, pick and choose the areas they like, and lay out a course of action to successfully complete them.
 
The more items your club completes, the more Rotary points it accumulates. A closer look at the points assigned to each line item will tell you where district leadership would like you to place your emphasis. If you start a Rotaract club (item 66), you would get 300 points. if you send two people to the Foundation Forum (item 10), you would get 40 points, etc.
 
While the authors of this document - Klaus Hachfeld and I - are certainly not perfect, we put considerable effort into making sure larger clubs did not get an unfair advantage over smaller clubs. Big is nice, but what we are after are “active" and "vibrant” clubs.
 
For example if your president and the next two presidents in line meet quarterly to discuss continuity from one year to another, you would get 200 points. If you host an Eastern States Student Exchange (ESSEX) exchange student, you would get 400 points, etc. Just by going through the 70 line items right now, an active, vibrant club could easily accumulate several thousand points!
 
Governor Jim will be stressing the use of this new Club Planning & Awards form all year long. The assistant governors will be stressing it with their respective club presidents all year long, too. In fact, they will be after club presidents to review the form with them on a monthly basis, to track which clubs are active and which are not.
 
So what is the point? Simple: Active clubs will be accumulating points, active and vibrant clubs will be doing things, and clubs that are doing things will both keep their members and attract new members. That is a very important point!
 
Bob Cassidy, past district governor of District 7910, may be contacted at rac011846@comcast.net.