Get your iconic projects featured in Rotary News

Rotarians and Rotary clubs, or Districts, that undertake well planned and meticulously executed projects that benefit the local community, transforming people’s lives, naturally want them known to other Rotary clubs. Many of you feel there is no better way to do this than to showcase the project in Rotary News, which is circulated to over 1.15 lakh Rotarians, about 1,000 public libraries, educational institutions, doctors’ waiting rooms, clinics, etc and read by about 4 lakh readers every month.

We at Rotary News agree that the hard work and money put in by Rotarians into the execution of important  projects should be adequately covered by your magazine. But our problem is that most of the time we have no clue about such projects. Surely you understand the importance of information and marketing. While most of the times we are flooded with routine welfare projects, which we don’t deny are required by the community, such as blood donation events, gifting a vehicle, medical equipment or cataract screening, we often miss out on the bigger, better, unique projects for the simple reason that nobody has told us about them.

So here is an invitation to get your communication right; assign somebody in your club to tell us about  your major projects.  If you think they need to be shared with the rest of the Rotary world, please document, or make an info sheet of the different stages of the project, keeping in mind the fundamental criteria of journalism.

• Genesis — When was the project conceived.
• Cause — Why was it planned; obviously to fulfil the needs of the local community. Describe this need.
• Cost — How was the money raised; was it a TRF grant?
• Challenges — Was finding the money a problem? Were government clearances required; how were these obtained. Other challenges and finding of solutions.
• Execution — The time frame in which the project was completed; the different stages.
• Beneficiaries — You will have the best chance of getting your club’s project into Rotary News if you give us human interest stories… pictures and interaction with the beneficiaries.
• Pictures — A picture is worth 1,000 words. Take good, action photographs of the project and its beneficiaries, send them in high resolution, original size.
• Project heroes — Highlight the Rotarians who were passionately involved in the project, even if they are not the club leaders and are silent workers.
• As Rotary is keen to get more women and younger members, give us projects done by this group.

Once you have all this in place, invite us to visit your project. Do remember we have only one magazine a month and there is a lot of demand on this space. So, as one RNT Trustee pointed out at a recent Board meet, differentiate between that which is fit for the GML, and that which can go into  the national magazine for Rotarians.

Give us your best project for the magazine, rather than sending all kinds of activities, such as distribution of blankets, books or benches.

Finally, remember that we are not looking only at mega projects which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in global grants. Even a small project that has a unique idea, and gives a simple, out-of-the-box solution to the local community, is welcome. For after all, small is not only beautiful, it is also easily replicable.

Do send suggestions to:

The Editor at
rushbhagat@gmail.com

Senior Assistant Editor at
 jaishri67@gmail.com

Editor