Four Key Objectives for the year.
Successful running of GDF08. GardenDesignFest is the Major Club event held every second year. The main objective for the year is to hold this event with a successful financial result utilising all the members of the club in the process.
There is no doubt that we achieved the first target being a successful financial result. Garden DesignFest 2008 left the club with a profit of $63,500. Of these funds $16,000 was given to each of; Boroondara Family Network, Interplast and The Alola Foundation. $3,000 was given to the Rotary Club of Daylesford for their assistance. $500 was given to each of the 3 Rotary Clubs within our cluster for them to put towards their clubs Polio contribution for this year, again this was in recognition for their assistance in running the event. Our club has also made its $3,000 Polio contribution for the next 3 years in one lump sum this year- this takes the pressure off the Presidents for the next 2 years in having to raise funds for this. This leaves an amount of $8,000, which the board agreed would be split between this year’s board, and next year’s board, to spend in an area of their choice.
What an amazing effort from one event. Yes there was an incredible amount of work that went into making this happen. We had the opportunity during the year to recognise the individual contribution made by Graeme Sheahan in running this event, with a Paul Harris Sapphire presentation at the luncheon at which we distributed the major funds to the three charities concerned.
The pleasing aspect to this event was the involvement and support from our sister club Daylesford, who ran the Paul Bangay garden for us, this complemented our existing relationship with this club.
We also received excellent support from the 3 clubs within our cluster.
Importantly we were able to utilise the participation of a large number of members from our own club, they took ownership of this event, put in the hard work and therefore can be very proud of the final result.
The result of this year’s Garden DesignFest was another significant increase on the previous two, which is testimony to the quality of the event, and the positive response from the community in attendance. Our club is envied by not only other Rotary clubs, but by other community organisations for having such a wonderful event. The club will need to continue to consider the growth and development of this project to make it even bigger in the future, as well as maintaining it as the single biggest activity undertaken by the club.
Conduct an engaging fellowship program. For me, fellowship is one of the most important aspects of being a Rotarian. Providing a program that enhances the fellowship opportunities throughout the year is a key objective.
From my perspective this is another area in which we have excelled this year. The efforts of Vin Doquile and his team in organising a number of successful fellowship events are greatly appreciated by the members of the club. I strived hard to allow for a reasonable period of fellowship within the weekly meeting, and I believe this worked well and enhanced our weekly meetings.
Increase Weekly attendance percentages. Our club has a membership of 54 members, yet we often struggle to have more than 30 members attend a weekly meeting. The reasons for this will be many and complex. A key objective for the year is to try and find out the reasons for this, put a strategy into place that addresses it and ultimately increase the weekly attendance percentage by the end of the year.
Our membership numbers did drop significantly during the year, and at times we had difficulties in meeting our requirements with the Kew Golf Club as far as minimum attendance is concerned. However overall we have been getting 30 plus members attend the weekly meeting, and we have had a couple of significant meetings that saw the attendance reach over 40, particularly when we distributed the funds from GDF08. There is no doubt this will continue to be a challenge for the next couple of years, unless we achieve a sudden increase in members. I believe the changes to the formality of the meeting, and the allowance for some time for fellowship, as mentioned above, are steps in the right direction and have contributed to the increase in attendance.
All four key objectives are important, however this last one I believe underlines the long-term viability of the club: that is the need to re-engage members that have limited involvement in club activities. At the time of preparing this document I do not profess to have the answer to this, however throughout the year I hope to talk and listen to all members in an effort to understand what it is that is needed to make them want to become involved in club activities.
This continues to be a challenge for our club. Often the feedback I found throughout this year was not that people weren’t interested, rather their stage in life, and their other commitments, limited their ability to take on roles of responsibility within the club, and for some members, prevented them from attending at all. I believe as a board we have been encouraging members to contribute in whatever ways they can, and been supportive to their needs. Ultimately it is up to each individual member to assess their contribution to the club and to look to see if there are further ways in which they can support the club.