2020 is here! A new year filled with promise, new resolutions, new ideas and half a year to accomplish our 2019-20 Rotary goals! I want to bring you up to date on where we are as a district in our 2 major goals areas for the year, Membership and Foundation giving.
On the Membership front we are still positive as of January 1, 2020 with total active membership at 1,903 members, up 28 members from July 1, 2019. We fell off a bit after the 1st half membership drops that happened December 31st but we are still positive.
As I have mentioned before our Lincoln clubs are setting the pace in membership and now stand at 26 net new members for the first 6 months of the year. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the District’s newest Rotary Club, Lincoln Evening Giving Spirits Club and president Kathy Collingsworth who are up 9 new members and have grown their club from 22 to 31 members this year! For a club that is in its second year of existence, this is truly a great performance and shows the entire club is engaged in growing their membership. Our top ten clubs in membership growth in the District are as follows:
| Club | Net New Members | Total Members | |
| 1 | Lincoln Evening Giving Spirits | 9 | 31 |
| 2 | Omaha Suburban | 9 | 198 |
| 3 | Lincoln Club 14 | 7 | 222 |
| 4 | Red Oak | 5 | 39 |
| 5 | Lincoln East | 5 | 47 |
| 6 | Lincoln South | 5 | 53 |
| 7 | Omaha West | 5 | 112 |
| 8 | Shenandoah | 3 | 32 |
| 9 | Seward | 3 | 59 |
| 10 | Glenwood | 2 | 28 |
Unfortunately 16 of our clubs have lost members so far this year bringing our net new member total down but I am confident we can work to get all clubs positive again by June 30, 2020 and reach our membership goal of 1,950 members.
As I think about membership it’s all about the “ask”. We accomplish amazing things through Rotary and as much as we try to improve our public image and get the word out about all the good we do, if we don’t “ask” people to join us, few will. I’m asking each of you to help your club grow by asking a friend, relative or business associate to come to a meeting and once you get them to a meeting, ask them to join. If they are like you and I, they’ll see the value in being a Rotarian and join. Congratulations to all clubs that have made Membership Growth a top priority and are growing.
On the Foundation front I’m pleased to tell you we are at 65% of goal to the annual fund or $107,934.26 raised year to date. Thank you to each of you that have contributed so far to the RI Foundation this year. We have a way to go but we are in great shape going into the second half of our Rotary year. Remember half of your contributions come back to the District to fund District grants in 3 years and the other half goes into the World fund to match global grants. With over 95% of your contribution going directly to fund grants, what better bank for the buck can you make?
Yours in Rotary
Mick