TRF Trustee
An opportunity to serve is one of the main reasons why many join Rotary and is also the main purpose of staying on in Rotary. This opportunity comes in many forms and the more significant of them comes through The Rotary Foundation. The magic unfolds when we leverage the full power of our Foundation.
There is a menu of options our Foundation provides for our members to take advantage of. The range of projects carried out by our members varies from one’s keenness to just serve, to a larger goal of solving a community’s problems. While each of those acts is important, it is necessary to focus on the impact of our work.
Polio eradication is an instance where we attempted to solve a problem rather than just serve. The greater our desire to move from a ‘serve’ to a ‘solve’ mindset, the greater is likely to be our impact. Organisations world over are measuring impact rather than outcome and it is time we moved too. We have been reporting the money spent on projects and at times even man hours spent on it — with or without assigning a value to it. Rarely do we report the impact.
I urge clubs and districts to start focusing on the impact of our projects. How many lives have been changed and to what extent. How long will the effect of our work last. Will it be merely useful or will it be transformatory. Will generations to come, benefit from it. These are the questions we need to ask ourselves while we plan a community service project.
Going forward, let our mantra be impact, and a lasting one too!
A S Venkatesh
TRF Trustee