Rotary International Theme 2024-2025	THE ROWEL Rotary Club of Durham		Rotary International President: Gordon McInally Rotary District 5160 Governor: Clair Roberts Durham Rotary President: Peggi Whitman _____________ Editor: Phil Price Publisher:  Jen Liu
	April 1, 2025	Harvest Festival  2025 will be held on September 21, 2025

The Meeting Opening We met at the Lili’s Brazilian Bistro in downtown Chico.  The meeting was called to order by President Peggi. But that was as far as our usual things went. No pledge, no invocation and no song.  There were 5 members plus one guest present.  See the photo of tonight’s meeting below. Peggi passed out a list of members and anticipated guests for our 80th Anniversary meeting on May 13th.  I assume she will pass it out to the missing members at the next meeting.

Introduction of Visitor

President Peggi introduced Dan DeWitt of the Chico Noon Rotary.  He here to present  our program for the night. 

Tonight’s Meeting

Our Next Meeting

Our next meeting, on April 15th, will be at Butte Creek Country Club.  Steve Plum will present Steven Gram, who will talk about the Federal Water Project.

There will be a Board Meeting at 5:00 pm before the Club meeting.

Tonight’s Meeting Program

Peggi presented Dan DeWitt of Chico Noon Rotary.  Dan talked about Club Runner, a program that handles club accounting and most other things necessary for the operation of a Rotary Club, including publishing of the club newsletter.

Here is Dan talking about it with the Club Runner web site on the restaurant’s TV.

An integrated membership success platform

Club Runner's integrated approach combines all the services you need to successfully connect, engage and grow. Build your web presence, improve communication, engage your members and deliver a better member experience all through one centralized platform.

Manage Membership Growth & Retention

Maintain an up to date member directory with photos in a secure members-only area of your site. Each member can keep their profile current.

Improve Public Relations

Publish a professional custom website or integrate ClubRunner’s tools into your existing site. Easily add stories, links, photos, videos and documents.

Boost Communication

Create your own professional online newsletter, customized with reminders and announcements. Distribute your email with just one click!

Impact Goals

ClubRunner automates administrative functions for you so you can spend more time working towards achieving your goals and making a positive impact.

ClubRunner Mobile App

The ClubRunner Mobile App is your key to connect to your club and district on the go! Included with your ClubRunner subscription, this app will let you access the key info you need while you're on the go.

The ClubRunner Mobile app allows you to to:

·         View Member directory profiles

·         View and contact your club/district executives and directors

·         View Posts on Your Website

·         Learn more about upcoming events and speakers

·         View Club Details

·         Keep track of your attendance

The few members present had a lot of questions.  The program would relieve a lot of the work the Club Treasurer undertakes. It also helps the operation of the Club in many other ways and makes accessing information easier for members.

Membership

Bring guests who you think you can interest in becoming a member.  Your dinner and your guest’s dinner will be paid for by the Club.  Also, bring a guest to one of our occasional social gatherings.

District 5160 Governor, Dan Geraldi is asking each club member to bring at least one guest to a meeting this year.

Go to the following Rotary International web site for information on membership development:  https://my.rotary.org/en/learning-reference/learn-topic/membership .  From this website there is access to membership development and other related information.

The Rotary Foundation Donations

You can make a difference in this world by helping people in need. Your gift can do some great things, from supplying filters that clean people’s drinking water to empowering local entrepreneurs to grow through business development training.

The Rotary Foundation will use your gift to fund the life-changing work of Rotary members who provide sustainable solutions to their communities’ most pressing needs. But we need help from people like you who will take action and give the gift of Rotary to make these projects possible.

When every Rotarian gives every year, no challenge is too great for us to make a difference. The minimum gift to The Rotary Foundation is $25.00.   An annual $100.00 gift is a sustaining member.  Once your donations accumulate to $1,000 you become a Paul Harris Fellow.

If you have any questions, ask Steve Heithecker.

It is possible to learn more about The Rotary Foundation on the Rotary web site. 

Your gift can be made online or by sending Jessica Thorpe a check made out to The Rotary Foundation to Durham Rotary, P.O. Box 383, Durham, California 95958.

Dear Fellow Rotarians,

Rotary District 5160 has gathered some of the brightest minds, most generous hearts and highly entertaining individuals inthe world to bring you an exhilarating Rotary event: Building Bridges to Change Lives!

You are invited to gather with fellow Rotarians on Saturday, April 5th at Shasta College Downtown HSUC Facility, 1400 Tehama Street inRedding to collaborate and make a difference in your communities and the world. Whether you’ve been in Rotary less than a year or for over 60 years,this event is designed to introduce ways your Rotary District and Rotary International can provide support to help you achieve your goals.

