ClubRunner & RI Now Have True Database Integration with “OneRotary”
Posted by John Borst
on Nov 02, 2010
Oakville, Ontario, CANADA
ClubRunner, the leading provider of Rotary club administration and communications software, announced today the integration of its databases with Rotary International – one of the largest humanitarian service organizations in the world with 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.
In a joint effort to unify and streamline member records, ClubRunner and Rotary International, the Evanston, IL based administrative entity that supports Rotary clubs and districts, have been working closely for the past year to establish a secure connection to completely automate member updates while maintaining full control and privacy to Rotary clubs and districts.
Until now, all software vendors have been issuing email notifications to Rotary International’s Data Services division, resulting in countless hours of manual data entry.
ClubRunner and Rotary International had a common goal to increase overall effectiveness of each club by taking away administration overhead. Each club with ClubRunner today now can worry less about data integrity between multiple databases.
When a club database is updated with, for example, a member’s new contact information, that change would automatically be incorporated into Rotary International’s database, eliminating the need for clubs to formally notify Rotary International or make the change manually through Member Access.
Both ClubRunner and Rotary International agree that this long awaited feature drastically improves productivity and costs for Rotary clubs and districts, In addition to improving the quality of the information Rotary International uses to provide support to clubs and districts, it also eliminates duplicate data entry efforts and give Rotary clubs more accurate semi-annual reports, saving clubs both time and resources.
“There’s a lot of opportunity for potential growth in reducing the administrative overhead of being in Rotary,” says Peter Markos, Chief Information Officer and General Manager of Information Services for Rotary International. “Rotary clubs are largely autonomous and we want them to be flexible, dynamic and manage their affairs in the way that they need, while seamlessly providing us with all the information we need to be able to support them.”
As discussed in an interview with ClubRunner during the Montreal convention in June, Peter Markos also acknowledges that this milestone represents an integral move as he believes “any investments that ClubRunner and Rotary International make to minimize club administrative overhead will benefit the club, Rotary International, and all parties. It really holds together a key theme which is that even though the clubs are autonomous, the reality is they all want to be able to connect, communicate and collaborate. “
As the Past President of the Rotary Club of Mississauga-City Centre and founder of ClubRunner, Adel Asterbadi recognizes that “since accuracy of data is an important factor in effective communications, this project will empower both Rotary clubs and Rotary International to make better use of existing resources and technology to further promote Rotary and its mandates.”