Board decisions
"July" 2019
The 2019–20 RI Board held its first meeting on 7 June 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. At the May and "July" meetings, the Board reviewed reports from three committees and recorded 27 decisions.
The Board
- welcomed the 2019–20 appointments of Olayinka Babalola as RI vice president and David D. Stovall as RI treasurer;
- agreed that Zones 1B, 3, 14, 18, 22, 29, 32, and 34 shall select committees in 2019–20 to nominate RI directors for election at the 2021 convention to serve in 2022–24;
- approved creation of a new task force to thoroughly study how best to implement the 2019 Council's approval of admitting Rotaract clubs into Rotary;
- extended its electronic voting pilot in South Asia (whereby districts are required to use electronic voting for district and zone elections) to include more countries in the region and to be extended through 2021–22.
May 2019
The 2018–19 RI Board of directors held its fifth and final meeting on 30 May 2019 in Hamburg, Germany. At the May and "July" meetings, the Board reviewed reports from three committees and recorded 27 decisions.
The Board
- modified the qualifications for the International Assembly moderator and Convention Committee chair positions to allow for more candidates, to ensure that candidates have recent Rotary leadership experience, and to clarify that the candidates must have basic English ability, among changes to ultimately help ensure the best candidates are selected for these important Rotary leadership positions. The Board also clarified who may nominate Rotarians for these positions;
- extended Rotary's service partnership agreements with Ashoka and Mediators Beyond Borders International through 30 June 2022;
- approved the 2019–20 RI operating budget, reflecting revenues of US$111,639,000, operating expenses of $87,878,000, use of general surplus funds of $572,000, and use of convention reserves of $1,215,000, resulting in an excess of revenues, general surplus funds, and convention reserve over expenditures of $3,292,000.
April 2019
The fourth 2018–19 RI Board of Directors meeting was held on 8–11 April 2019 in Evanston, IL, USA. At this meeting, the Board reviewed 11 committee reports and recorded 44 decisions.
Clubs and Districts
The Board
- agreed to implement to all districts, beginning 1 July 2021, a new district governor funding model (in pilot now through 2021), whereby RI funds governors via district accounts and governors are required to document full use of their funds, returning any unused portion to Rotary;
- amended its qualifications for serving on a district committee to allow for the selection of Rotaractors;
- agreed to continue conducting its non-club-based participant model test, which aims to create new channels into Rotary, build awareness of the Rotary brand, diversify participation in Rotary, and to increase Rotary's openness and appeal;
- approved the formation of Rotary clubs in Iraq.
Administration and Finances
The Board
- took several decisions regarding the power of the RI president, including
- requesting the president-elect to nominate no fewer than twice the number of candidates for election as Foundation trustees as there will be open positions for (not including the position to be held by an RI past president);
- agreeing that effective 1 July 2020, Rotary will not fund the expenses of a president's representative to district conferences that do not meet certain attendance requirements;
- agreeing that effective 1 July 2020, president's representatives shall not be appointed to more than one conference per Rotary year;
- regarding Rotary committees
- agreed that all Board decisions creating a new committee or task force that is to last beyond the current Rotary year must identify:
- a defined trial and evaluation period of not more than four years;
- anticipated impact on Rotary's resources for the duration of the trial and evaluation period;
- criteria by which the success or failure of the committee or task force will be measured;
- dates for interim evaluations and reports to the Board;
- a date of the final evaluation, following which the Board may adopt it as an on-going committee or task force, terminate the committee or task force, or extend the trial and evaluation period as needed;
- agreed that all Board decisions creating a new committee or task force that is to last beyond the current Rotary year must identify:
- in reviewing the Rotary brand
- requested all users of the Rotary Marks to come into visual brand compliance as soon as possible;
- agreed not to publish in official Rotary media, after 31 July 2019, any advertisements or other information that are not in brand compliance;
- agreed not to permit any exhibitions at all official Rotary events that are not in brand compliance;
- approved a five-year roadmap through 2024 as a guide for implementing the new strategic plan with specific activities and target completion dates for each of the four strategic priorities;
- extended the strategic partnership with the Institute for Economics and Peace through 2022 and the project partnership with ShelterBox through 2022;
- agreed to add the African Development Bank and the Asian Development Bank to the list of organizations to which Rotary has representation.
