What an action packed meeting we had this morning!

We began by welcoming and formally inducting Susan Benedek and Matthew Orange to our Downtown Rotary family. Susan & Matthew were formally introduced by their sponsors Jan Malcolm and Andy Picot. Susan was accompanied by her children Charles and Grace and two Rotarian friends - Wendy Coyte & Andrew Alexander from Henderson Rotary. Susan & Matthew both shared some wonderful insights into their personal interests and background - far more than space allows in this bulletin.

Susan's interests appear more on the creative side- opera singing, dancing, tennis (etc.), while Matthew's seem to be more of a furry and leafy kind- animals and the environment. Susan will be part of the team focusing on Auckland Girls Grammar School and Youth and Matthew will be part of the team working on Trees for Survival and KiwiHarvest. Please introduce yourselves to Susan & Matthew when you next see them and help them feel at home.

We continued in positive spirits with an update to the Club on Mal's Challenge. Last May, Mal McLennan issued a challenge to our Club members that if we could raise $50,000 that he would match it with a $50,000 donation (which he had originally provided for in his will). Mal said that he's been fortunate in his life and that he wanted to share with others and to see it put to good use in his lifetime.

Many thanks to the 28 Club members who contributed to this challenge and helped collectively raise $52,500 (this includes a $1K donation I received from a member while writing this bulletin). In total we have increased our Club Trust by $102,500. WELL DONE EVERYONE!!

Our Trustees (Rob Wills, Andy Picot, Graham Hendry, Gill Johnston, Wayne Dyer and me) led by our Chair Greg Walker, review and make strategic decisions about the funds in the Trust. At our last meeting, we decided to loan $25,000 to SPBD Microfinancing (John Boscawen is the Champion of this Cause which our members voted to support) and to take a more proactive approach to help make our funds more productive while carefully managing risk. Since the meeting, we have clarified a few issues and are moving forward with those decisions. The Trustees will meet in the coming weeks to discuss how best to invest the additional funds raised by Mal's Challenge. Greg Walker will provide a more comprehensive report for our next bulletin.

Our 5 minute speaker today was Tony Keegan who shared his experience about Mindfulness. Gill Johnston followed with a brief update on Battle of the Suits fundraiser dinner and debate event which will be held at the Cordis Hotel Auckland on Tuesday, 13th August. Two major law firms- Chapman Tripp & Bell Gully will battle it out in an Oxford style debate over a moot that is currently being voted on by the firms. It will be a black tie event and tickets will be apx. $250 per person. The cost of the tickets will cover the event and fund raised will be generated from auction items. Please contact Gill Johnston or David Graham if you have any services or items for the auction.  Funds raised from this event will be divided amongst our Social Causes with 55% of it going towards City Mission.  

We had a lively group brainstorming session the second half of our meeting and I was impressed with the quality of the feedback our members provided. Members shared their thoughts about our Club Strategy and the new structure focused on Causes instead of Committees. Byran & Steve did a great job in helping with the facilitation and in capturing the output which will go into the next Club wide meeting on the 28th May when we will have an Annual Planning Session to map out activities for the 2019-20 Rotary year. Please contact Byran, Steve or me if you have any questions on the above or if you have any additional feedback to help us with our continuous improvement.

Speaking of continuous improvement, please participate in a quick 2-min survey that Lyn & Piyush (UoA IT grad students) have set up in order to get feedback from members on our Club website priorities. Please take a moment to share your thoughts by clicking the link to the survey below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7FKRMPL 

Next week Brian Mayo Smith, Partner at BDO accounting and advisory firm, will speak with us about Directors Obligations. Last year Brian and his partner (the liquidators of Mainzeal) took the Mainzeal Directors and Richard Yan to court. Many of you have probably read about the rulings. Should be an interesting talk. 

Have a fantastic week everyone & see you next Tuesday!

Lucy