TRF chair urges Rotary to shake-up the ketch-up

Posted by John Borst 
on May 30, 2011
 
Everyone knows if you want to get ketch-up out of a bottle you have to shake it vigorously if you want it to flow. That is the analogy 2010 - 2011 Rotary Foundation chair  Karl-Wilhelm Stenhammar believes is necessary if RI is going to succeed ˙in changing with the times."

 

Repeatedly stressing, that these were his own personal ideas Stenhammar laid out a series of interrelated changes he believes is necessary if Rotary wants to accomplish both it's Strategic plan and it "Future Vision" for The Rotary Foundation.

As TRF chair, Carl-Wilhelm's starting point was the changes required, in his opinion, to fulfill the Rotary Foundation's "Vision" plan.

Stenhammar emphasized that the strategic plan and Future Vision plan had to merge as if one. He said the two organizations had, however, to be keep separate because they where chartered under American law in that fashion.  In fact Americans he said, "make up about 33% of the World's Rotarians but contribute over 50% of TRF's annual funds."

The tipping point for Stenhammar is Rotary's practice of electing a new chair to the Board of Trustees on an annual basis. "Trustees," he said are "currently elected to four year terms".  If Rotary is to enter into more mega partnerships as exemplified by the PolioPlus initiative, as called for by the Future Vision plan, he suggested we should give serious consideration to making trustees' terms six years and making a chair's term four years.

Such partnerships he seemed to imply required a longer term of stability and continuity on the part of Rotary International's money management board.
 
As if to prove his point, Stenhammar, launched into a biting critique of the once-every-three-year Council of Legislation process. CoL he said "lacked any historical memory". This he said resulted in bad decision making an example of which was a recent resolution which mandated trustees to fly first class whether they needed to or wanted to or not.

To resolve this lack of continuity and ensure that RI's Strategic plan and Future Vision plan were implemented in congruent  fashion Stenhammar next suggested the RI president should also be elected to a four year term.

With the ketch-up now in free flow, Stenhammar then tackled the issue of 70 year old presidents and TRF trustee chairs. To resolve that issue Carl-Wilhelm suggested the position should be paid. This did not mean we would no longer require a General Secretary, he said, as the operation of the day to day affairs of Rotary had to remain separate.

He did however, add that is also time that Rotary seriously considered adopting a permanent theme.

Reception by the assembly was decidedly mixed.