My last message on this blog/email contained a bit of cogent advice to all of those new Rotary Club presidents. For the sake of jogging everyone’s memory I will repeat a small section of that message here:
Many years ago I was part of the breath of fresh air assuming the leadership of my Rotary Club. One helpful piece of advice passed on by my predecessor, Joe Lewis, included a copy of the Rotary Club constitution, by-laws and five years of financial statements. His advice was simple, “spend time studying these papers because they contain many of the answers to questions you will face over the next year.”
It seems that message created a flurry of comments and questions from Rotarians, new presidents and others, on the topic of Rotary club constitutions and by-laws. Those comments went from, “our club doesn’t have a constitution” to “where cane we find a model to create a constitution from?” So let me share the first ‘shocking discovery’ with you. Every Rotary Club in the world has, as a condition of membership in Rotary International, has adopted the Standard Rotary Constitution as their constitution.
Regarding where you can find the document that I recommend Rotary Club leaders all read; Rotary International provides a copy of the Standard Rotary Club Constitution on page 166 of the Manual of Procedure. You can retrieve an electronic copy of that fascinating manual for free by clicking on the name and following the link. You can also call our friends at RI and order an old fashioned paper copy.
One comment I received from a recent past president of a not too distant Rotary club challenged my cogent advice. Simply stated he wanted me to know that all of these documents are for the people who don’t know how to run an organization like a Rotary club. He even commented that the board of directors was simply a committee of committee chairs who only met on the rare occasion that the president wanted their advice. As I remember, his was not a happy year of leadership. I offer this ‘shocking discovery’ for those who share his opinion.
From the Standard Rotary Club Constitution; Article 10 Directors and Officers, Section 1 — Governing Body. The governing body of this club shall be the board constituted as the bylaws may provide. In the next section, “Section 2 — Authority. The board shall have general control over all officers and committees and, for good cause, may declare any office vacant.”
Maybe I should extend my advice to all members of the Board of Directors of your Rotary Club, maybe even all Rotarians, “spend time studying these papers because they contain many of the answers to questions you will face over the next year.”