Important Note: Deadline for district newsletter submissions is the 25th of each month. The newsletter will be distributed by the first full week of the month.
District Governor's Message
Rotary Family
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Dean Dickinson |
Dear Rotarians,
The Rotary theme for the month of December is “Rotary Family”. How does your club celebrate “family” during December? One way would be to celebrate the diversity of “family” by providing programs that high light the diversity of your community. Another might be to invite the family, non Rotarians and children to your club meetings. How about a holiday program where the children provide the entertainment?
One thing I know for certain and that is in the grand scheme of things there is nothing more important than our families. Our families should come first, then ouroccupations and then our commitment to Rotary.
It is imperative that as we do good in the world we, first and foremost, do good for our families. Recently a young member of our district said, “sometimes the biggest obstacle to my being able to go out the door to do the work of Rotary is my wife because she does not understand what it is that I am doing and why.” We are working to change that at the district level and I hope that our clubs will follow suit. If Rotary is going to be a strong and growing organization we must tend to our families and I would submit, that begins by involving them in what we do in Rotary.
At this holiday season know that while the temporal is filled with uncertainty and doubt… the spiritual is built on the solid rock of faith that we are all in God’s hands and all is well. That is my prayer for my family and yours…that all is well and that the blessings of this holiday season will be and abide with you and those you love.
Yours in Rotary,
Dean, Dianne, Marissa and Tyler Dickinson
Dean Dickinson
District Governor
Rotary District 6250
District News, Events and Announcements
Rotary Club of Platteville Leads the Way with First Club Visioning Event in District
Ooh Yea! Plateville Rotary Leads the Way!
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The Rotary Club of Platteville believes the slogan “The Future of Rotary is in Your Hands. Yes, indeed, they looked into the future and envisioned their small club re-focusing there efforts to meet the needs of their community and beyond. At the urging of three visionary Rotarians, Mike Gutsch, Cyndi Rueter, and Barb Stockhausen, the RC of Platteville requested the services of the Club Vision Facilitation effort sponsored by District 6250 even before Rotarians in this District were trained as vision facilitators!! No sooner had 29 Rotarians been trained as Club Vision Facilitators on October 24 th than the RC of Platteville made arrangements to host their visioning event on Tuesday, November 10, 2009 from 5:00-9:00 pm.
Leaders of the RC of Platteville gathered in the Community Room of the First National Bank, enjoyed a light supper together, listened to a PowerPoint presentation, participated in writing, extraction and dot-voting exercises, summarized their work and developed an action plan for the club to use going forward. Lots of ideas, new and old, were placed on flip charts for lively discussions and eventual action plan development
This visioning effort was led by four Rotarians trained on October 24 th and included Jim Abeyta - RC of Holman, Debby Johnson – RC of La Crosse, Kelly Krieg-Sigman - RC of La Crosse, and Dean Ryerson - RC of Madison-West Towne-Middleton. District Governor Dean Dickinson was in attendance, observing the process, and said, “The team of facilitators did a masterful job. The training these Rotarians received from internationally renowned Rotarians skilled at training Rotarians was excellent and was reflected in this team’s performance.”
Reflecting the success of the Platteville visioning event, three more Rotary clubs in District 6250 have indicated their interest in hosting a similar visioning event early in 2010.
“We will forever be grateful for the RC of Platteville being willing to be the first club to experiment with this new visioning process and for hosting their effort within two weeks of facilitator training,” said Chuck Hanson (DGN), Chair, District 6250 Club Vision Facilitation Committee.
If you would like more information on the Club Visioning process, visit the District Vision webpage or feel free to contact Committee Chair and District Governor Nominee Chuck Hanson or any member of District 6250's Club Visioning Committee. You can find all the names and e-mail addresses on the District website.
If you would like to request a club visioning event for your club, you can download the request form and fax it to Morgan Data using this link: Club Vision Facilitator Request Form. The District 6250 Club Visioning Committee looks forward to hearing from you.
Chuck Hanson (District Governor Nominee) and District 6250 Club Visioning Chair
Tom Mickelson, Member, District 6250 Club Visioning Committee
Rotary Membership Seminar Generates a Host of Good Ideas
If you thought the skit at the beginning of the Foundation / Membership Seminar on November 7th in Wisconsin Dells was exciting and creative, you should have been 1 of 24 participants energizing the break-out session on Membership. Rotarians from all corners of District 6250 who consider themselves “membership enthusiasts” listened to the kick off cheer “25-45-Facebook-Retention-the Future of Rotary is in Your Hands” led by Tom Mickelson, Membership Development and Retention Committee, Chair. Area Membership Coordinators, Mari Anne Warren, Greg Curti, Rita Clavadatscher, Regina Millner, and Joey Marshall (sitting in for Richard Kenney) and other participants echoed the cheer and led small table group discussions prompted by activity handouts that symbolized case studies. Case studies included discussions about Recruitment in the morning and Retention in the afternoon.
