I run a 501c3 non -profit in Colorado. We are funded solely by grants and donations.
I gave a presentation at a local Rotary club this week In hopes of getting some funding or sponsorship.
The presentation was received very positively. Afterwards I was hit up pretty hard to join the chapter. 35 bucks a month or so. I must attend three meetings before my application is considered for membership. It is strongly hinted that joining the chapter would be critical to getting any funding.
It was also a bit of a weird vibe. The pledge of allegiance. Repeating aloud some rules. People standing up and saying they’re happy and here’s 20 bucks.
So Rotarians. or non Rotarians, what’s the scoop on the group?
Flagged for moving to IMHO. Having said this, I’m not a Rotarian, and I’m not interested in joining, but Rotary is a bona fide organisation - a “service club”, akin to other similar organisations such as Lions or Kiwanis; it’s not a scam or anything like that. They do public events and fundraising for charity, and lectures and lunches amongst their own members. Its heydays are probably over - there was a time when everybody who wanted to be considered a member of the local gentry was sort of expected to be in one of these clubs, but n no it anymore, and I guess the average age of the average Rotary chapter is rather high today. They also have a reputation of being a bit pompous about themselves and “doing good things in order to talk about it”, but this is just an impression that I have which others might disagree with. If this is to your liking, then join, they won’t brainwash you; but if you don’t like this attitude, you’re not missing out on anything by staying away.
Not a Rotary member here, but I have nothing against them.
What I have a problem with, is that they’re outmoded. Service clubs—the Rotary, the Lions, the Kiwanis, the Moose, and others—their days are over. Today, we can make business contacts (which, let’s face it, is what service clubs were all about) without them.
I moved to take a lawyer job in this small city. The senior partners were all on me, trying to get me to join a service club. “That’s how we get business.” But to me, coming from a city twenty times the size, service clubs were inconsequential. If there was a Lions Club in Toronto, I never knew about it.
I did get involved with other community groups, only to hear the senior partners say, “We’d prefer if you don’t involve yourself with those people.” Dahell? I got involved with a community theatre group, a pub trivia team, and the gang at the racetrack. What’s wrong with those? Lots of legal business there–wills, estates, family law matters, criminal matters, real estate, and so on—but the firm didn’t want it. Not if it came from those people. Which were never clearly defined, except they weren’t Rotarians, or Lions, or Kiwanians, or Moose.
Meh. I’ve managed to survive as a lawyer anyway, service clubs or not.
I don’t know about the others, but I can commit on the Moose. They are more of a blue collar family oriented club and not so much a business contact organization, but you can meet business contact there.
One of the benifits is that they run there own bar that is much cheaper than regular bars and I believe that people can still smoke in them, even if illegal because the doors are locked and you must be buzzed in.
Also, several locations have free access to private docks for gaining access to lakefronts. This is a big perk for people that can’t afford or dont want to deal with Marianas.
Those names take me back. When I was a kid in the 1970s, the Lion, the Rotary, the “Mr. and Mrs. Club,” the VFW, the American Legion, etc., etc., were all over the place - with floats in parades, sponsorships of Little League teams, etc., etc. And don’t get me started on the bowling leagues, men’s, women’s and mixed (in the afternoon (for moms before the kids got home from school) and in the evening).
I’m not either but I know a bunch of people in our local Rotary club; most of those whippersnappers are in their 30s. I fully understand that anecdote may ≠ data.
The Rotary Club has mostly been replaced by the Touch Tone Club.
That is still old school, the newest club is called the Voice Recognition Club.
I was a Rotarian for about 10 years. Some positives and negatives:
Positives: you meet a lot of pretty decent people. Some are there only to make business connections, but the majority are there because they want to do something good for the community. Most chapters have a lot of different outreach programs going on (i.e. youth exchange, outreach to the elderly, Polio eradication, disaster relief, etc.), so you can probably find something that interests you. Many clubs put on some pretty fun events.
Negatives: the make up on the club makes all the difference. I was the youngest member of my club by 15 years. Many of the members weren’t interested in trying anything new or outreach to younger potential members. Most clubs are constantly asking for donations. Many members don’t actively participate in the “work” of the club, so if you are willing to volunteer, the club asks for more and more of your time. Some of the meetings are just god awful. Whenever the District Governor comes for a visit, its an hour of people saying “thank you” back and forth to each other until they pass out. Luckily this is only once a year.
Overall, it’s a great organization. I only left because I moved to a town without a club. I would just make sure the club has some people with your general interests.
Also not a member but the organization’s vaccine preventable disease work, in particular its dogged pursuit of global polio eradication, is highly thought of and a very good thing.
And one more little memory from the 70s: I often saw their signs at the entrance to many small towns, along quiet country roads, usually right at the city limits. The sign had the club logo, saying “Rotary club” or Lion’s club, and then “meets 1st wednesday of every month” at the such-and-such restaurant, or hotel , or whatever.
The signs were, I believe, a reaction to the 1950’s, when these members-only clubs had existed alongside certain other clubs which were also members-only, but did not publicize their meeting places…such as the Ku Klux Klan. (And maybe also the Moose and Elks clubs.)
