The recent Blog post,
Is Rip Van Rotary Finally Waking Up? stimulated interesting comments from readers, some
of which are included here. As they indicate, many club and district Rotarians and leaders wrestle with
What is Rotary? and
Why Rotary?, basically Rotary's value proposition. So let's reconstruct how the Rotary network
grew, why it stopped, and what it will take to continue revitalizing and sustaining
its growth.
In 1905, Rotary's value
proposition -
The Object of Rotary - flowed freely from
Chicago
and naturally constructed the Rotary network much like the Mississippi River historically flowed freely and naturally constructed its
Louisiana delta. In the latter part of the last century, Rotary
International (RI) substantially restricted the proposition's natural flow by rerouting
it. This rerouting minimized
constructing its network, particularly in major market areas, and it began to shrink. In the last century, the Corp of Engineers
substantially restricted the
Mississippi's
natural flow by rerouting it. This
rerouting minimized constructing its delta in
Louisiana, and it began to shrink. Following Constructal Law, the reason was the
same in both cases: Rotary's value
proposition and the
Mississippi River stopped
flowing free because both, with good intentions, were routed away from their natural course. The Corp of Engineers channeled the Mississippi River to serve the
nation's needs instead of the
Louisiana
delta; RI leaders channeled the Rotary network to serve beneficiaries' needs instead
of clubs and Rotarians.
RI's underlying problems created
by this rerouting were:
- Beneficiaries do not replenish the Rotary network; Rotarians do.
- Beneficiaries
do not fund RI and its projects and programs; clubs and Rotarians do.
- RI began
portraying Rotarians as volunteers and charity workers.
There are billions of volunteers and
charity workers. It doesn't take much skill
to pick up trash, serve in food lines, dig ditches, or park cars. Not only that, most have no interest whatsoever
in joining a local Rotary club. Even if
they did, why should they pay dues to join an organization that recognizes them
for doing what they are already doing? Many
Rotarians do volunteer to do charity work, but they must be differentiated from
the billions of others. Rotarians adopt
the ideal of service in their personal, business, and community lives. Because
they live by this ideal, they often identify local community needs, and as
a result of the relationships developed through the network, create ways and
means to satisfy those needs. Most often it
is writing checks funding those who have the necessary skills. But is
this the image of Rotarians emanating from RI, the networks headwaters? Is this the image of Rotarians the communities
in which they reside receive? Is this
the image of Rotarians those who may be interested developing acquaintances
with them receive?
Only limited numbers of people
in any community have the time and resources to join the Rotary
network. They are a niche group, and a
minuscule niche at that. People in this niche will expend the time and money to develop and
sustain relationships just like lobbyists will
contribute to political campaigns to develop and sustain relationships with
politicians. Building relationships with this niche is the first and most
important Object of Rotary. The second Object respects how they utilize
their professions to make their community better i.e. employ
people, serve customers, satisfy community needs, influence positive community
development, etc. But it is in the third Object where Rotary's
value proposition shines - Rotarians adopt the ideal of service in
their personal, business, community, and world lives; the root of the
Rotary network.
RI can reestablish its value
proposition's natural flow by developing and executing a long-term internal
marketing campaign centered on differentiating who Rotarians are, the value
that people who may be interested in becoming a Rotarian receive, and telling stories
about the benefits of advancing the Object of Rotary. Hundreds of thousands of Rotarians, including
many leaders, do not understand the Object's essence simply because few
Rotarians stress its importance, particularly the value of developing
relationships with like-minded people. Often their defense is its century-old phraseology;
the phraseology upon which the network was constructed.
The real reason is that Rotarians have not been encouraged to talk about its importance.
RI, through internal marketing, must
destroy its restricting gates, and encourage its value proposition to once
again flow freely. This will constantly revitalize the
networks most effective constructors, existing Rotarians. Like unrestricted rivers perpetually build
deltas, Rotarians will continue constructing their network because they know
that
The recent Blog post, Is Rip Van Rotary Finally Waking Up? stimulated interesting comments from readers, some
of which are included here. As they indicate, many club and district Rotarians and leaders wrestle with What is Rotary? and Why Rotary?, basically Rotary's value proposition. So let's reconstruct how the Rotary network
grew, why it stopped, and what it will take to continue revitalizing and sustaining
its growth.
In 1905, Rotary's value
proposition - The Object of Rotary - flowed freely from 
