Over the past week several Rotarians provided their insight and opinions on the topic of the largest Public Relations project for Rotary; the entry of a float in the annual Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day. Two distinct areas of thought emerged from these comments and I want to share some insight on the first of those areas of thinking.
The Rotary Rose Float committee is not a part of Rotary International. It is an independent organization (actually a 501(c)4 corporation) created by a group of Rotarians specifically for the purpose of entering a float in the parade for the purpose of creating a positive image and awareness of Rotary. The members of this committee are not exclusively from Pasadena or even Southern California. It is a diverse group of dedicated Rotarians from all over the United States.
Rotary International has an agreement with the committee to provide limited support, but they don’t provide funding for a valid reason. They don’t want to show support for this public relations project and not others and understand the limitation of not being able to financially support every public relations project everywhere there is a Rotary Club. Looking at it from their perspective really makes a lot of sense.
You have to understand the relationship between Rotary International and the local Rotary Club. It is really like a franchisor relationship with a franchisee. That makes it very much like a McDonalds Corporation relationship with your local McDonalds restaurant. Every Rotary club has a charter issued by Rotary International and they agree to abide by the rules and policies of the franchisor. In exchange Rotary International allows them to use the Rotary name and emblem (essentially a trademark licensing agreement) and provide administrative and program support.
The Rotary Rose Float Committee is not a Rotary Club, so they have a separate and unique contract that allows them to use the Rotary name and emblem. It is an interesting problem for Rotary International. The Rose float enhances the value of the name and emblem of Rotary and yet Rotary International seeks to protect the value of the name and emblem from abusive use.
Though I am a past chairman of the Rotary Rose Float Committee I am now simply a Rotarian who has an interest in the success of this public relations project. I would like to improve the committee’s ability to function, but have no position or authority with that committee.
Next week I will share some of the good ideas I am receiving regarding the annual funding of the float. If you want to add an idea I have left the survey page open.
CLICK HERE TO LEAVE AN OPINION
You might want to check out the Rotary Rose Float Committee website or the Rotarians who love the Rose Parade float page on Facebook. If you are a Twitter fan you may want to follow @RotaryRoseFloat
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