January 2019
The third 2018–19 RI Board of Directors meeting was held on 21–23 January 2019 in La Jolla, CA, USA. At this meeting, the Board reviewed 9 committee reports and recorded 56 decisions.
Clubs and Districts
The Board
- continued its review of a global membership test project that is not club-based;
- reviewed 16 resolutions that were adopted by the 2017 Council on Resolutions;
Programs, Meetings, and Awards
The Board
- agreed to allow Rotarian Action Groups to establish separate charitable entities;
- authorized the general secretary to work with Toastmasters International to develop and launch a co-branded online product, to be made available first to Rotaract clubs, then non-club based participants and Rotary clubs;
- approved allowing content from the 2020 RI (Honolulu) Convention to be available via a livestreaming platform;
- tentatively selected Melbourne, Australia, as the site for the 2023 RI Convention;
- selected the individual and association to receive the Rotary Alumni Global Service Award and the Rotary Alumni Association of the Year Award;
- approved 75 recipients for the 2018–19 Service Above Self Award.
Administration and Finances
The Board
- approved President-elect Maloney's proposed 2019–20 Rotary committee appointments, including his selection of Olayinka Babalola (Nigeria) as vice president, David Stovall (USA) as treasurer, and Francesco Arezzo (Italy) as Executive Committee chair;
- approved a diversity, equity and inclusion policy statement for Rotary as follows:
As a global network that strives to build a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change, Rotary values diversity and celebrates the contributions of people of all backgrounds, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, color, abilities, religion, socioeconomic status, culture, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Rotary will cultivate a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture in which people from underrepresented groups have greater opportunities to participate as members and leaders.
- updated its policy on adult harassment and requested the general secretary to provide training resources to club and district leaders regarding maintaining harassment-free environments at Rotary meetings, events, and activities;
- agreed to submit to the 2019 Council on Legislation a statement of support for Council item 19-117: "To authorize the RI Board to take appropriate action to change RI's tax status";
- approved the 2019–20 district governors funding budget of US$9.3 million;
- approved spending from The Rotary Foundation unrestricted funds to increase the World Fund match from US$0.50 to $1.00 for every $1.00 of district designated funds contributed to the PolioPlus program, and further increased the annual maximum contribution from US$5 million to $10 million.
October 2018
The second 2018–19 RI Board of Directors meeting was held on 22–25 October at the Rotary International World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, USA. At this meeting, the Board reviewed 17 committee reports and recorded 52 decisions.
Club and District
The Board
- received a report on membership trends that included, as of 1 July 2018, a membership total of 1,195,107 Rotarians (down 7,829 members from 2017) and a total of 35,681 clubs (up 25 clubs from 2017);
- agreed to pursue registration as an overseas NGO in the People's Republic of China;
- amended the role, selection criteria, and term of assistant governors;
- encouraged regional leaders to appoint current or former Rotaract members as assistant Rotary coordinators and Rotary public image coordinators to support member development in Rotaract and to strengthen the relationship between Rotary clubs and Rotaract clubs;
- agreed that the following district committees and subcommittees should be mandatory, effective 1 July 2019:
Committees
Finance
Membership
Public Image
Rotary Foundation
Training
Subcommittees
Grants
Fundraising
PolioPlus
Rotary Peace Fellowships Stewardship
- agreed that the following district committees are optional, effective 1 July 2109:
Alumni
Community Service
Conference
Convention Promotion
Interact
International Service (DISC)
Programs
Rotaract
Rotary Youth Leadership Awards
Youth Exchange
Programs and Awards
The Board
- extended its service partnership agreement with Ashoka and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness through the end of June 2019;
- adopted the following initiatives for the first year of the new Rotary strategic plan:
- Rotaract—the Secretariat will research Rotaract as a channel into the Rotary experience and investigate what Rotary products and services Rotaractors are most interested in.
- Area of Focus Modifications—for the first time since the 2010 Future Vision rollout, the Foundation will evaluate whether changes to the Areas of Focus are needed.
- Governance—the Board will investigate streamlining governance throughout Rotary.
- Business Process Review—the Secretariat will undertake a system-wide review of all major business processes within Rotary to ensure efficient allocation of resources and their alignment with the new strategic plan.
- Global Membership—the Secretariat will thoroughly investigate all components of a new avenue into Rotary membership with the global membership model for possible adoption as a pilot program.
