President Mark Zober to Focus Club Activities on Presidenial Citation Criteria for RY 2009-10

PRESIDENTIAL CITATION CRITERIA FOR ROTARY YEAR 2009-10 SET BY ROTARY INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT JOHN KENNY

Dear club presidents,

As we, embark together on our year as Rotary leaders, I ask for your support in making 2009-10 a very successful and fulfilling Rotary year. One of my main objectives is to remind Rotarians of their personal responsibility to Rotary and its ideals, as exemplified by our theme: The Future of Rotary Is in Your Hands.

We have some ready resources to help us undertake this responsibility. Our roadmap to the future of Rotary is the Rotary International Strategic Plan 2007-10. The plan is made up of seven priorities that Rotarians worldwide determined to be the most important concerns for Rotary in the years ahead. This year, I am asking your club to put the plan into action and, by working together, to ensure that we achieve our goals.

This year’s Presidential Citation program provides a menu of challenging activities related to the first six priorities of the strategic plan. As you will see, these activities also offer opportunities to address each of the four Avenues of Service, as well as my emphases in the areas of health and hunger, literacy, and water. By focusing your efforts within the framework of RI’s strategic plan, your club will also help Rotary succeed in addressing the plan’s seventh and final priority — to fully implement the strategic planning process to ensure continuity as an organization.

(signed) RI President John Kenny

Menu of Activities

The following six categories reflect the priorities of the RI Strategic Plan 2007-10. To qualify for the 2009-10 Presidential Citation, clubs must under- take and complete an activity from three of these categories (three activities in total) between 1 July 2009 and 31 March 2010.

Eradicate polio

Through Rotary’s fundraising challenge, we can finish this crucial job and keep our promise to the world.

• Organize a major fundraising initiative in your community to support polio eradication.

• Make a club contribution to the polio fundraising challenge of at least $1,000.

Advance the recognition and public image of Rotary

To attract new members and cooperation from other organizations, we should promote our local and global service activities to the media and to our communities.

• Undertake a significant public relations campaign in your community to share the story of what Rotary is and does.

• Place at least one Humanity in Motion public service announcement in a print publication, on a radio or television program, or on a billboard.

• Gain media coverage of a club event or project in your community.

Increase Rotary’s capacity to provide service

Rotary clubs are encouraged to continue their efforts to address water, health and hunger, and literacy issues by volunteering more time, talent, and enthusiasm along the four Avenues of Service.

• Conduct a community needs assessment, and use it to establish a community service project that will involve at least 50 percent of the club’s members in active service.

• Sponsor a Rotary Community Corps of non-Rotarians, and complete a joint project with the RCC members.

• Conduct a service project with an international partner, either as the project host or as the sponsor. (Clubs may use Rotary’s ProjectLINK database to find a partner.)

• Carry out a service project recommended by one of the RI resource groups for health and hunger, literacy, and water, or cooperate on a project with a reputable organization that specializes in one of these areas of service.

Expand membership globally in both numbers and quality

Everything that Rotary hopes to accomplish depends on its members, and each of us is responsible for bringing in qualified new members.

• Have at least 20 percent of club members each bring a potential candidate for membership as a guest to a club meeting.

• Recruit at least one RI or Rotary Foundation program alumnus/alumna age 35 or younger into membership. (Rotary Foundation and RI\ program alumni include former Ambassadorial Scholars, Group Study Exchange team members, Rotary World Peace Fellows, and former Youth Exchange students, Rotaractors, and Interactors.)

• Increase the diversity of your club’s membership by recruiting at least two new members who belong to a demographic group (profession, age, religion, ethnicity, etc.) that is underrepresented in the club.

• Recruit at least two new members who have experience in community, vocational, or international service work, as part of the required net increase of at least one member by 31 March 2010.

Emphasize Rotary’s unique vocational service commitment

By demonstrating our strong commitment to high ethical standards in our professional lives, we can provide a model for our colleagues, our employees, and our customers and distinguish Rotary from other service and humanitarian organizations.

• Start or support a youth mentorship program in your club, and have at least 10 percent of the club’s members personally mentor a young person in vocational skills and business ethics.

• Start or support a career counseling and development program in your club, and invite participants from the community to attend. Have at least 10 percent of the club’s members actively participate and help participants improve their vocational skills and compete in the job market.

• Have at least one club member register as a Rotary Volunteer and use Rotary’s ProjectLINK database to locate an appropriate project.

Optimize leadership talents within RI

Strong leaders are essential to Rotary’s future, and each of us should strive to be better leaders in our clubs, our professions, and our communities.

• Create a leadership development program that at least 5 percent of club members complete. The RI publication Leadership Development: Your Guide to Starting a Program (250) offers suggestions.

• Cultivate leadership opportunities for youth by having at least 5 percent of club members sponsor a participant in a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) event or sponsor or host a Youth Exchange student, Ambassadorial Scholar, or Rotary World Peace Fellow.