As we close out November and our celebration of Rotary Foundation Month I want to share with you some thoughts on one of the great under tapped resources of the Rotary Foundation, the inventory of “recognition points” that have accumulated in club and personal accounts.
From the time that we make our first contribution to the Rotary International Foundation, whether the donation is to the annual fund or to the polio fund, two entries are made in our account. The first reflects the dollar amount of the contribution and is entered as the Recognition Amount. The second entry, which runs in parallel to the Recognition Amount, is to Recognition Points and it is the same amount, not expressed in dollars but as points.
For many the question might be…well what are those points and what do they mean to me?
Left unattended, they mean little or nothing but when we put them to use they become very meaningful. Many clubs, many individuals with points, use them to award Honorary Paul Harris Awards. More often than not those are given to members of the club, or to members of the family of the member Rotarian. Recently some very creative and timely uses of the recognition points have come to my attention. The Rotary Club of La Crosse will award an Honorary Paul Harris to the head of the La Crosse County Health Department who has lead the community in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic…even while contracting the virus herself. The Rotary Club of Holmen has recognized three community members who have lived to our motto, Service Above Self, even though they are not members of Rotary. What a great way to say thank you to those folks while at the same time advancing our Rotary brand into the community. Are there front line folks in your community who have provided essential services during this health crisis that could, should, be recognized?
Recognition points can be used to enhance foundation financial support or to encourage financial support for a club service project. Recently one of the clubs in the district used a match of points to help finance a bus for a girls school in Afghanistan. When the foundation celebrated its anniversary a couple of years ago thousands of dollars were raised and then matched with recognition points.
There exists within the district, either at the club level or with our individual members a gold mine of recognition points. Let’s get creative and put that resource to work to advance Rotary.
Josh Mansee
La Crosse Rotary - After Hours, President-Elect 2020-2021
District 6250 Foundation Chair
608-386-2641