27 April 2012
Hi everyone,
As Charter President of the district’s first e-club, I would like to welcome you all. On Thursday night your Board met and approved quite a few exciting things for our club and the best thing was that we endorsed the first 12 members. This means they are now all Rotarians, members of the largest humanitarian service club in the world with over 1.2 million active members.
Other things that were approved are:
Website: http://rotaryeclubnextgen.org
Currently this is being populated and over the next 2 – 3 weeks enhancements are being incorporated that will assist with security. The Home Page is being designed mainly for people to visit from other Rotary Clubs. There are two areas designed to update you on weekly activities but you cannot get into the ‘Clubhouse’ until you use your password and then you get to know everything that is going on in your club. The Board will be publishing the minutes of Board Meetings and various Directors will be publishing minutes in their portfolio areas for you to view. Financial records will also be published for you to view. Once the clubhouse is ready, we will let you all know!
Member Club Attendance
A Rotarian at an established Rotary Club meets weekly for a meal with their club and undertakes community service activities organised by the Rotary Club. Being a member of an E-Club means we don’t meet face to face each week but we do have some responsibilities in relation to meeting online attendance. On Thursday night the Board approved the following attendance requirements. We will advise everyone when this starts.
Each member is encouraged to attend either an ‘online meeting’ or visit the website for an average of 30 minutes a week each month. Members are encouraged to attend the ‘online club meeting’ each Thursday evening at 7pm – 7.30pm via Skype, but if you cannot make it, don’t panic, you just need to spend some time on the site anytime during the week.
Community Service
Our service activities are different also from a conventional Rotary Club with you determining what you do for the community. If you look at the service area on the website you will see a variety of activities that members currently are doing with our E-Club support. You already probably do some form of community service. Rotarians are encouraged to undertake community service. This service can be directly working with the community, attending a Rotary meeting, or any activity associated with Rotary. Say for instance you are a surf life saver or a member of the SES or a driver for meals on wheels. When you are delivering meals, on beach patrol or attending storm damage, this is service. You need to look at the website and if your activity is not mentioned let us know so we can support the activity.
When you do any service work we ask you complete the details on the website form.
Active Membership
Last night the first Board meeting discussed and approved 12 Active members, with a further bunch organising their membership applications. If you are one of them, please get your forms in quickly, as we need to get to the magic number of 25 so we can Charter!
Fees
We looked at exactly what the costs were to operate our E-Club and the need for some form of subsidy for our younger full-time students. As far as I know we are the only Club to come up with a two tier fee system. Fee costs cover District and Rotary International Dues, Insurances, Rotary Magazine Subscription, Executive Training, Tax Deductable Donation to the Australian Rotary Foundation Trust (in each member’s name), Banking and Software/Hosting costs.
All fees can be paid monthly, quarterly or yearly. An initial invoice and then quarterly invoices will be issued. We will also be setting up a PayPal account that can automatically direct debit your credit card monthly if you wish, so you don’t have to even think about it!
So here is the good news:
Until 30 June 2012
Joining Fee is - $30
All Members - $30 one off payment to cover all monthly fees until 30 June
If you haven’t already paid this, please do so as soon as you get your invoice.
From 1 July 2012
Joining Fee is - $60 (get in early to avoid this one!)
Active Members - $40 per calendar month
Full-time Students - $25 per calendar month
Honorary Membership
Certain Rotarians have supported the e-club from inception and we would not be where we are today without their inspired assistance. In order to recognise these people, the board has approved five Honorary Memberships. We will announce them on the website soon.
E-Club Status
As you all know, we became a provisional club on the 19th of April, and it was decided at that time to be designated a “hybrid” e-club. This means that not only can we meet online, but also will have regular face to face meetings with other members. Our Club will have members in many regional areas and members within each region will be encouraged to meet each other once a month at a member’s home or restaurant. Such occasions are purely on a social basis.
Service Projects
We have some exciting service projects that are being put forward on the website for discussion, and we look forward to seeing your comments on these different projects. If you think we have omitted any that you feel strongly about, please send me some details, and I will take it to the next board meeting for approval.
I would really like to thank Chris Joscelyne, and can announce that the board has appointed him the official Club Mentor while we are finding our feet. He has been a great help so far, and an inspiration to all of us.
Yours in Rotary,
Rick Jewson
Charter President.