Click here to view the table discussion results with great membership ideas for your club!
Rotarians at Work Day May 1, 2010
Wanted: 50 more clubs to sign up for Rotarians At Work Day – May 1, 2010. District Governor Dean needs the number of Rotarians with their shirt size ASAP so that he can order your members’ free Tee shirt to be worn during this work out day. How spectacular will it be to see all Rotarians in District 6250 out working on the same day all dressed in their finest Rotarians At Work Tee shirts? Wow!
The latest club to sign up is the Reedsburg Western Sauk County Club, which will be conducting a Community Spruce Up: working on their cabin at the Historical Society, landscaping around the Welcome Signs for the city, and a general sprucing up.
Twenty Rotarians will be participating. The contact person is Sandy Ott at sandyott@charter.net
How Connected are You?
How connected to Rotary are you? Is the Rotarian magazine a source of pride and up to date information as you read about the great work that Rotarians are doing to improve health, support education and alleviate poverty or is it just another piece of “junk mail” that hits your mail box once a month?
How about the district newsletter? The November newsletter was absolutely amazing. It included stories and information about the foundation, rolled out the District Club Vision Facilitation program, shared information about the Group Study Exchange that will visit Uruguay next April and May, provided a story about the recent Friendship exchange with Sweden, announced the Rotary Foundation Raffle, provided information on the Ethics in Business award, a new award in the district and carried stories about what several of the clubs in the district are doing.
If you are reading this article then you are a part of just one half of our membership that has the opportunity to do so. Roughly half of the clubs in the district have not bothered to provide the e-mail addresses of their members to our administrative office so that we can send the newsletter to all of our members. Our clubs and our members want to hear the wonderful story of Rotary…do we share that story in our club programs? Do we allow our members to become informed about what is happening in our district and the greater Rotary world via the district newsletter? Do we wonder why we have membership retention issues while at the same time not sharing the big story of Rotary with our members? I will end where I began, “how connected to Rotary are you?”
Dean Dickinson
District Governor
Rotary District 6250
Foundation Facts At-a-Glance
Did you know that Charity Navigator ranked the Rotary Foundation in the Top 10 (#3) of Charities? Charity Navigator is a source of information for those looking to make intelligent charitable giving decissions.
The Rotary Foundation was founded in 1917 by the sixth president of Rotary International, Arch C. Klumpf.
The foundation was funded by a contribution of $26.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri. Contributions to the Rotary Foundation in 2005-2006 amounted to almost 118 million dollars.
“The mission of the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty.”
In short form, this means that the Rotary Foundation is committed to those programs which support the premise that there cannot be world understanding and peace when people are hungry, sick, uneducated and living in squalor.
The Council of Legislation in 2001 set a EREY goal of $100 and that decision was endorsed by the 2004 Council of Legislation.
The Rotary Foundation is comprised of these major funds:
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ANNUAL PROGRAMS FUND: Supports Ambassadorial Scholars, Supports Group Study Exchange, Supports District Simplified Grants, Supports through DDF Matching Grants,
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THE WORLD FUND: Supports Humanitarian Grants, Supports World Peace Scholars, Supports 3H Grants, Supports Matching Grants
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THE PERMANENT FUND: An endowment fund established in 1982
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THE POLIO PLUS FUND: Supports the ongoing efforts of R.I. to eradicate polio.
DONOR DESIGNATIONS
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Sustaining Member $100 per year
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Paul Harris Fellow $1000 in cumulative giving to the foundation
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Benefactor $1000 or more to the Permanent Fund
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Paul Harris Society $1000 in annual giving to the foundation
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Bequest Society $10,000 or more to the Permanent Fund
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Major Donor $10,000 or more to the APF, PF or TRF
Foundation Raffle
The District Foundation Committee is happy to announce a Foundation Raffle intended to reward those of our district membership who are sustaining members of the Rotary Foundation. Each Rotarian who contributes at least $100.00 to the Annual Programs Fund (EREY) in Rotary year 2009-2010, on or before May 1 st, 2010, will have his/her name entered into a raffle drawing. Additional tickets will be entered for each subsequent contribution of $100. Three winners will be drawn on Saturday evening, May 22, 2010, at the District Conference Celebration Dinner. The prizes?
3 rd Place 26” Flat Screen T.V.
2 nd Place 36” Flat Screen T.V.
1 st Place 42” Flat Screen T.V.
The more you contribute the greater number of chances you will have to win one of these great prizes but donations must be in increments of $100 to qualify for a raffle ticket. If you are making a contribution through a billing statement from your club you will want to ask your club treasurer to remit your contributions to the Rotary Foundation so that they arrive not later than May 1st, 2010.
