Historically, at this time of year, the board approves both a club budget and a foundation budget for the following year. Some of the feedback we heard from the club survey and our small group discussions are that our foundation budget supports the same projects every year and that we should review our process. We discussed this at our board meeting this past Tuesday and the board agreed to delay the approval of the foundation budget for a few months to allow us to develop criteria for approving funding requests. As we have historically done, the current board will review and approve the club budget at our June board meeting.
Once we have developed our criteria for approving funding requests, we will notify the club and allow additional time for members to submit funding requests. If you have already submitted your funding requests, you do NOT need to submit it again; just recognize there will be a delay in receiving a response. Also, we recognize that traditionally we actually fund many of the requests in July/August. However, as we reviewed previously funded projects, we thought Jefferson Middle School was the only one that may have a time-sensitive need for funding that correlates with the beginning of the school year. If there is another funding request that absolutely needs to be funded during this delayed time period, please let me know and the board will discuss how to address the issue.
At our May 3rd club meeting we had small group discussions to gain more qualitative insight on the club survey results. As indicated earlier, our club survey results were overall very positive. Based on lower scores or consistent themes in the written comments, there were 4 areas that we chose for discussion: members not inviting people to join our club, the types and amount of fundraising our club does, the lack of community service projects, and our club’s pace of change. Here are some themes from the survey and/or the small group discussions:
We have too many check writing “fundraisers”; we need another signature fundraiserlike the golf outing. When our club was formed, it was to be about service, not just writing checks.
We want a better understanding of how we spend our fundraising dollars. There is alsosome confusion about our club foundation and the Rotary Foundation.
We want more service projects; especially one that occurs on a monthly cadence and at night to meet the needs of people who can't get away during the day.
We don’t know how to ask people when inviting them to a club meeting; maybe a needfor training/materials
Next step...I would like to review our existing committees, have every member sign up for a committee and leverage some of our club meetings for committee meetings. I would like our committees to have goals they are working towards and all members engaged. Several of our committees are committees of 1 and for those, I’d like to get other people to join the committee. The thought process is that active committees will lead to more engaged club members, increased member retention and eventually more members joining our club. In the near future, I will get a sign-up sheet for all of our members to choose a committee. As for committee meetings, starting in July, I have asked our speaker committee to allow 1 meeting a month for committee meetings or other club topics we feel we need to have. The monthly cadence may change to quarterly or something else but we will figure that out as we go; we just need to start and we can adjust as we feel necessary. We will try some new ideas; some will be great and others may need to be modified. Please keep providing your ideas/input within the committees and provide feedback along the way. I am looking forward to seeing the progress we make in addressing the feedback from the club survey.
Deb Dieter, Kevin Moran and Matt Loch will be going through our storage room at Zor Shrine after the meeting on June 21. It is a large climate-controlled space that doesn’t cost additional money. We plan to inventory what’s there and I am sure that we have acquired a number of items that are no longer needed. If you have any Rotary club items at home, feel free to bring them to the club meeting. We’ll take them from you and free up valuable home storage space. Contact Matt with any questions.
We are looking for ideas for service projects that we can participate in. If you have an organization you feel strongly about supporting and would like to explore an opportunity for a club service project, please contact Patrick Rees (patrick.rees@usbank.com ).
Our club will be bringing bingo back to the Middleton Good Neighbor Fest August 23-25, 2019. This is part of some throwback features including a Friday fish fry and Sunday chicken dinner. We will need volunteers for bingo sessions on Friday (evening), Saturday (afternoon & evening) and Sunday (afternoon). Mark your calendars now, because Wisconsin summers fill up quickly. We have a small committee formed including Deb Dieter, Jack Ferreri, Dawn Frank, Kevin Moran, Rod Nilles, and Matt Loch. We can use some more committee members and we are meeting this Friday after our club meeting. C’mon, join the fun!
An inbound Rotary Friendship Team from Australia will be visiting the Madison area in late July. We are co-hosting this with Madison Downtown Rotary. We’ll need accommodations for five couples and two singles. Hosts will pick up the 1 or 2 people at the agreed-upon place on Monday, July 22, provide overnight accommodations and breakfast, and transportation to the daily activities. Many hosts trade off days and attend the daily events with the guests if possible or drop them off with the group in the am, meet them for dinner, etc.
Coming up on June 9th our club has an opportunity to raise money for a great cause while supporting a wonderful Madison event. The IRONMAN organization in Madison is looking for volunteer Run Course Marshals to help keep athletes safe while they complete the race. If we provide 15 volunteers, we will be eligible for a grant from the IRONMAN organization, the proceeds of which will benefit Tri 4 Schools. Tri 4 Schools is a non-profit that supports health and fitness initiatives in local schools. Registration must be completed online and there are a variety of volunteer times and locations available. To volunteer please follow the instructions below:
Scroll down to the Run Course Marshall opportunities and select your desired time and location.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and complete all the information fields. Make sure to include the Rotary Club of Madison West Towne-Middleton as your volunteer organization.
Scroll through the waiver, click the box to accept, enter your electronic signature and click ‘sign up to volunteer’.
Please note that each volunteer is committing to participate regardless of whether the club reaches our 15-volunteer goal. Thank you for all your efforts.
IMPORTANT DATES
Saturday, June 1st
deadline for all IRONMAN Foundation Grant applications. You must have it submitted by this deadline to receive grant payment following the race. Not sure if you have completed it yet - send me an email and Amber and I will let you know.
Thursday, June 6th
Captain's meeting at Olin Park Pavilion. Time TBD, but likely around 6 PM. This is your chance to meet IRONMAN staff you will be working with, receive Captain's gear and credentials, receive gift cards to purchase snacks (aid stations) and ask questions
Friday, June 7th
DAY 1 of Athlete Check-in at Olin Park
Saturday, June 8th
DAY 2 of athlete check-in and mandatory bike check-in
Sunday, June 9th
RACE DAY!!!!
Monday, June 10th
Volunteer Party at Coliseum Bar, 5:30 PM - all volunteers welcome. We will serve refreshments and appetizers.... and raffle off some fun prizes!
Thank you again for all you do. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Matt Loch received the following letter and wanted to pass it along. It matches up well with our existing interest in Guatemala.
My name is John Hunt, and I am a past District Governor and member of the Rotary Club pf Ohio Pathways (D6600). Joe Berninger, founder of the Guatemala Literacy Project (GLP), and I are organizing Rotary service trips to Guatemala and we are looking for interested Rotarians.
The GPL is the largest grassroots, multi-club, multi-district effort in the Rotary world not directed by Rotary International itself- the "goldstandard" of Rotary projects, according to former RI President Ian Riseley. Over 600 Rotary clubs from 8 countries have participated in the GP: since its inception in 1996. GPL Textbook, Computer, Teacher Training, and Youth Development programs currently serve more than 50,000 impoverished children.
We need Rotarians to join the following service trips to Guatemala:
July 21 - 27, 2019
July 30 - August 4, 2019
November 14 - 17, 2019
February 1 - 9, 2019
February 18 - 23, 2019
July 12 - 18, 2020
July 21 - 26, 2020
These trips offer a variety of experiences: Some are longer or shorter; some more "hands-on" - and all of them give you the opportunity to be a meaningful part of Rotary's work fighting poverty in Guatemala. Please visit the Project's website for more details.
Could you share this opportunity with members of your club?
If you have any can email me at info@guatemalalitericy.org
