Passport clubs offer ticket to flexibility
Marco Cecala and Rebecca Wilks had been Rotary members for years when the couple moved to Yarnell, Arizona, in 2019. Suddenly, they were more than 25 miles from the nearest Rotary club. “We were wondering what to do,” Cecala recalls.
Eventually, they stumbled upon the Rotary Club of Valley of the Sun Passport, a reinvention of a traditional club based in a Phoenix suburb. The club meets online only once per month, and its board meets monthly as well. Intrigued, Cecala and Wilks tried it out and found their new Rotary home.
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Rotary’s Guide to Passport Clubs explains that this type of club gives members a more flexible experience by encouraging them to regularly visit other clubs, which is where the “passport” part of the name comes from. Passport clubs can relax the attendance policy or offer a variety of meeting formats.
As Cecala and Wilks set out recruiting members, they discovered the passport format was ideal for people who were on the verge of leaving Rotary. “We talked to friends of ours who were former district governors and current presidents and said, ‘Look, if you’ve got somebody who’s teetering, send them to us,’” Cecala recalls. “We’ll talk to them and show them this is an alternative.”
Members of passport clubs often engage with people from other clubs whose interests match their own. “Many of us go to places and see projects we have supported for years,” Cecala says. “As a passport club, we are ambassadors for passion projects and creative ways to fund them.”
The Rotary Club of Ōtautahi Passport in New Zealand began intentionally as a passport club at a time when COVID-19 restrictions were in place, and the group held its first meetings virtually. Like the Valley of the Sun passport club, the group grew as members found other individuals who had either recently left Rotary or were unhappy in their clubs.
“Our model is very flexible. If something isn’t working, with club members’ input, we change it,” says Deb Gimblett, charter president of the New Zealand club. “Our meetings are less time-consuming. Members are encouraged to do what they can.”
Benefits of a passport club
- Flexibility: Varied options for getting involved accommodate members’ busy schedules, allowing them more choices for fitting Rotary into their lives.
- Engaging meetings: Gatherings can focus on service and socializing rather than speakers and meals. By visiting other clubs’ meetings, members can learn what other groups are doing and bring new ideas to their club.
- Broad appeal: Passport clubs often appeal to people who wouldn’t join a more traditional club and help keep people who might otherwise leave Rotary.
- More connections: Members quickly build relationships across the district and beyond. Affordability: Costs are kept to a minimum because meetings don’t include meals.
The club meets every other week at varied locations throughout the Canterbury region. There are no meals to pay for, although when the club meets at a local McDonalds, members can grab a burger or fries if they want. “We don’t expect people to come to every meeting,” notes Club President Martin MacLean. “Sometimes we’ll have a meeting as part of an event, like a project. We might take half an hour at the beginning for a formal meeting and then go into our service.”
The Frederiksberg-Falconér Passport club near Copenhagen, Denmark, began as a traditional club but transitioned to the passport form in 2023, as the club and others in its district were experiencing a decline in membership. Club member Maiken Hallingskov, the district’s membership chair, says a workshop with members of clubs in the Copenhagen area determined most wanted to stay in Rotary but weekly meetings had become too much.
The passport club has grown from 14 to 22 members, largely from active promotion on the LinkedIn networking site. Hallingskov says the limited time commitment is the major selling point.
“People want to keep it easy, and they want to do a special thing for the local community or someone else,” says Hallingskov. “We are all very active, have our own companies, and don’t have much time. Two hours a month is enough for us to get it done.”
This story originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Rotary magazine.