|
Rotary
eClub One’s First Ten Years on the e-Frontier
As reviewed by Its Presidents: Past,
Present, and Future
John Minter
Rotary eClub One
Charter President 2002-2004
My goal as District 5450 Governor Alan
Loeb's Representative was to get eClub One established and
chartered.
We did that. (See the history on the Eclub
One website)
As the Charter President - for two terms -
my goal then was to expand membership and to expand the recognition
of eclubs in the Zone and with RI leadership. At that point we
established the online make up (I authored the amendment to the RI
bylaws that authorized online makeups - approved by District 5450,
passed by the Council on Legislation on the first reading at its
first presentation.
Unheard of!)
My second year as President, the club
approved a donation page for visiting Rotarians making up as a fund
raiser. At that point we averaged $2-4k monthly thanks to superb
website design by Webmaster Gary Fletcher. From what I read on the
website, that program continues and must be raising significantly
more each month.
Also in my second term we recruited Chris
Joscelyne as President Elect anticipating his experience as
President of Sydney Rotary and as a global entrepreneur would be an
ideal leader for expanding Eclub awareness.
He succeeded in spades.
Thank you Chris!
And thanks to all the succeeding Presidents who have continued to
grow the club and its influence in Rotary International.
On moving to Florence, Oregon, I followed
Eclub One bylaws requirement that a member resign if his/her
situation changed to allow attending a local terra club. As a member
of the Rotary Club of Florence, Oregon, my goal has been to make it
a "hybrid" club, operating as a terra and a virtual club with the
creation of a Virtual Active Membership. This has permitted members
who live local but work (1) in Portland during the week and (2) the
captain of a sea-going tug for six-week periods, to remain actively
involved with our club.
(email minj@oregonfast.net for a copy of the Virtual Membership
Contract)
Rotary eClub One has achieved a significant
place in Rotary International history. It was a privilege to be
associated with the team that made it happen.
Chris Joscelyne
Rotary eClub
One President 2005-2006
My role as President of Rotary eClub One,
for two terms, was to refine the initial concept and develop the
club as a benchmark model that would serve as a guide for Rotary
International.
I am deeply grateful to PP John Minter,
Webmaster Gary Fletcher , PDG Jerry Roberts and PP Angus Robinson
for their generous contributions of time and expertise, as they
worked closely with me, and with fellow board members, to develop
and refine an operational structure that would accommodate a growing
membership, embrace emerging technology and introduce new service
innovations and recognitions.
The extraordinary commitment of Rotarians
Minter, Fletcher, Roberts and Robinson helped me meet the goals and
expectations of Rotary International during a period of intense
performance evaluation. It should be noted that the Board of Rotary
International was divided on the question of whether or not an
e-club meeting was an acceptable alternative to a traditional club
meeting. Therefore, our task was to prove that we offered the same
opportunity for service and fellowship as a traditional Rotary club,
our only difference being our use of Internet technology as the
enabler.
During both my years in office we focused on
women’s and children’s health, safe water, literacy, vocational
service and youth projects. We established contact with aid workers
in East Timor, the poorest country in the whole of Asia. This was
the prelude to several years of projects in that country assisted by
the Rotary Club of Darwin and the Alola Foundation,
who ensured that all our dollars were used effectively,
avoiding the endemic corruption and aid theft that existed in East
Timor at that time.
We marked the 100th Anniversary
of Rotary International with the first of our Annual Dinners at an
RI Convention. The venue was Cathedral Hall at the University Club
of Chicago where a large gathering witnessed our first Professional
Excellence Award presentation to Roxanne Spillett, CEO of Boys and
Girls Clubs of America, and the presentation of our first Donald M.
Carter Service Award to PP John Minter.
The Annual Dinner at the RI Convention, the Professional
Excellence Award, and the Service Award are now ongoing and
significant highlights of each Rotary year.
In 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 we earned Rl
Presidential Citations, testimony to the efforts of our members who
proved our value and worth as true Rotarians, as the wider community
of Rotary International watched our progress.
