Lisza Gulyas
President 2022-23
Rotary Club of Denver
Denver Rotary Club 31 Members,
On July 21, 2022, I shared the mission and goals for the year 2022-23 “If You Can Imagine, You Can Inspire”. Please allow me to share a brief overview.
After looking at several venues for our meetings and our last location had increased their fees to over 60%, one of the most recent ideal decisions was to move our meetings to the Denver Country Club. Thanks to our member Rob Clinton, we have a beautiful location, fabulous meals, parking is easy and included. The most important, we are in the community engaging Club 31 to what we do as the best Rotary Club to join.
Our main mission this year is engagement and community involvement. Everything we do should involve positive engagement and fellowship with each other and within our community.
#1 Membership:
The goal this year is to increase our membership from 167 member to 200 members. It is vitally important to maintain membership of our Club at 200 + members. This will allow us to keep our “Rotary Large Club” status, plus we will have the financial means to maintain an administrative staff support that we need to keep our club proficient and professional
#2 Fundraising:
A Giving goal of $45,000.00 to The Rotary Foundation (TRF) with an additional $10,000.00 commitment to Polio Plus has been set.
Additionally, the Denver Rotary Club Foundation, annual fundraiser will take place in the autumn instead of the spring. Our club can ride the coattails on a well-known Colorado event, “The Century Ride”, branded as “Woohoomanity”, for Rotary to fundraise for their own club. By participating with a successful event, we are saving 20-30% of rental, catering and marketing fees associated with hosting a brand-new event. The goal of raising $50,000.00 will allow us to not have a separate spring fundraiser.
#3 Staff Transition:
Due to the decline in our membership and dues our budget will no longer allow a full time Executive Directors salary or office rental expenses. Maintaining a membership of 200 members is vital. Nevertheless, our club will continue to have a professional support staff.
Since Lauren Mast will be leaving us as she transitions her duties to the Club 31 Directors this spring, our focus will be on the staff transition as well as the office space. Please understand that the time dedicated for the staff transition will be primarily in the spring, which is another reason to ensure the fundraising for DRCF is successful this fall.
#4 Strategic Team:
Club 31 members were asked to take a short survey on what matters most to you within our Club, which was followed by a brainstorm and visioning session. We combined the data with the information that came out of the Strategic plan from 2020. A Strategic Team has been put to task to move our club into the direction from the data that has been identified. We are listening.
It has already been a momentous start to this year. I am inspired by so many of you who have engaged in the past few weeks, volunteering and creating fellowship weeks. To those of you who offer your talents to take charge in the success of our Club, thank you for being the best Rotary Club members!
You are inspiring, engaging and fun!
Please reach out to me at any time with questions or comments at lisza@relandinvest.com or at 303-888-8516.
Mike MacPhail
President 2022-23
Denver Rotary Club Foundation
Dear Rotarians and DRCF members, donors and trustees:
Despite the current economic and transition challenges, I am pleased to report that the state of the Foundation is strong. DRCF awarded $168,541 to our worthy grantees last year, and it will continue to positively impact our local, national and international communities by making substantial awards this year.
I plan to continue three important initiatives that I view as crucial to the continued success of our Foundation. First, DRCF will continue to invite a handful of grantees, focusing on new grantees, to present to Club membership during off-site fellowship meetings. This will give our grantees greater exposure and provide members with valuable opportunities to engage in community service. Second, I will continue supporting the terrific work of the Legacy Society, whose membership and promised donations have grown exponentially. Third, I will support ongoing messaging to enable the Foundation to get closer to its goal of “Every Rotarian Every Year.”
We are stronger together!
I look forward to working with my outstanding executive team and trustees to have an exciting and rewarding 2022-23.