We’re nearing the end of the Rotary year, and it’s time to pay our dues for next year. As a member, you should have an email from our club treasurer with your dues statement and a link to pay by credit card. But perhaps you’re wondering… why am I paying dues and where do my dues $ go?
Because we are a virtual club, we have minimal expenses and are able to keep our dues low — a reasonable $225 per year for full members of our club and $50 for associate members.
We hope that our member use their “savings” to contribute to our club’s Grants and Service Fund and to travel with their fellow members.
For each full member, we pay $110.93 per year to Rotary International. That money is used to administer our world-wide member organization. Dues pay for
- Conventions
- The Rotary Magazine
- The RI website
- Liability insurance
- Support services
- Staff
- and much more
Every Rotary club, even one like ours whose membership spans the globe, is chartered in a specific District. Ours is 5950, serving Minneapolis and central & western Minnesota. Although some District programs seem Minnesota-centric, most of the excellent educational offerings are available online and aren’t tied to a specific geography.
For each full member of our club, we pay $87.00 to the District. That pays for
- $10 special assessment to support hosting the RI Convention in 2028
- Support and training for the 60+ clubs in our district
Our remaining dues, $27.07 per full member this year, goes to paying for operation of our now 160+ member club, including
- Hosting this website
- Management and database software
- Zoom
- Banking services
- Annual filing fees
Our Associate members are each a full member of a separate Rotary club. They pay annual (or quarterly) dues to their club, and their club pays RI dues and District dues for them. Associate members also pay $50 dues per year to our club. These dues are used primarily to fund club service and pay for special projects that don’t qualify as grants. For example, for several of our recent trips, we have allocated $500 for things like school supplies or medical supplies for organizations that we visit.
Our club’s leadership team strives to be good stewards of our resources and to keep our operational expenses low. By keeping our dues low, we free up our members’ financial resources for our philanthropic efforts.