ENGLISH (EN)
GENERAL SECRETARY’S SPEECH TO THE
2015 ROTARY CONVENTION
John Hewko
São Paulo, Brazil
9 June 2015
Good morning, everyone!
Bom dia a todos!
Antes de mais nada, quero aproveitar esta oportunidade para agradecer aos rotarianos do Brasil e de São
Paulo por esta Convenção maravilhosa. É muito bom estar de volta a esta cidade incrível, onde já vivi e
trabalhei. Somos muito gratos por sua hospitalidade e carisma. Foi muito bom para todos nós poder
conhecer melhor seu país tão lindo. Viva o Brasil!
It has been another exceptionally busy year for the Secretariat staff, as we continue our efforts to support
your efforts. We’re proud of your service, and I have many exciting developments to share with you. It’s a
common saying in Brazil that you should “never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.” And
because Rotarians across the world have acted on that principle, the future is looking brighter. As you
have heard from earlier speakers, we are very close to one year of no cases of polio in Africa. This is an
incredible achievement and comes one year after India and South-East Asia were officially certified as
polio free. Truly, we are all lighting up Rotary!
Globally, recognition of Rotary’s work is increasing: We received a tremendous amount of positive
international media coverage, ranging from Time magazine, the New York Times, and Forbes to the BBC,
Globo TV, Al Jazeera, CNN, and Sky News. Our social media presence was particularly strong in 2014,
with a reach of almost 60 million users. We are earning credit not just for the quality of our work, but also
for the effectiveness of how we manage our finances and operations.
In 2014, The Rotary Foundation earned a top rating of four stars from Charity Navigator, the leading
evaluator in the United States for nonprofits, in recognition of our exceptional performance,
accountability and transparency. This places Rotary in the top 3 percent of U.S.-based charities.
Rotary’s strength is in its members, and over the past two years we have introduced a number of new tools
to enhance the membership experience: the new grant-making model, the comprehensive Rotary brand
strengthening initiative and our new visual identity, a new website, Rotary Club Central, the Brand
Center, Showcase, the Ideas platform, a more robust social media presence and most recently, our new
club invoicing system, which dramatically simplifies for clubs the process of paying Rotary International
dues. Increasing membership has been a major focus this past year and President Gary has shown great
leadership on this issue, with the result that as of May our worldwide membership has grown by more
GENERAL SECRETARY’S SPEECH TO 2015 ROTARY CONVENTION (June 2015)
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than 47,000. In addition, I know that President-elect Ravi has an exciting announcement to make
regarding a new member benefit program, which we will be launching very soon.
All these developments are helping us attract more partners, scale up our work, be taken more seriously
by governments, increase our reach and bring in new members. But most important, you are responding
positively to these developments.
More and more Rotarians are using the range of online tools and resources available through My Rotary
to strengthen their clubs and Rotary’s image.
More than 14,700 Rotary clubs — 43 percent — have adopted Rotary Club Central to help set and track
annual goals for membership, service and Foundation giving.
More than one in five Rotary clubs has participated in a district grant project. In addition, there is such a
huge upsurge in global grant applications that the demand is exceeding the funds that are available for
them.
Rotarians have posted more than 8,900 projects on Rotary Showcase since it was launched in 2012.
These projects reflect more than 6.8 million volunteer hours — every one of these hours is a unit of your
devotion, the basic building block for all our recent achievements.
Your generous donations to The Rotary Foundation have also reached a new milestone. Our Endowment
Fund’s current and projected net assets have already exceeded $1 billion, two years ahead of our 2017
target. These improvements in the way we operate are a result of the strong collaboration between the
Rotary International Board of Directors, The Rotary Foundation Trustees and the Rotary Secretariat and
are a vindication of Paul Harris’ belief that “there is nothing in Rotary so sacred that it cannot be set aside
in favor of things better.”
Rotary’s founder wrote those words while traveling through South America, and they echo a Brazilian
proverb: “One who does not look ahead remains behind.” So we cannot be complacent. The world is
changing rapidly, and yet our global membership has been stagnant at around 1.2 million over the past
decade.
Half of the world’s current population is under the age of 30, but can we honestly say that Rotary is
offering a product that is attractive to today’s young professionals — a generation that is detached from
traditional institutions but is also keen to embrace a cause, to make a difference? Are we close to
significantly increasing our membership, thereby expanding our impact and improving the lives of even
millions more? Are we ready to set the pace for the international humanitarian agenda once our flagship
project of polio eradication is achieved?
We need to ask ourselves, very simply, what kind of Rotary do we need to be? Clearly, the current model
works in many parts of the world and doesn’t need to be tinkered with. But in some places the
membership numbers beg the question: Are we still relevant? And this means that we need to be ready to
adapt. I know very well, just as you do, that there are plenty of Rotarians who are perfectly happy with
Rotary as it is. But I also know, as you do, that the more involved Rotarians get in their clubs and their
activities, the more interested they become in figuring out ways to do more and to do things differently.
Forty-five percent of clubs and 47 percent of districts have adopted strategic plans, but what if every
Rotary club implemented a clear vision for its future? What if as part of that strategic focus we decided to
put less emphasis on attendance and more on member engagement? What if we thought differently about
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our club and district dues structures? What if we found better ways to transition our Rotaractors to
Rotarians? They are a big part of our future yet only 5 percent of Rotaractors ever join a Rotary club.
What if we took a hard look at some of our more hallowed traditions and provided those clubs that want it
the flexibility to operate as they think best. After all, we have a great tradition in Rotary, but it’s our
tradition. We made it and we own it — it doesn’t own us — and if it no longer serves its purpose, we can
change it. If we can take up the challenge offered by Paul Harris, who wrote, “If Rotary is to realize its
proper destiny, it must be evolutionary at all times, revolutionary on occasions,” the results could be even
more miraculous.
So I’m asking all of you to continue to be voices for doing everything we can in Rotary, not just everything
that’s comfortable or easy or represents the way things have always been done. Continue to be advocates
for thoughtful, positive and lasting change. You are the ones who have been lighting up Rotary and you
will be the ones who will Be a Gift to the World and help Rotary realize its destiny in the months ahead,
and in the Rotary year to come, and in the years after that.
Keep looking ahead, keep lighting up Rotary. And we at the Rotary Secretariat will be there for you, in
every way that we can. I know that I speak for every one of us on the Rotary International staff when I say
how proud we feel to walk through the doors of the Secretariat offices every morning, knowing that our
work supports your work and that your work is changing the world for the better, day by day, community
by community.
Muito obrigado. Thank you.
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