Gerald Roberts, PDG
Rotary
eClub One President 2006-2007
Actually I can't remember all that much
except that we grew, we rewrote the Constitution and Bylaws, we
sorted out all sorts of things, we worked at streamlining our
processes and tried to involve more and more of the membership in
the workings of the Club.
I attended PETS and was surprised to learn
that few Rotarians in our home District, 5450, actually knew who and
what we were - same as today I guess.
Our Annual Dinner was in Salt Lake City, UT,
where the Annual Convention had been moved because of the hurricane
that struck New Orleans in the fall of 2006.
The facility for the dinner was wonderful and we had about 65
people in attendance.
We honored the founder of the Wheel Chair Foundation with an award
of $5,000US.
So, I think that 2006-2007 was a
consolidation year, a year of confirming our processes, a year of
developing and enforcing our rules and procedures, and a year of
setting the stage for growth and development.
It was also a year of connecting to the other eClubs and
sharing experiences, procedures, and 'how to's' with the other
Clubs.
We also became somewhat adept at using VOIP
for our meetings and using the early kinds of meeting programs on
the net - pioneering would be a good word for it.
And we learned to look at Time Zones so that we did not set
meeting times that made someone get up at 3AM in their home country
to attend a Board Meeting.
We brought Advanced RYLA to North America
and District 5450, thanks to your efforts and the efforts of many in
the District and in Australia.
The RYLA Leader of the meetings is now our Club Treasurer.
Tim Mowbray
Rotary eClub One
President 2007-08
My term for being President of Rotary eClub
One was 2007-08. It was
a great experience and an honor to lead such an impressive group of
Rotarians from around the world.
The club was succeeding in raising resources to carry out
some of the incredible international projects underway, and helped
each club member with a small stipend to use in local community
projects in which they were personally involved.
Major projects included water wells in
Mexico, a health clinic in East Timor, maternity packs for women in
Indonesia and active participation in literacy projects in District
5450. Club members
participated in local community based environmental projects,
Habitat for Humanity, literacy, food and hunger and other local
projects in each club member’s home community.
With the experience of eClub members that ranged from past
District Governors and Club Presidents and other officers the club
was able to secure additional Rotary funding for projects and to
help other clubs with collaborative efforts.
Rotary eClub One sponsored two major
projects which experimented with a concept called Vocational
Services Teams (VST).
The club sponsored the first demonstration in Australia around the
topic of Alzheimer ’s disease and the second one featured Multiple
Sclerosis and was held in Denver.
This project brought together senior level management
participants knowledgeable about each disease topic and shared best
practices across international boundaries.
I still hear from participants and former team members still
keep in touch and speak highly of the experience.
A great deal of time during this year was
dedicated to working on changes to Rotary Internationals decision
process to make permanent the model club provisions of the
Constitution and Bylaws to formalize the concept of eClubs.
Much of my time was dedicated to working with Rotary eClub
One’s Board of Directors and officers from other eClub’s to
formulate strategy and prepare for the Council on Legislation
approvals necessary to present to the RI Board of Directors a
conceptual model for making eClub’s a permanent feature of Rotary.
Note: After serving as president of eClub One, Tim moved to a new
career position in preparation for retirement.
Tim became the President/CEO of Excelen – Center for Bone &
Joint Research and Education, located in downtown Minneapolis,
Minnesota. In
continuing a practice to visit local clubs, Tim found the
Minneapolis City of Lakes Club which meets just a few blocks from
his office at the grand old Minneapolis Club.
With a lot of enticement based on high levels of community
service and involvement in international projects Tim decided to
join the City of Lakes Club.
There is no better $15.00 bowl of oatmeal for breakfast than
at the weekly meetings of the City of Lakes Club.
