“NRG PROVIDES NEW ENERGY”
Article by RC PDG John Prendergast
We have seen in New Zealand in recent years the advent of “NRG” - Next (or New) Rotary Generation - Rotary Clubs. The first in New Zealand was in Invercargill – they started with a presentation from human spark plug Holly Ransom in May 2015, and less than a year later in April 2016 NRG Invercargill received their charter. Fast forward another year and in April 2017 NRG Dunedin were chartered. Work is now underway to establish NRG Timaru, and there is also interest in other areas of New Zealand to form NRG Rotary Clubs.
So, what are these new and presumably wildly different Rotary Clubs? Well perhaps surprisingly they’re pretty much like a normal Rotary club, but with a few little twists and tweaks. It is probably fitting that NRG Invercargill was chartered in April 2016, because that was the same month that the 2016 Council on Legislation approved significant changes to the way Clubs operate, allowing much greater flexibility. NRG Invercargill, unknowingly, was an early adopter of these changes mandated by the Council on Legislation - even though the new Rotary Club at the end of the earth probably wasn’t even aware of the existence of the Council, let alone that the Council was meeting at the very same time NRG Invercargill was arranging their charter meeting, NRG Invercargill set their Club up to operate in a way that suited them, and in a way that was relevant to life in the 21st century – and happily the Council on Legislation had moved in the very same direction.
NRG Invercargill: meets every second week; don’t have a formal meal at their meetings, instead they have drinks and nibbles, which are much cheaper, and don’t require a caterer, they just bring their own; one third of the Club have just had, or are having, babies - so their meetings are family friendly, members brings their kids along with them; they use Facebook for promotion and communication – every meeting is a Facebook event, and serves as a way to introduce the Club, and Rotary, to the public. So, quite different to a box-standard Rotary Club you might say – but when you actually look at it, they’re not really that different at all: ·
NRG Invercargill’s absolute focus is on service, and fellowship; · whilst flexibility has been important to them, so are solid processes and procedures; · the core tenants of Rotary International remain - Rotary’s goals and ethos form the backbone of NRG Invercargill, just as they do for all of our Rotary Clubs around the world. It’s just that NRG Invercargill deliver their Rotary experience slightly differently. And the differences really are only slight, any existing Club could easily adapt what they’re currently doing and adopt some of the simple practices that NRG Clubs have in place – with amazing results: · since chartering 3 years ago with 20 members, NRG Invercargill’s membership today sits at 27; · they have an ethnically diverse membership – Irish, English, Indian, Pakistani, American, Brazilian, Filipino; · 75% of their membership is female.
NRG Clubs are often looked at by other Rotarians as one of those new-fangled clubs for young people – we would be better to look at them as the new way of delivering Rotary in the 21st century for ALL Clubs, and adapt our existing Clubs to these more flexible ways of operating. The changes aren’t actually that massive, and would be simple to implement - where there’s a will to do so.
The results speak for themselves.