In a recent message to Rotarians across the globe, RI President Ian Riseley quoted those words.
The idea of diversity stemmed from the classification system, where clubs who had members with a wide variety of backgrounds and abilities would be capable of better service than one without.
We have discovered that a club that truly represents its community is far better able to serve that community effectively. Looking ahead, it is clear how essential diversity will remain in Rotary - not only to strong service today, but a strong organisation in the future.
One of the most pressing aspects of diversity to address in our membership is the age of our members. Although our membership is near a record high, only a small minority of those members are young enough to have decades of Rotary service ahead of them. To ensure a strong and capable Rotary leadership tomorrow, we need to bring in young and capable members today.
The other important diversity issue is gender. It is difficult to imagine that just three decades ago, women could not join Rotary. Despite coming a long way since then, the legacy of that misguided policy is still with us. Far too many people continue to think of Rotary as an organisation only for men, and that idea had a detrimental effect on both our public image and our membership growth. Today women make up 21% of Rotary's membership , and while this is considerable improvement, it still falls a long way short of a gender balance that matches the balance of our world, with as many women in Rotary as men.
Whatever brought each of us to Rotary, we stay because we find value in Rotary membership and believe that our service has value to the world. By building clubs that reflect that world in all its diversity, we will build even more enduring value in Rotary: Making a Difference.
-Excerpts from Ian H. S. Riseley's article in the January issue of The Rotarian.