So to prove themselves decent citizens, the Rotary and Lions instituted a policy of posting signs to declare publicly that their activities are open to all.
Oh, I remember those signs, too. Here’s a recent one - from Australia:
- I see the Rotary, the Lions, the Freemasons, but no JayCees.
Note that a lot of Rotary Clubs are solid Trump supporters. Trump was even president of the NY 6 Rotary Club back when. The national org. also has been on the far right side lobbying on many bills in Congress.
Depending on how you feel about this guy may influence your decision of whether you want to hang around with a bunch of his gung ho supporters.
I’ve seen those signs at the town line. I assumed they were for the benefit of any traveling Rotarian/Elk/Lion.
Interesting thing about that (and I’d be curious if that is something that is your impression or based on data) -
On the one hand Rotarians tend to be business leader types, so a conservative bent might be expected. The group itself though is explicitly apolitical.
Meanwhile though in 2019 Rotary came out with a strong position regarding the critical importance of addressing climate change, something that I am sure did not make the MAGA crowd happy.
I highly doubt they would accept me, so they must have something going on good about them.
My friend’s father owned a small business so she ‘inherited’ his position when he passed away. She started going to a few meetings in San Diego and mentioned plans to go with the Rotary Club down to Tijuana to build houses. I thought that sounded like fun so I asked if I could come along. I did that twice on separate trips* that were about six months apart. Somebody recognized me on the second trip and encouraged my friend to invite her boyfriend@ to a couple meetings. I learned membership was open to business executives and HR people (those who could tell employees “Hey, check this out! Maybe you want to volunteer?” I guess) and children of former members could get in as ‘legacy’ members. Apparently I also qualified because an ancestor (my grandfather, a Bank of Tokyo exec) had been a very active member during his life.
I attended a couple meetings, one which was a review of the house-building efforts the previous year and another where a professor of history came and gave a presentation that explained How did the USA get into the conflicts in the Gulf, anyway?
My friend had warned me that a donation was expected if I attended a meeting and I was able to throw a $20 into the pot. That seemed pretty paltry next to the C-notes everybody else was tossing in. Each meeting was started with a group Pledge of Allegiance followed by a group prayer led by a different member each time. I was also forewarned (and reminded after the second meeting) that I’d be asked to join if I attended a third meeting. With the reminder I was given a pamphlet which reiterated the membership qualifications% and noted that they were an organization dedicated to God and Country (in that order) and doing good works was their way to fulfill their Christian obligations&. And then there were some examples of their benevolent achievements and brief biographies of the leaders with pictures, et cetera.
In some ways it seemed to me that the Rotary Club (similar to the Kiwanis and Lions, at least) are the next step after a Boy Scout becomes a business leader (or at least an HR person): You must be monotheist to join and we’ll be doing charitable stuff and, of course, networking within the chapter.
I didn’t go to a third meeting, mostly because I had lots of other stuff going on in my life and I don’t feel enough blind faith to pray and pledge. I was flattered that they would have let me join as a legacy member even though my grandfather had passed away decades earlier, but I didn’t feel like I needed to follow somehow in his footsteps for any reason.
Plus I didn’t think I could afford the meeting donation obligation. That part wasn’t offensive to me; I understood that they had to pay the professor a decent speakers’ fee to do his presentation and the room and refreshments were pretty nice, as well, so they weren’t cheap. I just didn’t think my meager budget at the time was going to support the monthly donations they expected.
–G!
*I was hoping to learn some new carpentry skills, beyond what I had learned from repairing things and small projects around the house. I didn’t learn anything new, but it was still fun putting what I knew to good use on a solid project rather than fix-it efforts.
@No, sorry. Her boyfriend was the other guy bantering crudely with her on the second trip – but he had already established that he wasn’t interested in joining.
%Those qualifications also made the ‘grandfather’ allowance seem like an exception/stretch that they were willing to make in my case. That was flattering.
&I’m not saying that’s the Rotary Club’s requirement all around the world, but that was in the pamphlet I was given so it was definitely that chapter’s requirement.
True, and they seem to be just as you say. The local Moose Lodge hosts community events in its hall, and I’ve been to a few. I’ve seen the promotional pictures on the walls plugging the Mooseheart School, for children; and other indicators of what the Moose do for seniors. The Moose seem to be very involved in the communities where they are located. And that’s good.
The local Moose Lodge, however, is dying. The hall is a firetrap, mainly because the caretaker has blocked fire exits. He’s not being malicious, he’s just looking for a place to store all the stuff he has, and if it blocks an exit, well, so be it. He’s also a cantankerous old guy (yep, I’ve met him), and not very welcoming. His wife, however, is very nice, and her homemade preserves were popular with everybody. They were for sale during community events at the hall, and were they ever good!
By several decades. It’s a wonder that so many still exist. I would wager that for most of these organizations, membership peaked in the 1970’s and have been on a continual decline ever since.
About two decades ago, a political scientist published a book called Bowling Alone (which I have not read) that argues that the reduction in league bowling, fraternal organizations (like Rotary Clubs) reduces civil engagement and damages democracy.