Breakout Sessions include topics such as:

Bridging Borders with International Projects
Youth Empowerment-Creating Tomorrow's Leaders Today
Vision to Action: Mapping Rotary Goals
Think Outside the Box - How to Grow Membership with New and Different ClubModels
Gratitude, Goals and Galas - Celebrating The Rotary Foundation

And Much, Much More!

Check-in will begin at 8:30 and the assemblies will conclude by 2:00. Coffee, pastries and lunch are included; please bring a refillable water bottle. To help offset facility and food costs, a nominal $20 registration fee is required.

 Register NOW for D5160 Spring Assembly & BETS (Board Elect Training) NORTH
 
Joy Alaidarous
District Governor 2025-26
Rotary Club of Rossmoor Walnut Creek
Cell:  925-300-7484

_______________________________________________________________ri

From Rotary International’s News and Features Website

{Note that the following may not be the complete article.  See the complete articleon Rotary International’s web page}.

A person-to-person global grant resource

Need help with a grant? Your district Rotary Foundation chair has the answer.

By Arnold R. Grahl

Peace Geoffrey Taremwa has more than 20 years’ experience implementing grants through his work for an overseas development agency. So during some of his visits to Rotary club projects, he noticed a problem.

“Clubs would receive their money but would end up doing something else that they thought was good,” says Taremwa, a past governor of District 9214 in Tanzania and parts of Uganda. “At the end of the day, this becomes a stewardship issue because it was not what was discussed in the grant application.

“The biggest problem we had was a lack of knowledge,” he adds. “Many Rotarians do not have sufficient knowledge of how to complete a global grant application.”

Consult your district Foundation chair

District Rotary Foundation chairs can bridge that gap. These advisers help clubs by explaining grant eligibility and procedures, building relationships with districts around the world as potential project partners, securing funding, and creating connections with mentors who can help with grant applications and reports. By working with their district Rotary Foundation chair, clubs can have a smoother global grant experience and ultimately support more communities in amore effective, sustainable way.

Taremwa, now the district Foundation chair, is working to streamline the grant process in his district, implementing changes he launched as governor in 2022-23. The new process clusters clubs together for grant applications, activities, and training events. The district’s outgoing Foundation chair and grants team conduct the training rather than incoming leaders. And grant support officers(a new role) mentor the club clusters on all grant applications, making sure money is spent according to plan and reports are filed on time.

The new process is working. “We have many more global grant applications,” Taremwasays. “And many clubs have been inviting our teams to go to them and do a training at the club level. Our stewardship teams are busier than before.

“Fundraising is also becoming easier,” he says. “We have told members, this is your money.Please contribute, and your money is available. If you don’t contribute, your money is not there.”

Consider a review committee

District 3292 in Nepal and Bhutan modified its grant process to address a different problem: Within clubs involved in global grant projects, many members lacked critical information about the grant.

M.K. Jha, a past district Foundation chair from Nepal, recalls an example from when two Rotary club presidents, from Nepal and India, met at a conference and decided to pursue a global grant together. But after it had been approved, the Nepalese Rotarian moved on, and no one else in his club knew anything about the grant.

To prevent issues like this, the district created a review committee, which includes the district Foundation chair, to screen all grant applications. To be considered, clubs complete a community assessment and fill out an authorization form and District Designated Fund request form. Projects must have been selected by the club’s service project committee and approved by both its Rotary Foundation committee (which identifies funding) and board. The club is then required to hold an assembly to discuss the project with all its members.

The district review committee pores over minutes of the club’s meetings and verifies the data in the community assessment. If it all looks good, the team then helps the club through the rest of the application and reporting process.

“By doing this, each and every member comes to know what is going on,” says Jha,now an assistant regional Rotary Foundation coordinator. “If members know what is being done in the community, it helps with reporting and avoids many issues.”

Additional resources

Between administering grant applications, overseeing fundraising efforts, and managing district grant funds, district Rotary Foundation chairs have a lot on their plate. Rotary International has created many resources, including onlinel earning courses and downloadable guides, to help district Rotary Foundation chairs understand and relay information about the grant application process.These resources help the leaders serving in this role to work with clubs to produce projects that have an even greater impact.

RI’s regional grants officers are also available to help districts with their grant processes. These Rotary staff members can provide guidance on project eligibility, address common problems, and offer tips for success. Clubs are strongly encouraged to contact their regional grants officers in the early stages of project planning.

This story originally appeared in the April 2025 issue of Rotary magazine.