Highlights of actions taken by the the Rotary International Board of Directors

January 2012 Board Meeting Highlights

The third meeting of the 2011–12 RI Board of Directors was held on 23–27 January 2012 in Coronado, California, USA. At this meeting the Board reviewed 10 committee reports and recorded 91 decisions.

Club and District Matters

The Board took several decisions regarding districting issues, including requesting several districts to merge their small clubs where appropriate and to submit redistricting proposals if specific benchmarks are not met. The Board reorganized clubs in District 2070 (Italy) into new Districts 2071 and 2072, effective 1 July 2013, and the new country of South Sudan was assigned to District 9212, also effective 1 July 2013. The Board also amended districting procedures to allow governors—rather than the Districting Committee or the Secretariat—to manage the process of clubs voting on redistricting proposals.

The Board agreed that the countries of Bhutan and Maldives meet the criteria for the extension of Rotary clubs. Clubs in Bhutan shall be grouped in District 3292 and clubs in the Maldives in District 3220.

The Board agreed that training on The Rotary Foundation’s new grant structure (Future Vision) will be provided at all 2012–13 and 2013–14 Rotary institutes and GETS.

The Board, with the concurrence of the Foundation Trustees, approved a project partner relationship with ShelterBox Trust Ltd., the UK-based disaster relief organization.

Programs, Communications, and Awards

To recognize spouses and partners of Rotarians who have demonstrated exemplary humanitarian service through Rotary, the Board established a new Rotarian spouse/partner service award. Up to 100 recipients will be selected annually by a selection officer appointed by the RI president.

In discussing New Generations issues, the Board agreed that clubs and districts should appoint committees to develop, implement, and support New Generations activities and further encouraged clubs and districts to include a service dimension in all New Generations programs.

The Board approved 137 Rotarians to be awarded 2011–12 Service Above Self Awards. It also recognized a new Rotary Fellowship: the International Fellowship of Rotarian Photographers.

The Board established a 2011–12 Rotary South Asia Committee with the goal of promoting world understanding and peace by strengthening cooperation and development in South Asia.

Noting that no new polio cases had been reported for a 12-month period in India, the Board agreed to support a PolioPlus summit in India to recognize the Indian government’s efforts in polio eradication and Rotary’s role in supporting that effort.

The Board established mandatory minimum student travel insurance for all Rotary Youth Exchange students, such coverage to be coordinated by Rotary districts and purchased by the student’s parent or legal guardian.

International Meetings

The Board agreed to provide Italian interpretation at the 2012 RI (Bangkok) Convention. Russian interpretation will be provided if there are 100 or more registrants from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It also set a US$265 registration fee for the Lisbon convention.

Both the 2013 and 2016 Councils on Legislation will continue to be held at the Marriott Chicago, (Illinois, USA) on 22–26 April 2013 and 11–15 April 2016

Administration and Finances

The Board elected Ray Klinginsmith, Michael K. McGovern, Samuel F. Owori, and Julio Sorjús each to serve four-year terms as Rotary Foundation trustees, beginning 1 July 2012.

The Board adopted a social business strategy statement as follows:

Rotary will increasingly use digital, social strategies to engage Rotarians, the "family of Rotary," and the general public. The tools we choose to implement will be worthy of Rotarians’ trust. These tools will make it easier for Rotarians to build and deepen relationships with one another and to discuss and collaborate on Rotary-related business. We will encourage the use of social technologies consistent with these goals and development of new technologies where gaps exist.

The Board reviewed a findings report from branding agency Siegel+Gale regarding RI’s brand revitalization effort.

September 2011 Board Meeting Highlights

Board minutes - September 2011

The second meeting of the 2011–12 RI Board of Directors was held on 26–30 September 2011, in Evanston, Illinois, USA. At this meeting the Board reviewed 17 committee reports and recorded 120 decisions.

Club and District Matters

The Board reviewed redistricting proposals from Europe and the Middle East and agreed to the following, effective 1 July, 2013:

• District 1840 is split into new District 1841 (Austria) and new District 1842 (Germany).
  
• District 2040 is split into new District 2041 and District 2042, both in Italy.
  
• District 2450 is split into new District 2451 (Egypt) and District 2452 (Armenia, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates).

The Board endorsed a membership goal of 1.3 million Rotarians to be reached by 30 June 2015. To help reach this goal, regional teams of Rotary leaders will develop three-year regional development and retention plans.

