Rotary District 6250 - Rotary District 6250

District Governor

Chuck Hanson

Serving Western Wisconsin & Southeast Minnesota

Club Visioning Information

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District Headlines

Welcome to the district site for Rotary Clubs in Wisconsin and Southeastern Minnesota

From District Governor Chuck Hanson

May 2012

Our Upcoming Events

Rotary District 6250 Conference & Assembly - Registration Open

June 8-9
LaCrosse Center
LaCrosse, WI
Program and Registration Information

District Governor's Message

Dear Rotarians,

This has been a very dynamic and innovative year for Rotary in our District. Among those innovations have been the District Ethics Initiative, the District Leadership Academy, and the Future Vision Task Force designed to make sure that we have the support in place for our clubs when the new International Foundation Rules go into effect on July 1, 2013. We have continued support for Club Visioning and expanded multi-club projects. To directly benefit people within our District, we have expanded support for Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), Interact, and Rotaract. I want to take a moment to highlight two other initiatives that will directly benefit the clubs in our District.

The District 6250 Charitable Trust has now been created. This is a Wisconsin non-profit corporation that will be set up as a 501(c)(3) organization which will allow contributions to be tax exempt. This is not designed to compete with existing local club foundations or the Rotary International Foundation. This new organization will provide four important services to our District.

First, it will be available for use by clubs that do not have their own local foundation. We have many clubs in the District who do not want to financially establish and support a local foundation, but would benefit from a tax exemption for fundraisers for Rotary projects. Much like a community foundation, there will be separate designated accounts for any club wishing to use the charitable trust and all funds raised by the club will be maintained in that separate account for that particular club’s Rotary projects.

The second important feature will be Emergency Disaster Relief. In the past, we have seen tragedy strike and Rotarians respond. Often we make individual contributions and, on occasion, contributions through our clubs. It is my hope that with a tax exempt District organization, individuals and clubs willing to support disaster relief would make their contribution to The Rotary District 6250 Charitable Trust and receive a tax deduction. Combining our efforts, a large gift will be made in the name of Rotary from our District. Moreover, this would be another way our clubs can work together in common cause for the common good.

The third benefit would be to have specialized funds within the Charitable Trust to support Rotary programs within our District, such as RYLA and Youth Exchange. For example, the La Crosse Valley View Rotary Club will be making a donation of approximately $20,000.00 to the new District Charitable Trust to support scholarships for Youth Exchange. Other clubs and Rotarians who wish to support that cause will know that their donations are not only tax deductible, but will be dedicated for that purpose. Fourth, on rare occasions, Rotary Clubs do dissolve. After expenses are paid, there are often funds left over that were raised by Rotary for Rotary purposes. These funds will now be transferred to The Rotary District Charitable Trust. They will be held initially for two years so that if another Rotary Club is established in that area, the funds can be then sent to that new Rotary Club. However, if no Rotary Club develops in that area, the monies will then be used for Rotary purposes to support Rotary programs.

The other special initiative I would like to highlight is the joint fund raising effort for a project in Thailand as part of the Group Study Exchange we have this year with Australia. Because both the United States and Australia are developed countries, we asked the two GSE Teams to work with the two Districts to develop a Rotary program in a developing country and Thailand was chosen. Our GSE Team helped to raise funds for this project while in Australia, and the Australian team that will arrive shortly in our District will do the same while they are with us. In addition, we are asking all the clubs of the District to provide at least one quality item for the silent auction at the District Conference and the proceeds will be used to help support this project that will provide fire extinguishers in a slum area of Bangkok, Thailand.

Finally, I want to call your attention to the Positive Athlete Initiative that District 6250 is working on with District 6220 and 6270. Packer great, Greg Jennings, along with the Positive Athlete organization, is seeking nominations of high school student athletes. The purpose of this movement is to inspire young athletes and emphasize the importance of playing sports in a positive way. The award does not go to the most successful athlete, but the athlete that best exemplifies a positive attitude, team support, and character leadership. There are more details on this program in a separate article in the newsletter.

What we have seen this year in our District is quality support for our clubs and increasing cooperation by clubs within our District. The more we can find ways to cooperate and support one another, the greater will be our impact on our local communities and the good we can do in the wider world. I eagerly look forward to seeing all of you at the District Conference on June 8-9, 2012, in La Crosse. We will celebrate what’s right with the world, share ideas, expand our horizons on what we can do in Rotary, and have a lot of fun. For more information on the conference, all you need to do is click here. See you in La Crosse!

Please click the image above for more Conference details and the registration form.

All the best,

Chuck Hanson
District Governor 2011-2012
Rotary District 6250