Rotary's Public Image: Are We Really "Pale, Male and Stale?"

Today in Rotary Assistant Governor Linda Sappington shared lessons learned at the recent Zone Institute about Rotary’s public image issues.  “Shift happens,” she noted.  “If we’re not willing to shift, nothing is going to happen - at least nothing we WANT to happen!!!”  Rotary International has had a long standing belief it is not necessary to promote themselves since “people will know,” but after 109 years, people are still asking “what’s Rotary?”  Today, only 2 out of every 10 people know anything about Rotary and those who know anything at all, have mostly incorrect information.  Man-on-the-street interviews describe Rotary as “pale, male and stale” not an image we want to have to be able to build membership.  AG Linda also shared statistics relating to the relevancy of Rotary in the modern world where only 2% of the organization’s worldwide membership are under 30 and only 15% are women.  Locally, the number of non-white members is less than 1% in 5 clubs.  “Without a healthy mix of Rotarians in every club, how can we be relevant in today’s world?”  AG Linda reminds members we need to be telling our story in every possible way – including social media.  “We do a fantastic job of talking to ourselves … but, we need others to be talking about Rotary, too!”