Rotary GB&I made history on the 1st July 2022 with the commencement of our new governance model through the formation of our new Regional Board following a 12-month transition period. Change has been underway for the past couple of years and by the time you are reading this we will be well into our second year of the new structure across the Association.

One the key components of our new model is close collaboration and continuity across our three-year Chairs Group. We need to get away from the ‘my year’ mentality and tendency to only focus on single 12-month cycles. Being able to operate in a seamless environment of working, for example, over a rolling 3-year period, allows key strategic initiatives to be developed, implemented, and monitored for any ongoing changes and improvements.

We also saw the establishment of the District Governor and Specialist Adviser Team Forums (previously Rotary Coordinators) supported by the District Governor Elects and District Governor Nominee cohorts. District Governors and their teams are now better placed to focus on their primary role of leading, supporting and motivating their district and inspiring clubs.

The early days for the Regional Board consisted of building the Team and the initial creation of 4 Workstreams to drive new and exciting initiatives forward through:

1. Membership Growth (since renamed Business Growth)
   
2. Member Experience
   
3. Financial Stability (since renamed Organisational Effectiveness)
   
4. Process Efficiency (since renamed Organisational Effectiveness)
   
5. Communication (New)
   
6. Learning & Development (New)
   

The Rotary Action Plan is intrinsically linked to our Rotary GB&I strategies. Therefore, the four strategic priorities of Increasing our Impact, Expanding our Reach, Enhancing Participant Engagement and Increasing our Ability to Adapt, apply to Rotary around the world and remain relevant and essential to our plans here for Rotary Great Britain and Ireland.

Rotary’s four-point Action Plan is a set of global objectives to help us better connect with each other, grow as an organisation, and more effectively share our stories of how we are making a difference in communities.

As always, this Annual Report gives an overview of some of the activities that Rotary GB&I has been involved in during the year. It would be impossible to cover everything and no report could ever do justice to the impact that our members, clubs and districts have. More detail can be found in the pieces written by other contributors, but we’d like to pick out some of the highlights.

Since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the support Rotary members have given to those affected has been incredible. Members in Great Britain and Ireland raised more than £6m in cash and kind, while giving over 100,000 volunteer hours during the first 12 months of the conflict.

WATCH: See how Rotary GB&I members raised over £6 million and gave over 100,000 volunteer hours to support Ukraine and its people in the first year of the war.

Also, in August the Rotary GB&I Disaster Recovery Trust opened a Pakistan Flood Appeal, following the devasting floods across the country. Pakistan was hit by the heaviest recorded summer rainfall for over a decade, with one third of the country said to be underwater.

Closer to home, Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland was deeply saddened to learn of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II. We shared our condolences to the Royal Family and His Majesty King Charles III.

We were delighted to launch a new two-year partnership with Bipolar UK. Together, we aim to reach an additional 20,000 people affected by bipolar with the potentially life-changing support they need to live well with the condition.

Rotary GB&I supported Bipolar UK for the launch of their ‘Bipolar Minds Matter’ report at the House of Commons, which aims to achieve parity of healthcare services for people living with bipolar.

After months of scoping and developing the system, we were very excited to announce that Rotary View entered its phase one release. Rotary View is a system that has been designed with the intention of replacing the current Data Management System (DMS) that is used within Rotary GB&I.

Rotary View will deliver enhanced member features and services – with the aim to enrich the membership experience for all members in Great Britain and Ireland, not just club and district leadership. We’re excited to see the project progress with future developments in the pipeline at the time of writing.

Our work in clusters continued with two membership campaigns before and after Christmas called the ‘100-Day Climb’ - 600 members in 100 days - and the ‘Spring 1000 Campaign’. Over the two campaigns we brought in nearly 1600 Rotarians – let’s keep up the great work.

As part of the Regional Pilot in conjunction with Zone 8 (Australia and New Zealand only) we had the opportunity to apply to the Rotary International (RI) Board for financial support. This was agreed in principle of $800,000 over the next three years from RI Reserves for technological enhancements for our Direct Membership offering, website and digital marketing strategy, as well as seed capital for our clusters to level the playing fields. We’d like to extend our thanks on behalf of the Board and Rotary GB&I to RI Director and Vice President Nicki Scott for her role and work in securing this investment.

For this year's Coronation weekend, the Royal Household was encouraging everyone to use the time to take a dive into the world of volunteering. Rotary GB&I joined a host of other non-profit organisations in getting behind this initiative and supporting The Big Help Out. Culminating on Monday 8th May, The Big Help Out gave people across the country the opportunity to try volunteering and make a difference in their community.

We were delighted to have our Rotary GB&I annual Champions Awards in the Botanical Gardens Birmingham, where we recognised the outstanding voluntary service given by Rotary members and the public. From alleviating food poverty, to tackling maternal health in developing countries, to combatting flooding and supporting Ukrainian refugees, the 2022/23 winners have made an incredible difference in their own community and around the world.

Rotary Champions Award winners, pictured with Chair of the GB&I Board Garth Arnold (right), had their achievements recognised at a jubilant ceremony at Birmingham Botanical Gardens.

We look forward to the forthcoming months under the leadership of the new Regional Board and its Board Chairs Group as we focus on substantially growing and strengthening the Association.