FAQs  (sourced from www.rotary.org July 2018)
 
How flexible can we be?
It's up to your club to decide how — and if — you want to make it more flexible. Look at the examples below to see what changes may benefit your club. After you settle on a change, remember to update your bylaws.
Here are some examples of how your club can apply the new flexible options:
  1. Change your meeting schedule. Your club can vary its meeting days, times, and frequency. For example, you could hold a traditional meeting on the first Tuesday of the month to discuss business and service projects and get together socially on the last Friday of the month. You just need to meet at least twice a month.
  2. Vary your meeting format. Your club can meet in person, online, or a combination, including letting some members attend in-person meetings through the Internet.
  3. Relax attendance requirements. Your club can ease attendance requirements and encourage members to participate in other ways, such as taking a leadership role, updating the club website regularly, running a meeting a few times a year, or planning an event. If your club is dynamic and offers a good experience for members, attendance won't be a problem.
  4. Offer multiple membership types. Your club could offer family memberships, junior memberships to young professionals, or corporate memberships. Each type of membership can have its own policies on dues, attendance, and service expectations. Rotary will count these people in your club membership and will consider them active members if they pay RI dues.
  5. Invite Rotaractors to be members of your club. You can invite Rotaractors to join your club while remaining members of their Rotaract clubs. If your club chooses to, it can make special accommodations for these members, such as relaxed attendance requirements or reduced fees, as long as they are reflected in the club bylaws.

 

What are the official requirements for membership?

The only mandatory qualifications for membership are that Rotarians must be adults who have demonstrated good character, integrity, and leadership; have a good reputation in their business, profession, and community; and are willing to make a positive difference in their community and around the world.

 

Is it a problem that revising our club's bylaws results in contradictions of the Rotary International Bylaws and the Standard Rotary Club Constitution?

No. Typically, a club's bylaws cannot supersede the Rotary International Bylaws or the Standard Rotary Club Constitution, but provisions were added to both documents at the 2016 Council to allow clubs to do just that for certain sections. A club must approve the exceptions to those specific sections and include them in its bylaws.
 

Does our club secretary still need to send monthly attendance reports to the district governor?

Although the recent policy changes allow clubs to focus less on attendance and more on engagement, clubs are still required to provide some kind of attendance report to the district governor. The form that report takes will differ from club to club, depending on their attendance rules. It may be more useful for district governors to receive a report that indicates how engaged your members are.

 

Are we allowed to charge an admission fee for new members?

Yes. However, new members can also be admitted without paying admission fees. Whatever your policy is, be sure your bylaws document it.

 

If I'm a Rotaract member and a Rotary member, do I have to pay dues to both clubs?

Yes. You would pay the required club or district dues for both clubs and annual Rotary member dues to Rotary International. Rotaract member dues are collected only at the club or district level, not by Rotary International. However, your club has the flexibility to create different membership types for Rotaract members and young professionals. This could include reduced club or district dues for members who belong to both Rotaract and Rotary, as long as the club subsidizes the RI dues for the member
With all of this change, is Rotary putting its reputation and brand at risk?
While the enactments adopted by the 2016 Council increase clubs’ flexibility in meetings and membership categories, they don’t permit clubs to deviate from Rotary’s essential elements:
  • We are still business, professional, and community leaders. Our qualifications for membership have not changed.
  • The Object of Rotary, our basic tenets, have not changed.
  • Our essence statement — join leaders, exchange ideas, and take action — have not changed.
  • Our values of fellowship, integrity, diversity, service, and leadership have not changed.
  • The Four-Way Test, one of our most important distinguishing features, has not changed.
The changes the Council did make are not a threat to the quality of Rotary’s membership. Instead, they empower clubs to adapt to a changing environment to remain relevant in our second century of service.