About Our Club
The Rotary Club of Metro New York City is a relatively new club, chartered on April 30, 2002. The charter members who created our club are an exciting and diverse group of people: from 9 countries; representing a wide range of professions: engineers, educators, bankers, lawyers, journalists, and successful entrepreneurs, to name a few; representing fields and industries as diverse as foreign service, biotechnology, public administration, cryptography and international finance. Our club is balanced with male and female members. Some of these charter members were involved with Rotary for a long time before starting our club. Many were formerly Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholars, Youth Exchange Students and Rotaractors. We believe that our strength is derived from this diversity, and we continuously seek new members who are interested in service, are managers or professionals, or have retired from positions at that level, who will be assets to our club.
Our club appeals to the active and successful Rotarians that make up our membership largely due to the following:
Our evening meetings are convenient for busy professionals.
The interests and preferences of our diverse membership are represented in the club structure and in the choice and planning of club activities. By actively encouraging new ideas, we have created a club that appeals to young professionals as well as mid-career and retired people.
Location, centrality and convenience: our members live or work in Westchester, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Midtown Manhattan is a central location, which is quickly and easily accessible from most locations in the New York metro area by several modes of public transportation. It is also a pleasant and interesting neighborhood of historical and cultural significance, a destination for most New York visitors.
We conduct our club business with a level of informality that fits our lifestyle. Our members are most comfortable with a high level of organization and efficiency in a low-stress and approachable club.
We are diverse in terms of our professions, nationalities, religions, opinions, etc. This diversity helps us to create a broad pool of talent and individual interests that we can draw upon to promote project success, and maintain a vibrant and exciting club. A few of the traits that we all have in common are: an interest in serving our community on the local and/or international level, maturity, professionalism, and the ability to take some time out of our schedules to participate in meetings and other club activities.
Projects
We have structured our club from the bottom up, so that projects are led by task forces, and not the club's board or central committees. Our club will always be open to taking on new projects, as members are encouraged to introduce new project ideas to the club, collect other interested members, and form their own project task forces. Task forces raise their own funds, and are ultimately overseen by the board.
Meetings
We use our meeting time efficiently to complete our club business and update our members on project and club activities, while also allowing our members some time to socialize. Some meeting time is devoted to member speakers, and guest speakers that our members propose. Traditionally our meetings are led by a rotating moderator - to create a participatory environment, each meeting is conducted by a different volunteer from our membership.
Membership
Members should maintain 60% meeting attendance, but can make up missed meetings at any Rotary or Rotaract club. Members should also contribute to projects, through their time, expertise, or other resources. Members are also encouraged to lead projects and to take an active role in shaping the club's activities throughout the year. We are also constantly seeking new members - people interested in service, who have attained a level of experience and expertise such that they would be an asset to the club. These individuals would be managers or professionals, or would have retired from positions at that level. Prospective members should demonstrate that they are able to attend meetings and participate in club activities.
In order to encourage the creation of a diverse pool of expertise that will enhance the success of club projects, Rotary International requires that clubs use a system of professional classifications such that no more than 10% of club members can have the same classification. We stress the importance of professional diversity as we recruit membership.
2007-2008 Officers
President - Stephanie Krumholz
President Elect - Stefan Jekel
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