With the 1st Webinar of the new Rotary Year about to take place, Tim Smith of the Rotary Club of Alsager reports on what has been achieved during his first 12 months on the RI Finance Committee.

"Subscription increases had already been approved as I joined the Committee so our first task was to ensure that the extra income was being spent on the items that it was ear marked for.
The main item was a new project delivery model, that allowed for project teams to permanently stay with a project rather than being on a production line of moving on to the next new project as quickly as possible. This will allow for the skills and in-depth knowledge to be retained and allow for further development of the project more quickly and more efficiently.
The Committee oversaw the creation of a new in-house Investment team. It had been noted that the Investment committee was investing in the right way, it could not move quickly enough in a volatile market. The new team is expected to only improve positive returns marginally but should significantly limit losses in a falling market.
With funds being spent on the refurbishment of office space within One Rotary Centre, Evanston, the floors not used by Rotary are now fully let. The Profit this generates now covers the cost of the space occupied by Rotary.
Staff Salaries was a difficult area that was looked at in detail. The US Economy was growing and the Chicagoland area was seeing a particular boom, which is resulting in experience staff leaving for higher Salaries and difficulty in recruiting new staff. Funds were allocated to be targeted at key functions of the organisation.
Further plans were discussed to improve the long-term cost effectiveness of Rotary."

Next time: Who said it would be fun�?