This raffle is conducted in compliance with Wisconsin Raffle Rules and Regulations.
There is no cash value associated with these prizes and they may not be redeemed or exchanged.
Winners need not be present to win but are responsible for the delivery of the prize to their home (so plan on coming to the conference and make it easy on yourself)
Dean Dickinson
District Governor
Rotary District 6250
Mary Kessens
District Foundation Chair
Rotary District 6250
Recruiting for District Foundation Subcommittees
Have you ever wondered how The Rotary Foundation really works? Been curious about Group Study Exchange? Wondered how to propose someone for an Ambassadorial Scholarship? Been confused about how to send in a donation to the Rotary Foundation? Wish there was a way to find out more about The Rotary Foundation? Wanted to leverage some of your current skills for a good cause? Wanted to develop some skills that you wouldn’t normally use in your day-to-day work?
One way to get answers to these questions is participate on a District Rotary Foundation Subcommittee. Although it may seem that the Rotary year has just begun, our district leaders are already planning for next year. District Foundation Chair Mary Kessens is recruiting interested Rotarians for various activities of The District Foundation Sub-Committees.
Options to serve include:
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Area Foundation Coordinator: Work with 5-10 clubs on fundraising and education about The Rotary Foundation
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Polio Fundraising Committee: assist clubs in developing events to meet the $2000/year challenge grant for polio eradication
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Fund raising: looking for Rotarians who are willing to assist individuals in donating to The Rotary Foundation. May include working with zero-giving clubs, talking to major donors, working with individuals on planned giving, developing club fundraising, promoting the Every Rotarian Every Year Campaign, promoting the Paul Harris Society
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Grants Committee members: learn about the guidelines for matching grants and district simplified grants, educate others about how to write grants, review grant applications
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Writer: researching and writing articles for the newsletter and other media detailing the work of The Rotary Foundation with area clubs. Articles needed on matching grant successes, Ambassadorial Scholar stories and GSE events
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Videographer: develop videos of matching grant projects and promote them on the web and media outlets
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Alumni coordinator: Take initiative to develop ways to include Rotary Foundation Alumni in the activities of Rotary in our District
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Planner/Leader: Rotarians to develop vision for the future of The Rotary Foundation in District 6250
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Foundation Trainer: Develop training for annual Foundation Seminar, webinars and other vehicles to advance education on The Rotary Foundation
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Foundation webmaster : work in conjunction with current district website or other social networking sites to disseminate information about The Rotary Foundation’s work with District 6250.
If you are interested in any of these positions, contact Mary Kessens at 608-516-1306 or kessens@gdinet.com.
Club News, Events and Announcements
Do you have an upcoming Club Event or accomplishment that you would like to announce? Send your pre-written article to: rotarydistrict6250@morgandata.com.
Three Clubs Recognized for Foundation Support
Three clubs of District 6250 have been recognized for their outstanding support of the Annual Programs Fund of our Rotary Foundation in Rotary year 2008-2009.
They are with their per capital support listed:
The Rotary Club of Madison West Towne Middleton $262.50
The Rotary Club of Menomonie $129.94
The Rotary Club of Fitchburg-Verona $125.00
The three clubs providing the highest dollar amount of support are:
The Rotary Club of Madison $47,094.00
The Rotary Club of La Crosse $20,935.00
The Rotary Club of Madison West Towne Middleton $19,692.00
This support for the Rotary Foundation enables our district to participate in both matching and simplified grants, supports our Group Study Exchange program and underwrites the various scholarships offered by Rotary International. The Rotarians of this district are making a difference in the world, are changing and saving lives and extending a helping hand to those who are calling out in need. Thank you to all who do so much to support the good work of the Rotary Foundation.
Mary Kessens
District Foundation Chair
David Warren
District Annual Programs Chair
Valley View Rotary of LaCrosse Helps Purchase Ambulance in India
As a result of a strong partnership with DGN N. Asoka , Rotary Club of Salem, Tamil , India, and Valley View Rotary of LaCrosse an ambulance was bought and now services tsunami affected towns on the eastern coast of India. On December 12, 2009 a matching grant 
application was made to District #6250 and then to Rotary International. The beneficiary was St. Joseph Clinic of Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu. This was the first time an ambulance was available in this community. For patients who suffer heart attacks they now have reliable and fast transportation. In cooperation with various Rotary Clubs of Salem and Pondicherry India and La Crosse, Wisconsin, along with RI, the communities will be well served! Many thanks to Rotary!
Rotarian Sondra LeGrand
International Volunteer
Valley View Club
La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Bolivian Water Project Seeks Help
Dear District 6250 Rotary Clubs,
I am writing to ask for your help. The Bolivian Water Project - which the Chippewa Falls Rotary Club has been helping develop along with generous support from the Menomonie Noon and Eau Claire Noon Clubs and the District 6250 needs your help. We are within $4,000 of our goal to raise $36,000 to bring clean, reliable, affordable water to 200 households in the Village of Sivingani, Bolivia.