- Programs of Scale—the Rotary Foundation Trustees will investigate the further development of a new grant model that features large-scale projects.
- requested the general secretary to investigate the impact of collecting annual per capital dues from Rotaractors.
Meetings
The Board
- accepted the proposal of District 5000 (USA—Hawaii), to host the 2020 Rotary International Convention on 6–10 June 2020 in Honolulu, Hawaii;
- updated the leadership development and training cycle to combine the District Rotary Foundation Seminar, the District Membership Seminar, and the District Public Image Seminar into a new seminar called the Vibrant Club Workshop.
Administration and Finances
The Board
- elected Jorge Aufranc, Hipolito S. Ferreira, Jennifer E. Jones, and Ian H.S. Riseley to be Rotary Foundation trustees, beginning 1 July 2019;
- adopted a new privacy statement for personal data as follows:
Rotary's Privacy Statement for Personal Data
In the course of fulfilling its mission, Rotary International ("Rotary") collects personal data regarding Rotarians, Rotary clubs and others. Rotary is committed to protecting the privacy of these individuals. Personal data is defined as any information that relates to an individual who is or can be identified from the data, either alone or in conjunction with other information. Rotary will adhere to the following principles:
1. Rotary will only collect and use personal data for Core Business Purposes.
2. Rotary will strive for personal data accuracy and relevance.
3. Rotary will be transparent about how it uses personal data.
4. Rotary will act with urgency on potential breaches.
5. Rotary will adopt "privacy by design and by default."
6. Rotary will keep personal data secure.
Rotary's Core Business Purposes are purposes that are critical or closely related to Rotary's essential activities or legitimate interests. Such purposes include, but are not limited to:
• fulfilling Rotary's obligations to Rotarians and other individuals
• financial processing
• supporting The Rotary Foundation, including fundraising efforts
• facilitating convention and special event planning
• communicating key organizational messages through Rotary publications and other materials
• supporting the programs and membership of Rotary
• complying with the law or acting in good faith belief that such an action is necessary to conform with the requirements of the law.
- requested the general secretary to study and recommend a formal policy statement on gender equity for report at its January 2019 meeting.
July 2018
The 2018–19 RI Board held its first meeting on 29 June 2018 in Toronto, ON, Canada. At these meetings the Board reviewed reports from six committees and recorded 39 decisions.
RI Administration
The Board
- welcomed the 2018–19 appointments of John C. Matthews as RI vice president and Peter Iblher as RI treasurer;
- adopted the 2019–20 annual goals for Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation as follows:
GOALS FOR PRIORITY 1 – UNITE PEOPLE
1. Strengthen the process for activating leadership in clubs and districts.
2. Increase club membership by attracting new and retaining existing members.
3. Start new clubs.
4. Increase the number of female members, members under 40, and Rotaractors joining Rotary.
5. Enhance the engagement and collaboration among Interact, Rotaract and Rotary club members and other Rotary participants.
GOALS FOR PRIORITY 2 – TAKE ACTION
6. Publicize the role of Rotary and Rotarians in polio eradication.
7. Increase local and international projects by fully utilizing District Designated Funds to fund district grants, global grants, PolioPlus and the Rotary Peace Centers.
8. Increase contributions to the Annual Fund and PolioPlus while building the Endowment Fund to $2.025 billion by 2025.
9. Build awareness of Rotary, and promote the People of Action campaign.
GOALS FOR PRIORITY 3 – INTERNAL/OPERATIONAL MATTERS
10. Analyze the effectiveness of our current volunteer leadership levels.
11. Focus and potentially narrow our program efforts.
- agreed that committees referenced in Article 17 of the RI Bylaws should not meet during the month of July, the first two weeks of August, and from the fourth Thursday in November through the end of December and requested future RI presidents to authorize meeting times accordingly;
- in its ongoing review of governance matters in Rotary, established a new, six-person committee to review regional leaders and structure, including the effectiveness of institutes, presidents' representatives, and regional leaders; the regionalization model; volunteer leadership layers between directors and the districts; and district matters, including the ideal number of districts, their size, leadership structure, and duties of the governor;
- approved a four-year pilot for incorporating young past governors as a resource to the RI Board as a way for including younger perspectives in the Board's decision making process.