In an effort to increase the number of young professionals in RI membership, and to better transition Foundation alumni into Rotarians, the Board encouraged Rotary clubs to allow Foundation alumni to attend their sponsor club’s meeting for six months without invitation following their term of service. The Board also adopted specific guidelines—called New Generations are the Future of Rotary— for club use to more effectively attract and engage young professionals.

The Board added Rotary public image coordinators to the Governors-elect Training Seminar training team and further added the topic of public image to the training curriculum.

Strategic Planning

In support of the RI Strategic Plan goal of increasing humanitarian service by working with other organizations, both the RI Board and Foundation Trustees approved a new joint partnership model and guidelines.  Further to this goal, the Board

• renewed its Memorandum of Understanding with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for an additional three years;
  
• concurred with the Trustees’ decision to finalize a strategic partnership with UNESCO-IHE;
  
• authorized an agreement with Shelterbox as a project partner;
  
• renewed its service partnership with the Dollywood Foundation.

The Board agreed to establish annual and bi-annual RI Board performance goals in alignment with the RI Strategic Plan, and requested the general secretary to develop a mechanism to ensure annual strategic alignment between the RI president, president-elect, president-nominee, and the Board, for annual review at the Board’s first meeting.

The Board agreed that a “one Rotary” alumni approach is consistent with the RI Strategic Plan.  A joint RI/TRF alumni function would recognize all Rotary program participants and allow a uniform gathering of information about alumni, while still differentiating the groups by program and status.

Programs, Communications, and Awards

As of 10 August 2011, US$188,194,000 has been raised toward Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge.

The Board discontinued RI recognition of multidistrict service activities and projects. Policy guidelines for groups involved in these types of activities and projects will remain; only now they will no longer have formal RI recognition.

Noting that Rotary club membership now includes community leaders, retired persons, and others not currently in businesses or professions, the Board amended RI’s Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions to now be a “Rotary Code of Conduct.” To relate the Object of Rotary to corporate social responsibility practices, the Board adopted the following statement:

From its origins, Rotary has built a philosophy based upon integrity in businesses and professions. Rotary clubs and individual Rotarians are committed to Vocational Service and high ethical standards in all of their interactions. These are summed up in the Object of Rotary, our core values (Service, Fellowship, Diversity, Integrity, Leadership), The Four-Way Test, and the Rotary Code of Conduct , carried out through our worldwide network of Rotary clubs and Rotarians.

For Rotary International, as a corporate entity, its social responsibility philosophy can be summed up by our commitment to transparency in governance, stewardship of financial resources and the environment, and fair labor practices.

To ensure that districts can begin public outreach initiatives at the beginning of the 2012–13 Rotary year, the Board advanced its deadline for the 2012–13 Public Relations grant applications to 4 March 2012.

Depending on local circumstances, the Board provided for Rotaract clubs to conduct meetings online.

The Board recognized the Rotarian Jazz Fellowship, which aims to build new and lasting relationship between Rotarians around the world interested in jazz music.

International Meetings

The Board accepted the proposal from Districts 1960 and 1970 (Portugal) to host the RI convention in Lisbon, Portugal on 23–26 June 2013, and tentatively selected Toronto, Ontario, Canada as the site for the 2018 RI convention.

Finances

The Board accepted the audited statements and report on RI’s financial results for 2010–11. The results will be published in the annual report.

 

"July" 2011 Board Meeting Highlights

Board minutes - July 2011

The 2010–11 RI Board of Directors held its fourth and final meeting on 12–18 May 2011  in Evanston, Illinois, USA. The 2011–12 RI Board held its first meeting on 27 May 2011 in Baton Rouge, LA, USA. At these meetings the Board reviewed reports from 12 committees and recorded 108 decisions.

RI Administration and Finances

The Board welcomed the appointment of Noel A. Bajat as 2011–12 RI vice president, Elio Cerini as 2011–12 treasurer, and elected John Smarge as its executive committee chairman. 

On recommendation of President Banerjee, the Board established the 2011–12 RI committees and approved their terms of reference. The Board agreed that zones 3, 7, 12, 16, 20, 27, 32, and 34 shall select committees in 2011–12 to nominate RI directors for election at the 2013 RI (Bangkok) Convention.

The Board confirmed the 2011–12 RI budget with revenues of US$92,498,000 plus use of up to $3,500,000 from the general surplus fund, and expenses of $95,496,000. It further approved The Rotary Foundation’s 2011–12 budget of $89,830,000 million for Foundation programs that are funded with unrestricted Annual Programs Fund contributions.