Thank you everyone for all of your efforts in helping make this project a reality.
PS-Don't forget to visit the Chippewa Falls website to learn about the upcoming March 2010 Bolivia Trip and how you can participate in it. www.chippewafallsrotary.org
Sincerely,
Andrew Dane
Chippewa Falls Rotary
Are You Considering Club Management Software?
Take a look at ClubRunner Rotary Newsletter for information on how it can help your club.
http://www.clubrunner.ca/CRWeb/Newsletter/2009_11/2009_11S.htm
River Cities Jazz to Tour Europe and Help Eliminate Worldwide Polio
Central Wisconsin based River Cities Jazz (18 piece big band) is making a European tour during the summer of 2010. With a purpose to raise money toward Rotary International’s polio eradication efforts through concert performances abroad, they will travel June 23 through July 7, 2010 and perform approximately ten concerts. Concerts will be to raise money, all of which will go to polio eradication through Rotary International.
Concerts are being planned with dates already set for London and Liverpool. River Cities Jazz has also learned of acceptance to perform at the internationally acclaimed Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland during their tour, an extremely high honor. An annual event for the past 43 years, the Montreux Jazz Festival is THE meeting place for the greatest jazz legends and up and coming artists. Mitch Biba, leader of River Cities Jazz, does not expect to be an internationally acclaimed act. However, he is honored that a combination of their CD and live recordings secured the band’s acceptance to Montreux.
Other performances are being confirmed and Mitch hopes to have the band members’ flights and charter bus travel covered through donations. To keep costs lower, housing accommodations will be offered by Rotarians abroad, similar to Group Study Exchange. Biba notes that no band members will be making any money on this tour. With a bonus match to Rotary from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, their goal is to net over $300,000 for this amazing cause.
A notable feature of this project is the combined efforts of Rotary clubs around the world. Local clubs and Rotary District 6250 have combined with UK Rotary District 1180 to bring it to fruition. It began with the meeting of Group Study Exchange team leaders Mitch Biba (US District 6250) and Les Wilson (UK District 1180). Meeting during their exchanges to the Philippines in April, 2009, they discussed the possibility of combining efforts for a big band tour to help raise funds for polio eradication. Wilson has begun the process of establishing three concert performances in the UK. This has provide the base needed to start an overall European tour for the band. Biba is contacting other Rotary clubs and districts in France, Germany and Switzerland to round it out. Rotary clubs and districts abroad will setup performances and related details such as advertising and ticketing. They will also collect proceeds, all of which will be dedicated to Rotary’s polio eradication program.
River Cities Jazz began over ten years ago with its home base in Wisconsin Rapids. They perform a variety of styles from a variety of composers and arrangers including Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, Buddy Rich, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Maynard Ferguson, Michael Buble, Earth Wind & Fire and lots more.
For more information, see the River Cities Jazz Website at www.RiverCitiesJazz.com
Mitch Biba can be contacted at 715-459-6288
Looking for a FUNdraiser for Polio Eradication? "Making Children Part of the Solution"
If your club is searching for a FUNdraiser for the polio eradication effort, consider a “Purple Pinkie” Project.
A link to one club’s version of this fundraiser follows. This is from the Rotary Club of Lake City, Florida: http://www.rotary6940.org/pdfs/PurplePinkieProjectHandbook.pdf
A great way to raise money and awareness!
RI News
Rotary Emergency Disaster Initiative - 4th Annual Emergency Management Conference
Member Access to RI Website
Do you have questions about what you can find on the Rotary International website and how you go about getting access. Check out this fact sheet with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about the RI site.
Update on Annual Giving
December Foundation Calendar
Foundation Reports
Each club in District 6250 has established a foundation goal and the question is how are the clubs going about the achieving those goals? Have each of the clubs done an every member enrollment? Successful clubs take the time to ask each member to make a pledge commitment to the Rotary Foundation. Fulfilling that pledge might involve a quarterly billing by the club secretary/treasurer or participating in the direct deposit transfer from the Rotarians checking account to the RI Foundation account or it might mean a monthly charge to a credit card. Successful clubs establish a process that allows their members to both make and fulfill the commitment.
Click here to view the updated Club Goals Report!
Attendance Report
New Reporting Tool for District Attendance
Check out the new reporting tool for District Attendance for 2008-2009. http://www.rotary6250.org/clubs/monthlyattendance.shtml Clubs can view each month’s attendance in a visual graph. Also Club Secretary’s can request access to update their information directly online!
A big THANK YOU goes out to District 5340 for sharing this web functionality!
Click here to submit your club's attendance report
Click here to see the full Attendance Report.