Angus M. Robinson
Rotary
eClub One President 2008-2009
For me, the Rotary E-Club experience totally
fulfilled its promise- being able to continue my commitment to
Rotary service during a time that my vocation required me to be
constantly travelling and unable to attend regular meetings at a
traditional Rotary club. Moreover, as a result of my involvement in
Rotary E-Club One, I gained a much better appreciation of the work
of Rotary as an international organisation, and learnt the benefits
of committing to the Rotary Foundation as one of my charitable
causes. My decision at the end of 2010 to leave Rotary E-Club One to
return to rejoin my former club, the Rotary Club of Sydney,
Australia was logical, given my transition into semi-retirement into
a more normal role where I was quite readily able to resume
attendance at a traditional Rotary Club and enjoy the benefits of
regular, 'face to face' interaction with Rotarians, most of whom I
had known dating back to1994.
During my time with Rotary E-Club One, I
served in the leadership roles of Membership Director, Vocational
Services Director, President-Elect, President (2008/2009) and Past
President. During this period, I was delighted to see our Club
receive District Awards for Membership Growth and Environmental
Projects, and to be part of the leadership team that worked so hard
to ensure that we could demonstrate to the RI Board that an E-Club
operating model could perform successfully and achieve significant
outcomes for Rotary - naturally I was delighted to see the College
of Legislation formally approve the E-Club Model in 2010.
Reflecting on my year as President, I see
the championing the introduction and adoption of the Rolling Three
Year Strategic Plan and for fine-tuning the Club's business model as
one of my achievements. However, reflecting on my entire period of
service with the Club, I take considerable pride as a regular
contributing author to the Club's Programs, for the development of
the Club's comprehensive membership application procedures, and by
demonstrating, through my ongoing involvement with the Foundation
for National Parks and Wildlife, that Rotary E-Club members could
fruitfully engage in community service projects that would also
generate worthwhile content for the Club's published Programs.
Engagement with Rotary E-Club One involved
three overseas visits from Australia - to the President-Elect
Conference in Denver and two RI Conventions in Los Angeles, USA and
Birmingham, UK, the latter two events highlighted by our Club's
exhibition and accompanying fellowship in the Hall of Fellowship. I
will always remember the strong bond of fellowship enjoyed within
the Club, especially within the leadership group of Rotary E-Club
One, and particularly appreciate my two excellent Rotarian mentors
(and 'sages'), PDG Gerry Roberts and PP Chris Joscelyne as well as
the outstanding support during my Presidential Year of the then Club
Secretary Carol Steen, who two years later became the Club's first
female President, a role she performed with outstanding commitment
and flaire. Since leaving the Club, it has been a great pleasure to
keep in regular contact also with President Tom Green, PP Herman
Ehrlich, as well as other Club members such as John Cutler, Katy
Joscelyne, PE Les Falk, Rick Pearce, Cheonhee Sohn, and Robert
Steen, and to hear of news about other members (past and present)
and friends not specifically mentioned in this discourse. I thank
all of these good people for their ongoing friendship and support,
and wish Rotary E-Club One, the world's first internet based Rotary
Club every success for the future.
Carol Lightfoot Steen
Rotary
eClub One President 2010-2011
The Council On Legislation’s positive
decision to make e-clubs a permanent part of Rotary came just a few
weeks before my year began. Our club established a dedicated website
Facebook, and LinkedIn presence to assist Rotarians throughout the
world in their efforts to start new e-clubs.
Today the number of e-clubs is almost fifty, and it is
growing all the time.
While we thought we might lose members to
start-up e-clubs, just the opposite happened. During the 2010-2011
year, in a time that traditional Rotary Clubs were seeing a downturn
in membership, we actually had a net gain of 9 new members, taking
us to 63 members in 11 countries.
In an effort to increase involvement of our
membership, we encouraged club chairs to actively engage people in
decision and planning. The most successful was our Club Service
committee which reviews International and Community Service projects
and makes recommendations to the Board of Directors.
Another avenue of member involvement is our
Members-Only forum in our ClubHouse. Weekly postings engage members
in discussions that vary from personal adventures through club
business.
