Proposals to increase dues by $1 a year, to authorize the RI Board of Directors to change district boundaries, to assess $3 a year per member to support the annual international convention, and to allow clubs to set their own attendance requirements are among more than 180 items that will come before Rotary International’s Council on Legislation in April 2013.

The Council on Legislation, sometimes referred to as Rotary’s Parliament, meets every three years.  Each of Rotary’s 532 Districts is represented by a single delegate.  Past District Governor Jerry Venters of the Kansas City Plaza Rotary Club is District 6040’s delegate in 2013, and PDG Sally Bibb of the Kansas City Rotary Club is the alternate (to serve in case Jerry is unable to serve).

The Council will meet for a week in late April in Chicago.  Also participating from District 6040 is PDG Duane Benton, who serves as the Council’s parliamentarian.

Among the legislative proposals, which were submitted before the December 31, 2011 deadline, are these:

·         Increase RI dues by $1 per year per member for three consecutive years, starting 2014-15.  The increase would raise $1.2 million a year.

·         Require clubs to pay $3 per member per year to cover the costs of RI conventions; correspondingly, registration fees for a convention would be capped at $100 unless the Board of Directors sets a higher maximum.  (Proposed by the Rotary Club of Kirksville.)

·         Establish “Service Above Self” as the permanent annual theme, ending the practice of having a different theme each year.

·         Authorize the Board of Directors to change the district boundaries of districts with more than 100 clubs and to adjust the boundaries of adjacent districts.

·         Permit clubs to set their own attendance requirements, including allowing participation in service projects and similar events to count toward the attendance requirement.

·         Allow a District Governor to merge a club with another club if the first club has fewer than 25 members for three consecutive years.

·         Establish a Council of Past Governors in each district to consider matters referred by the District Governor and to give advice to the DG.

More than 30 resolutions are to be submitted to delegates for their consideration.  A resolution is a non-binding recommendation that the Board of Directors take certain actions or create certain programs.  Some of the resolutions to be presented in 2013 would request the Board to:

·         Consider supporting programs to stop the practice of child slavery, to prevent sexual mutilation, and to make it a priority of Rotary to stop the proliferation of land mines and to aid their victims.

·         Consider designating the Rotary Leadership Institute as an RI affiliate or as a structured program of RI.

·         Consider lowering the minimum age for Interact members to 11 (from 12) and raising the maximum age for Rotaract members to 35 (from 30).

·         Consider including Preserve Planet Earth, a program started by Past RI President Paulo de Costa, as an RI structured program.

·         Consider making children and grandchildren of Rotarians and their spouses eligible for Foundation awards programs.

You may have heard about the new model of implementing Rotary Foundation Grants and programs, commonly referred to as the Future Vision Plan.  This new plan begins officially on July 1, 2013 and our clubs need to be preparing for this exciting change. 

                What must you do?  Attend a Club Qualification Seminar.  These seminars will give you the basis to implement the programs in your club.  One is in Jefferson City on March 23 from 2:00-4:00pm, right after PET’s.  The second is April 26 from 9:00-11:00 am, just before the District Conference in Blue Springs.  These seminars, led by our Grants Chair, PDG Elizabeth Usovicz, will give you all of the information you need to know to be effective in utilizing Rotary Grants for your clubs projects.

                The upcoming changes will give Rotary clubs easier and quicker access to funding for both Global and District Grant funds.  For more information, click on the “File Cabinet for Grants July 1, 2013” tab on the left.  Also, check out our Face Book page, Rotary District 6040 Foundation Page.   

Kenneth E. (Kenny) Harris

Rotary International 

District 6040 Governor 2012-2013 

Blue Springs, MO 64015

January 12, 2013

Introducing our D6040 District Donor Advised Fund.

Have you, or someone in your club, wished there was a way to contribute to a “cause of your choice”, either locally or internationally, that was an “honest to goodness” tax deductible contribution? 

The D6040 District Donor Advised Fund will allow any club, individual Rotarian, or non-Rotarian to contribute to a charity of their choice, providing this charity is an IRS Approved Charity.  Your club can use this as their own “Foundation” without all the paperwork and reporting requirements that go along with operating your own Charitable Fund.   For example, some clubs have established their own Foundation for use in supporting scholarship efforts in their community. 

It is extremely important to note this fund is NOT to be confused with each individual Rotarian’s responsibility to support the Rotary Foundation.  Nor should this DDAF be considered to be in competition with The Rotary Foundation.

Some of you may be aware that a few other districts already have such a fund, and some of you may have perceived our need for such a fund.  Recent disasters have caused District Leaders to realize that D6040 did not have a “charitable fund” which would allow Rotarians to contribute to a charity of their choosing. 

Instituting this DDAF will allow persons to donate to a fund and control to which charity their 100% tax deductible contributions would go.

More information and applications are posted on the District 6040 website: www.rotary6040.org. 

Please review with your board and take advantage of this opportunity to promote Peace through Service.