Everyone with a heart for service. There are projects for every age and physical ability, and they’re organized for community participation. You’ll find Rotarians to be very welcoming… you may even make some new friends among fellow volunteers who share your desire to work together in service.

Just click FIND A PROJECT and follow the simple instructions. You can search on the map, or by city name, project name, or the name of the sponsoring Rotary Club. Once you find a project you like, just click the Sign Up button on its Project Description page.

It could be the Club’s EPIC Champion, the Service Committee Chair, or a Member who is passionate about a project the Club is interested in doing. The Champion will be busy overseeing the entire effort – service, membership, fundraising, promotion – so it may be best if someone else leads the project. The primary qualifications are to be a self-starter, well-organized, good at anticipating what needs to be done, and sensitive to what will appeal to Club and Community Members.

Short answer… YES!
No matter what date we choose, there will always be Rotary Districts and Clubs with a conflict.  So why don’t we make it an EPIC Week or Month?  The reason is that it wouldn’t be nearly as newsworthy.  No one has ever organized service projects all over the world ALL ON A SINGLE DAY.  The news coverage this generates helps get the word out to our communities so they can sign up. Together we can make an even bigger impact.

Rotary Districts… let’s say your District Conference overlaps the EPIC Day.  Consider asking all your Clubs to schedule their EPIC projects for the Saturday after, or any other date in May.  They can still use the EPIC website, benefit from all that the EPIC Day offers, and be counted as participating.

Rotary Clubs… just schedule your EPIC project as close to the EPIC Day as you can.  You can still use the EPIC website, benefit from all that the EPIC Day offers, and be counted as participating.

Rotary Members… suppose you’re out of town for your Club’s project. Two options.  Some Clubs with date conflicts of their own will schedule projects on another date.  Click FIND A PROJECT to sign up for one that works for you.  Or… if you can’t serve on a project, you can still support your Club by fundraising or donating to it.  Just click SIGN UP.

Clubs can take advantage of any, all, or none.

1. Friends and Family. Every Club Member who signs up for to volunteer on a project automatically gets a personal fundraising page, like GoFundMe. It’s all set up and ready to use. They also get an email ready to send to their friends. Members don’t have to fundraise, but they at least get to see how easy it is.

   A Club’s results depend on the expectations set by Club leaders. Options range from telling Members to ignore this option to encouraging every member to send at least a few emails. Because the emails can be sent to friends nationwide, this option may open a nice new source of revenue.

2. Members. When Club Members sign up to volunteer on a project, they’re automatically given the opportunity to donate to the Club. It’s not required, and if a Club already has an annual giving campaign, Club leaders may choose to say donating is not expected. On the other hand, with some encouragement, this can also be a major source of revenue.

3. Sponsors. Club Members with businesses may be willing to Sponsor the Club’s EPIC Day of Service. So might other businesses, given the benefits to the community of bringing people (including their employees) together in service. Clubs can set whatever price they can get for Sponsorships, and can recognize Sponsors in their communications, on their website, and with a sign at the project.

4. Project Revenue. Some projects can generate their own revenue or donations. For example, one Club organized a free electronics recycling event. As cars lined up, Rotarians described all the great work their Club does and asked if they would like to donate. They raised $13,000! Could your Club do something similar?

If you’d prefer to donate by check, include a note indicating which individual or club you’re donating to. If you’d like a tax receipt, include your return address.

Mail donations to:

EPIC Day of Service Foundation Inc.
1135 S Saint Paul St
Denver, CO 80210
Federal Tax ID # 33-1951490
www.epicdayofservice.org

It’s all about engaging potential members, current members, and past members.

Potential Members. Start with a Project that has broad appeal for both Club and Community Members. It should be fun and sociable. Then promote the heck out of it… the EPIC website makes it easy for everyone to sign up to volunteer. Ask Members to invite friends and family to sign up. Your Club can send out the Club Press Release and post Project Flyers around town. Your District can promote on a regional level using the News Station Pitch , taking advantage of how newsworthy the EPIC Day of Service is. Consider how to promote to groups most likely to enjoy your Club… maybe not young parents busy with raising kids and establishing their careers, unless that’s who your Club is designed for.

Past Members. Every Club has underactive Members. Use the EPIC Day to re-engage and retain them. Club Leaders can make this an “All Hands On Deck” Project. Help all your Members remember how fun and rewarding it is to serve alongside their friends. It’s why they joined in the first place!

Current Members. Reach out to your alumni and offer them a chance to enjoy all the friends they haven’t seen in a while. It would be great to see them again!

Make the EPIC Day fun. Welcome everyone warmly, especially potential and past Members. Have nametags. Show an interest in everyone. Play music. Maybe host a barbecue afterwards.

No selling. At least not on the EPIC Day. Members might casually steer a conversation by saying something like “I’m always curious what people know about Rotary.” Members can talk about what they enjoy about the Club, but not why others should join. Don’t have membership applications there, but do sign people in, and take notes on who might be interested in joining and who they talked with.

Follow Up. Designate someone or a committee to follow up with every potential and past member. Ask if they’d be interested in being a guest at a Club meeting to see what it’s like. Qualify them. What is it that might interest them? Would your meeting time and place work for them? Would dues be an issue? Let them know the Club is open to anyone with a heart for service, but don’t spend their time or yours if it’s not a good fit.

Engage. Create a super-effective process for bringing new members on board. Assign a “navigator” who is a good fit and has time to meet for coffee on a regular basis. Suggest that new members sit at different tables at the meetings to discover who they hit it off with. Ask new members to get active in a committee. If some Club members socialize outside the meetings, ask those members to invite a new member to join them. Build those friendships. You get the idea.

Learn. Capture for next year what worked well, what didn’t, and what you might want to do differently.

For more ideas, see the Membership Magnet resource.

The EPIC Day of Service is a public image opportunity like Districts and Clubs seldom get. It’s…

• making a difference on a global scale, all on one day
• serving community needs on a local level
• not just about Rotary, it’s bringing the entire community together
• making it simple for the community to volunteer and give back

Because the EPIC Day is so newsworthy and far-reaching, it’s easy to get advance coverage in regional and local on-air stations and print media. Social media is also big. The intent is to encourage the community to visit the EPIC website and volunteer for a nearby project.

Why do we want the public to volunteer? Many reasons:

• Increases the impact for our communities on the EPIC Day
• Serving side-by-side fosters connection and understanding
• Builds goodwill and support for Rotary and our other projects
• Service-minded volunteers may discover an affinity for Rotary
• More people, more fun

To learn more, please see the Public Image Playbook (coming soon).

EPIC collateral and a lot more can be found on the ROTARY MEMBERS > RESOURCES page.