Re: Getting Rotary support - giving support to Rotary

Nissan Dookeran wrote:
> Good ideas, but the funding issue is always a problem, even in Rotary. I
> know of persons from my (former?) club that would on a weekly basis pull
> from his (and her) own pockets more than was reasonably expected to ensure
> that there was sufficient to cover any shortfalls in the cost of the weekly
> lunches for the needy that they delivered.

Funding is my speciality - it ain't easy but I would say it is less of a 
worry than you may think :-)

> As for the tax incentives, I believe several years ago the tax breaks
> offered to companies for charitable donations was removed, I am not aware
> that they have been restored. This is why you will find that local companies
> will only sponsor events if significant advertising benefits are delivered
> to them by this sponsorship. 

I may be misinformed. We need confirmation of this.

> For any Rotary project, there must be a Rotarian chairing it and driving the
> club's involvement behind it. This is an internal thing and it doesn't mean
> they control the actual projects they sponsor in any dictatorial way, but
> just that they are responsible for delivering on their club's commitments to
> the projects to which they agree to assist and are responsible for keeping
> fellow members updated on the project activities.

I'm back on track for actually joining Rotary. They have alleviated some 
of my fears. My main problem was the requirement to attend meetings. 
Since I trvel extensively whilst not lecturing this would have been a 
problem. However, it has emerged that I can attend meetings anywhere in 
the world and still have them count towards my commitment. This is a 
godd thing in my book as it means I can spread the word wider.

> If a project doesn't have
> a member of the club advocating for it and being responsible for it, then
> the club can't sponsor it.

Yes, but Rotary had promised to set up a commitee to keep things moving 
whilst I was unable to join. This never happend. The problem with St 
Joseph and Maracs is that it is very small. Now that I discover I can 
attend any Rotary meeting this is no longer an issue in my mind.

> Ross, if you do decide to join Rotary, I would appreciate if you would
> extend an invitation to the CIS members to join you at one of the weekly
> meetings as your guest so that CIS and Rotary people can get to know one
> another

This makes total sense, and if I am asked to join I will propose such an 
arrangement.

For those of you who are not aware in order for me to join I have to be 
invited. Thanks to Nissan I have an open invitation to all St Joseph and 
Maracas meetings. However, Nissan can no longer sponsor me since he is 
in Barbados. Consequently I need to get a new sponsor within the club. 
Essentially what they are waiting for is commitment from myself to 
Rotary. At this time I am still deciding if I can offer that commitment. 
If CIS rise up and back me I will indeed join as I see big benifits (as 
Nissan orignally did) in having ROtary behind us.

Ross