One of the first things that prospective new Members ask us is how much it costs to join and be an active Member. The cost to belong to any Rotary Club depends on one’s level of participation and amount of involvement. Rotary tries to make an impact on our community and the world and that takes effort. Here is a summary of what to expect.
Fixed Financial Commitments
- Fees: There is NO fee for joining our club.
- Annual dues: These are paid by our Club to the District and Rotary International, so each Member pays a total of approximately $140 per year, invoiced in January and July.
- Breakfast cost: This is currently $13 per week, billed monthly, whether or not you attend. This is because we have a “fixed price plus extras” contract with our Meeting plan host. There is no charge for weeks when no meeting is held, e.g. during holiday weeks.
- Raffle Prize Donations: We hold several fundraisers per year, two of which, currently, encourage individual contributions in the form of a gift basket, prize or donation ($35 or more) to cover raffle prizes at such events.
In summary, you can expect to pay an average amount of around $68 per month, plus any voluntary financial commitments.
Voluntary Financial Commitments
- Fines: At our weekly meetings, members are occasionally “fined,” a humorous device that we use when a Member arrives late, fails to address the President using their formal title, etc. No fine is greater than $10.
- Confessions: Members can also “confess” to anything that they, or other Club Members, feel merits a financial contribution. This could range from having traveled away to play golf, a trip out of State or abroad, buying a new vehicle, being mentioned in a newspaper or other media without mentioning Rotary, forgetting to come to a Committee Meeting, etc.
- Social events: We hold several social events each year, including: Demotions Night, when the change of Leadership occurs; Charter Night, celebrating the formation of our Club; Christmas Dinner and a Rotary outing day at the Golden Gate Fields racecourse.
- The Paul Harris Fellowship: Paul Harris was one of the Founders of Rotary and the person responsible for making it a worldwide collaboration. Paul Harris Fellow recognition was created in his memory as a way to show appreciation for financial contributions to the Foundation’s charitable and educational programs. Any Rotarian who contributes — or in whose name is contributed — a gift of $1,000 or more to Rotary International’s Annual Programs Fund may become a Paul Harris Fellow.
Service Hours
- Community Work & Fundraisers: Members are expected to make a commitment of their time by participating in local or international activities and projects of the club. These include both service projects, such as planning and helping at the Golf Tournament, and social events.
- Leadership Roles: We also encourage members to aspire to leadership or committee roles within both our club and our Rotary district.
How Will I Benefit?
- By Participation: Rotary is not primarily a business networking organization, but Members still enjoy many benefits besides the comradeship that comes from being in a service-focused Club. Rotarians quickly find that they get far more back from their involvement, than what they have put into Rotary. Many new members have later described their experiences as life changing, in good ways.
- From The Satisfaction That Comes From Helping Our Community: Some people devote significant time to working on specific community projects, such as liaising with our associated Interact Club at Rio Vista High School. Others lend their skills or resources to furthering our goals, ranging from maintaining our web site to publishing our weekly bulletin and providing equipment for efforts such as our Linguica Booth at the Rio Vista Bass Festival & Derby each year.
- From Learning More About Our Community: We also have weekly guest speakers. Besides the occasional Member sharing their professional, local or hobby knowledge, our Members find, contact and schedule outside speakers, so you will learn a lot more about Rio Vista and Solano County affairs than you will from other media. Recent speakers have ranged from City, Police, Fire and Emergency Service leaders, the U.S. Coastguard Station Commander, other Service Club Leaders and the Solano County Tax Assessor to the owner of the “Faithful” liner restoration project and the management of the local exotic cats (mainly tigers) sanctuary.
Membership in the Rio Vista Rotary Club is by invitation. If you are interested in learning more, please contact Edwin Kingen, Membership Chair, via RotaryofRioVista@gmail.com.