I don’t like to think of my term as a
Disaster, but we had our share. Traditionally we support disaster
relief in the home areas of our members. Thus, we provided funding
for the Australian Floods and Christchurch earthquake relief.
Following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we worked with our
two members who live in Japan and sent funds directly to a project
there. During the
convention in New Orleans, disaster struck Joplin, Missouri, and we
were able to send financial support through a club there as well.
Of all we do in Rotary eClub One, I am
proudest of our Community Service Grants. As part of our membership
obligation, each of us gives a minimum number of hours of service
each month. We are able to apply for up to $500 US a year to infuse
into our service project.
Tom Green
Rotary eClub One
President 2011 – 2012
As the current President of Rotary eClub
One, it is a special honor for me to articulate my thoughts on “Celebrating
10 Years of Service on the eFrontier”. Looking back to the
year 2002, our founding fathers had a vision to create a new model
for Rotary using the internet as our club meeting platform. This was
in fact exploring a new frontier for Rotary, as “we had never done
it this way before”!! (Don’t those words sound familiar?) From the
very beginning, Rotary eClub One has attracted members from across
the globe who have a passion for service. Throughout our 10 year
history, we have encouraged our members to think globally and act
locally. The net result is that we have multi-cultural membership
that responds collectively by providing aid and support for service
projects on an international basis… as well as providing support for
individual community service projects in the towns and neighborhoods
where are members live. This is a special group of people who I see
face-to-face only once a year. But when we do see each other, there
are a host of hugs and kisses amongst our members…. because we are
all friends. I know I would be welcome in each one of our member’s
homes… and I would indeed feel “at home”!!
While we celebrate our 10th Anniversary we
cannot become complacent. We need to be challenged to grow in new
and different ways. We need to make sure the message we convey via
our website is one that resonates with potential new members that
have a passion for service and want to be part of Rotary. We also
need to grow the younger segment of our membership who will bring
fresh ideas and a desire to make a difference. And finally… we need
your support to help us serve others in need. By reading this
“makeup article” and making a donation – you help us support a host
of projects across the globe. These “make-ups” are the primary
vehicle for Rotary eClub One to raise funds for those service
projects we support. Please consider making a donation today; and
help us “Celebrate 10 Years of Service on the eFrontier”!
Leslie Falk
Current President-Elect, President 2012-2013
Being the future President of eClub One,
when asked (sorry instructed) to write a note for our tenth
anniversary, my initial reaction was these past Presidents have it
easy. They can
just give their own spin on history.
I have to create the future.
Not being Jules Verne or other futurist and not wanting to
anticipate next year’s Board of Directors, I will sink back into the
past.
I was a member of a land club which had no
easy access to other clubs to do attendance make ups.
I became a volunteer with a local nonprofit organization that
required my time in conflict to my attendance.
I read about this new eclubone and started doing make ups.
After a few make ups, the club indicated that I would not be
credited with a make up from Eclub.
I did not want to leave Rotary but knew that I could not
fulfill my attendance obligations.
Ah, become a member of Eclubone!
At that time, I needed two references from my club; the
consent of my Club President; the consent of my District Governor
and then came home one day and was interrogated (they would probably
say “chatted”) on the phone by two of the past presidents.
They still admitted me!
We still have a formal admittance procedure but not as
demanding as in the past. Eclub gives me a lot of options.
I deal with people around the world in my club and visit a
number of clubs in the area where I now live.
Also I am part ofproviding help locally, internationally and
disaster relief. Eclubs
provide a unique and opportunistic way for individuals to enjoy and
contribute to Rotary with all its rewards while fulfilling the
requirements of membership in a flexible manner.
So after ten years and unconditional acceptance of Eclubs as Rotary
Clubs, the future of Eclubone is the consolidation of what has been
developed over ten years while planning for future.
With the assessment of where we have been and the development
of new ways to serve, the next ten years should be as challenging as
the past ten years.
|