First, thank you for the confidence. It has been my honor to serve as your 101st Club President.I’ve both appreciated and enjoyed sharing our Centennial year with your 100th President the amazing Jen Hoffman. She closed out our first 100 years and my focus, and that of our Board was on helping kick off the next 100 years. In the process, we also wanted to set a new bar.
We should all take the time to collectively pat ourselves on the back. It has been one heck of a Centennial Year. Adding in the first six months of 2022, it is obvious the Club is off to an excellent start as it kicks off its next 100 years.
We not only survived a significant move to downtown, but we have grown our Club’s membership in the process. It is at a 5-year high. I am not sure other Clubs have been so fortunate. Special thanks to Board Member Steve Pickering for his efforts in stepping in and overseeing Membership.
We also have significantly more women in our Club, going from just under 28% to close to 31% in just one year. Thank you to Past President Jen Hoffman for leading that charge. Likewise, we have become younger and more diverse overall.
Our Corporate members, thank you Mitch Pisik, also hit a new highpoint and we have more than doubled the number with over 10 such Corporate memberships now.
We had our most significant fund-raising year ever thanks to the impact of the combined efforts of the Car Show and the Centennial Event. Hats off to the leadership of Jim Lubinski (Centennial Chair) and Joni Condit (Car Show Chair) for their collective efforts. They totally knocked the ball out of the park.
As a Club, we promised Pima County JTED $250,000 and we almost doubled it. In the process, we helped create the new Pima County JTED campus. The icing on the cake was the $71,000 plus that O’Rielly Chevrolet made in our Club’s name to Pima Community College’s JTED program. All total, over $500,000 impacted the two JTED programs thanks to the Rotary Club of Tucson.
From a financial perspective, our club finances are holding steady, and we are ahead of our projections. Your Board, Dorinna, and Kari are the reason for our continued success in managing this. Glenn Ewing does an excellent job as our treasurer. His relationship with staff is outstanding.
We have over $100,000 in savings, and overall operations continue to do well. We have also been able to hold off on any dues increase due to the financial contributions we enjoy by continuing to find sponsors for our lunch programs.
The $10,000 to $15,000 in sponsorship monies have made a huge impact. In 2014 we had dues increase from $300 to $310 per quarter. Three years later, in 2019, they were increased $10 to $320 per quarter.
Despite costs going up, we have not had an increase since then and will not as we close out the 2021-22 Administration. We are in very good shape financially, and with our growing membership this should continue.
We have also created some new traditions. Having a Change of Administration party before the last meeting is a new twist.
So too will be our final meeting of this Administration, which will be held on June 22nd. It will not only be fun, but it should also be a silly event. In the process it will provide a great opportunity to socialize and will also allow this administration to leave $3,500 in new money for the incoming administration. Special thanks to Kurtis Dawson for his thoughts in helping flesh out this fun idea.
We are also planning to have a yearly “don’t forget about the time capsule” event at Hotel Congress on or about our Rotary Club of Tucson anniversary every April, over a cocktail.
As for me, I plan to move to a supportive role for our new President (and my pal) Bruce Jacobs. I am looking forward to sitting in the audience and enjoying all of your company. Also, I want to enjoy the company of the 10 plus members I brought in who joined this year because they wanted to be a part of the most amazing Rotary Club on the Planet.
A special thanks to my Board of Directors. I have enjoyed having an opportunity to interact with all of you. I enjoyed your commitment and creativity more than you will ever know. Thank you all for your leadership. Finally, thank you to Dorinna and Kari.
What an all-star cast.
