Posted by Craig Young on Jul 26, 2016
Last Friday we held our Club Assembly, which I began with a “State of our Club” talk. The State of our Club is – a state of flux! Miriam-Webster dictionary defines “flux” as a “series of changes; continual change”. For our club to be able to attract new vibrant members, to be a positive force in our community, to be part of Rotary International’s world betterment projects, we must be able to change and embrace new ideas and have an open mind to change.

We reviewed our club’s financial status, and in our club operating accounts we have been running significant yearly deficits of $20,000 or so for 6 or more years. We cannot continue deficit spending of this size and still be a viable club in 10 years. Some immediate changes we are making to reduce our deficit are:
  • new office share arrangement with District 6650 which will give us savings of about $3,000 per year;
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  • no longer mailing Rotograms – savings of about $1,200 per year (if you need a printed copy mailed to you please contact the office and there is a $50 yearly charge);
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  • new club fundraiser of a Reverse Raffle in Feb/March;
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  • We have begun requiring budgets from all committees and any organization wanting Canton Rotary to donate must apply for funding consideration.
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  • There will be more little bites out of our deficit over the coming year.

Another major change we are making is discontinuing Pancake Day this year. One of the best things about Pancake Day was the camaraderie that Rotarians working together created. Two of the worst things were the $100 for tickets which were mostly given away, and the relatively low number of Rotarians who actually participated in Pancake Day. We are replacing it with a club fundraiser, a reverse raffle, in the Feb/March time frame. We are hoping this event will provide as much, or more, time for Rotarians to work and socialize together and will also generate funding to support our club.

Canton Rotary will be funding and helping construct a new “pocket park” in the Harrisburg/Royal neighborhood. This project will happen in the spring, and will be part of the neighborhood revitalization being led by Habitat for Humanity of East Central Ohio. This project will have Canton Rotary’s name attached and will help raise our status in the Canton community. This project, coupled with our donation for the Market Square development, which will also give Canton Rotary naming rights within the project, will help raise the awareness and importance of Canton Rotary in our community.

There are 3 main accounts that Canton Rotary operates –
  • the Club fund, which is for our club operation including salaries, rent, office expenses, and so forth. The Club fund gets its money from dues, office sharing, and club fundraisers.
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  • Our Charitable fund, through which we fund local projects including Junior Achievement, Philomatheon Society, Shelter Box donation, Exchange Students, RYLA and Interact, new member project, and many more. The Charitable fund receives its money from Oktoberfest, President Elect’s campaign, Happy Bucks, and things like an auction from the podium.
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  • Our last fund is the Endowment Fund, which has been built up over many years from donations to the endowment by Canton Rotarians. The Endowment fund has its own controlling committee, headed by Curt Werren, and this is where we fund major things like the Market Square donation, as well as major donations to local organizations such as the Stark County Library, the Children’s Dyslexia Center, Canton Palace Theatre, and more.

I need to make a correction from last week. The golf outing has always been a club fundraiser, and we have not been donating more money than we received. Thanks Nick Perini for the correction!