Los Angeles

15 June 2008

Last year, in Salt Lake City, I asked my fellow Rotarians to join me in committing to make 2008-09 the year that we would all say yes to Rotary. That we would say, Yes, I will lead that project. Yes, I will help you with yours. Yes, I will bring in that new member. And yes, I will be committed to my Rotary work, whatever that work may be. I asked you, and you answered me. You said, yes, yes, yes! Here we all are, a year later, and now I’d like to ask you again: In this Rotary year, did you love Rotary? Did you serve Rotary? And did you share Rotary? Thank you!

In the past two years, Joan and I have met thousands of Rotarians in dozens of countries, and we’ve seen their remarkable work firsthand. Every single day, we saw projects that awed and inspired us. I’m glad to report that in true Rotary spirit, some of the clubs we visited even put us to work. In Halifax, I helped get breakfast ready for some hungry schoolchildren, and I read to some third graders in Connecticut. In Chennai, India, I joined hundreds of Rotarians, Rotaractors, and community members who came together to discuss an ambitious microcredit program that will help thousands of people climb out of poverty.

I also saw the tremendous job Rotary has done in helping communities recover from the tsunami that devastated so much of Southeast Asia in 2004. It’s been three and a half years since that terrible catastrophe. You don’t see it in the news anymore. But Rotarians haven’t forgotten, because they’ve been busy rebuilding. In Sri Lanka, I had the honor of presiding at the ceremonial closing of the Schools Re-awakening project. This project highlighted what’s best about Rotary. The Rotarians in Sri Lanka didn’t just send short-term aid and then move on to the next project. They took the time and the care to determine just how they could help best. They decided that they would rebuild schools, 25 of them, one in each province. The government allocated them 25 schools, and the Rotarians went to work.

But they didn’t just rebuild the schools the way they were. As one Rotarian said, what would have been the point of that? Instead, they made bigger and better schools — model schools, with science labs, gymnasiums, computer rooms, and spacious classrooms. Each one has modern sanitation and a permanent source of water. And in areas without electricity, the schools are powered by solar energy. The Sri Lankan Rotarians didn’t just return life to normal for these students. They made it better than ever. And that’s a hallmark of Rotary service worldwide and one reason why long-term disaster recovery is an area in which we excel. We can’t seem to leave "good enough" alone. We always want to make it better.

And we do. In Central America, people who lost everything to Hurricane Mitch in 1998 have built thriving businesses, thanks to a Rotary-developed microcredit program. Now, they’re enjoying a better life than they had before disaster hit.

This is one of the issues we discussed at seven membership conferences held throughout the United States and Canada this year. I chose sites in North America because, unfortunately, this region has experienced an alarming decline in membership in recent years. Between 200 and 600 Rotarians attended each conference. And these conferences were great. There was a real energy, and a real sense of shared understanding of just why membership is such an urgent issue. We talked about the challenges that Rotary membership is facing and will continue to face, as the world’s population and the need for Rotary service continue to grow. And we talked about how the situation of only a few people bringing in most of the members just can’t continue.

Some of you may have heard me talk about the idea of "member get member," that it must be the responsibility of every Rotarian to bring one new member into their clubs, every single year. It is, very simply, the way we need to approach the whole question of membership for Rotary to survive and grow. Because membership has to be seen as a matter of individual, universal responsibility. It’s not everyone’s responsibility; it’s the responsibility of each of us. It’s mine and yours and yours and yours. Every one of us, individually, has that responsibility to our organization, that responsibility to see that it will survive.

As an accountant, I tend to think in terms of a cost-benefit analysis. So I ask what’s the potential cost to me of inviting someone I think is qualified for membership, and might be interested in becoming a member, to a meeting of my club? Well, the cost might be a little bit of time. I’ll have to approach that person and talk to him or her about Rotary and find a time to bring that person to a meeting. There’s also the potential cost of a bit of embarrassment to me if the person says no, or if they turn out not to be qualified. Those are the costs that I weigh when I’m making that decision.

Over the past two years, I’ve met many dignitaries and world leaders. Invariably, they have commended Rotary and Rotarians for their service to humanity. I’ve accepted these compliments and I even accepted a few awards. But I’ve accepted them on behalf of you. Because it is you — all of you, the Rotarians of the world — who have earned these accolades through your relentless efforts to make this world a better place. And I’m not the only one who thinks that. When I presented the Rotary Award of Honor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during his visit to Chicago this year, he said that really the UN should be giving Rotary an award for all of our work on polio eradication and our efforts to achieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals.

One of our greatest honors this year didn’t come with a medal or a plaque. It came from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which gave Rotary a US$100 million challenge grant to be used for polio eradication. What I think is so significant about this grant is what it says about Rotary — that the Gates Foundation gave the money to Rotary International before we had raised even one penny of matching funds. That’s right. They just initiated a bank transfer. For $100 million. Now, I’m an accountant and I’ve seen a lot of money change hands, but I’ve never seen $100 million just turn up in my bank account. I don’t think most people have! But that’s just what the Gates Foundation did for Rotary. They gave us that money, and they told us to spend it all by 31 December 2008, two full years before the date we had agreed to finish raising the matching funds.

All the distinguished leaders that I met offered great praise and thanks for Rotary’s work, but I was especially struck by the words of Ólafur Grímsson, the president of Iceland, who said, if I may paraphrase: "Rotary has the right answer. Your organization includes men and

women on an equal basis, and you have members from nearly every country. They represent every race, color, and creed. So what the world must do to make peace possible is have more Rotarians." I couldn’t have said it better myself. What this world needs is more Rotarians. More Rotarians working hard and working together, working with joy and working with love.