New Year New Push for EREY

Posted by Teree Bergman, ARRFC Rotary Zone 26 on Jul 26, 2014
 
It's a new Rotary year, and that means it's time to begin a new effort to have our members participate in Rotary's work by donating to the Annual Fund. Rotary's Every Rotarian Every Year (EREY) program is designed to empower every Rotary Club member to be part of the humanitarian accomplishments of The Rotary Foundation. In Zone 26 for the year that ended June 30, only 44 of the 660 clubs earned banners for achieving 100% EREY. That's a whopping 6%!
 
It’s hard to understand why so few clubs earn these banners. What Rotarian doesn’t want to be able to say, “I helped improve health, alleviate poverty, and enhance education”? Why would a member attend a meeting every week and never give anything to the Annual Fund? It’s sort of like going to church every Sunday and never putting a dollar into the collection basket. Surely we can do better. I do not know the reason that we have such a low percentage of donors, but I would guess that part of it is, we fail to ask. The most common reason people give for joining Rotary is that someone they respected ASKED. It’s the same for the Foundation: if you want people to give, you have to ASK.
 A quick review of Rotary Club web sites reveals a lot of misinformation about EREY. There is much confusion between EREY and sustaining membership. Many clubs have the idea that EREY means $100 from every Rotarian.  EREY means that every club member gave SOMETHING  (even $1 will do), and the club has an average contribution of $100.  For most Rotarians, a $100 gift should not be difficult. It’s only about $2 week. Who doesn’t spend $2 a week on things they can’t even remember. It’s about half the cost of a tall latte. And what can The Rotary Foundation do with that $2 per week?
 
  •          Provide 3 cataract surgeries in India
  •          Buy 15 packets of teaching materials for a school in Costa Rica
  •          Feed a family in India or Pakistan for 6 months
  •          Bring clean water to 600 school kids in Africa
 
Not only do small contributions help do big things, but we, as Rotarians, have control over how the money is spent.  Annual Fund contributions are divided between the World Fund and the District Designated Fund (DDF). Each district gets to decide how to use its DDF to participate in Foundation grants and activities it chooses.
 Surely we can find a way to get every Rotarian to be a part of the Foundation’s wonderful work by giving SOMETHING. Let’s get more of those banners for Rotary year 2014-15.