In case you missed it, on April 1st Rotary South Pacific announced: ‘Rotary bans sausage sizzles Australia-wide’. They were pleased to share the following day it was all an April fools joke!
Why did Rotary South Pacific run this campaign? The purpose of the campaign is a tongue-in-cheek way of drawing attention to what Rotary is most known for in Australia. With the public’s attention, we can direct the conversation to what Rotary achieves beyond the barbecue.
A recent Rotary International survey shows that awareness of Rotary is high however only 35% of Australians knew what Rotary actually does! The survey also showed that people who personally know a Rotarian have a significantly more positive perception so this means Rotarians themselves are the biggest influence on Rotary's public image.
Research also points out that Rotary does so many different things that the public gets confused about what Rotary is and members often struggle to "tell the Rotary story"simply and consistently.
So what this means for Rotary clubs is that we need to tell a Rotary story, bring younger members into projects, highlight community impact, recognise volunteers and build partnerships (like our recent Melville Cockburn Chamber of Commerce engagement).
We have an opportunity to tell a Rotary story of where the money goes from the donations we collect at the Perth Makers Market.
