Owning Our Impact

The San Jose Rotary Club's "Play Garden" signature project

How Rotary Clubs Can Lead (not just serve)

Let's talk about what's really holding Rotary back these days. Many clubs have become glorified volunteer staffing agencies for other organizations' events. We show up, we wear our pins, we hand out water at the charity 5K. And while that's valuable work, it doesn't position Rotary as a community leader.

The difference? Signature projects. These are the initiatives your club develops and owns from start to finish. They're what people in your town immediately think of when they hear "Rotary."

A Three-Step Plan to Transform Your Club's Community Presence

Step 1: Find Your Signature Focus

Start by conducting a thorough assessment of both your club's capabilities and your community's needs. This isn't about guessing—it's about research:

Map your membership's skills: Beyond professional backgrounds, identify hidden talents and connections. The retired teacher might also be a master gardener. The accountant might have connections to ten local board rooms.

Identify community gaps: Talk to local leaders, survey residents, and review existing community assessments. Look specifically for needs that aren't being adequately addressed by current services.

Find the sweet spot: Where do your club's unique capabilities intersect with genuine community needs? This intersection becomes your signature focus area.

The magic happens when you stop asking "What should we volunteer for?" and start asking "What can we create that nobody else is equipped to build?"

Step 2: Launch Your Recognition Program

Before diving into your own service project, establish your club as a thought leader through a recognition program. Based on "Service Above Self', this program recognizes others' efforts. This positions your club as a standard-setter in your community while building valuable relationships:

Develop award categories that reflect your community's specific needs and the areas where you want to establish expertise.

Create a diverse selection committee including respected non-Rotarians to give your awards credibility and reach.

Plan a memorable ceremony that becomes a must-attend community event.

Generate media coverage by highlighting compelling stories of award recipients.

This annual "Community Impact Awards" or "Service Excellence Recognition" immediately establishes your club as an authority in evaluating community service. As you recognize others' work, you build partnerships that will be invaluable when you launch your own initiatives.

Step 3: Develop Your Signature SERVICE Project

Let me be crystal clear: A signature project is not your annual fundraiser. Your golf tournament, auction, or pancake breakfast might be well-known, but they're means to an end—not ends in themselves.

As a District Governor, when I asked clubs about their signature project and they mentioned their fundraiser, I knew they'd missed the whole point of Rotary. Paul Harris didn't create Rotary to sell pancakes.

A true signature project is about direct service to your community, not raising money. It's about Rotarians rolling up their sleeves and making tangible change.

First, get your members dreaming big with a simple but powerful question:

"Wouldn't it be cool if our club..."

This question bypasses the practical limitations we typically impose on ourselves and taps into genuine passion. At your next meeting, give everyone five minutes to complete that sentence without constraints about budget, time, or feasibility. You'll be amazed at what emerges.

The San Jose Rotary Club's PlayGarden: A Case Study

The Rotary Club of San Jose transformed their community by creating an innovative, inclusive playground that ensures children of all abilities can play together.

In 2015, the club opened the Rotary PlayGarden, a fully accessible playground that became the first of its kind in the region. The vision began when a club member brought her physically challenged granddaughter to a playground with an adaptive swing in Los Angeles and witnessed her swing for the first time.

Here's how they executed this transformative signature project:

Ambitious Vision: The club aimed to create an environment so captivating that children of all abilities would play side-by-side naturally, rather than just installing a few accessible pieces of equipment.

Substantial Fundraising: The Rotary Club raised $6 million for the project, with about two-thirds coming from donations outside the club itself.

Thoughtful Design: The PlayGarden features specially designed equipment and surfaces to accommodate children with various disabilities, including wheelchair-accessible pathways, adaptive swings, and sensory-rich environments that connect to the surrounding natural ecology.

Ongoing Maintenance: The club established a sustainability plan through the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy, ensuring continued maintenance through staff, volunteers, service partnerships, and community donations.

Ripple Effect: The project sparked a regional movement, with several other communities developing similar inclusive playgrounds inspired by the Rotary PlayGarden model.

San Jose Rotary's "Play Garden" on opening day

The impact extends far beyond a traditional playground. The PlayGarden has become a civic amenity that "empowers children living with disabilities to play, discover, and connect alongside their siblings and friends"—creating a more inclusive community for all.

The Leadership Transformation

As your recognition program and signature project gain traction, strategically leverage them to transform your club from participants to leaders:

1. Convene community conversations about issues related to your focus area

   
   

2. Publish annual impact reports sharing data and stories from both your awards program and service project

   
   

3. Establish yourself as subject matter experts by offering to speak at other organizations' events

   
   

4. Invite civic leaders to experience your work firsthand through regular open houses or service days

   
   

5. Create a council of past award winners who become advocates for both their causes and for Rotary

When local media needs a comment on issues related to your focus area, your club president should be their first call. When the city council discusses related policies, your members should be in the room. Your goal is to become the indispensable community resource on your chosen issues.

Making the Shift

If your club is stuck in "volunteer mode," start small:

Dedicate your next meeting to honest self-assessment. Ask members: "If our club disappeared tomorrow, what specific service (not money) would our community lose that no other organization provides?" If you struggle to answer, you've identified your problem.

Then develop a 12-month plan to launch first your recognition program (within 3-4 months) and then your signature service project (within the year). The recognition program creates connections and credibility that make your service project more likely to succeed.

The most vital Rotary clubs aren't just serving their communities—they're leading them through thoughtful recognition of others and distinctive service projects of their own.

What could your Rotary club create that would make you irreplaceable in your community?