Monthly Attendance Reports

One of the main responsibilities of the club secretary is taking attendance weekly and reporting it to the district governor monthly. It is therefore crucial that the secretary understands Rotary policy on attendance requirements, as this ensures accurate calculations. Attendance information is explained in this section and in the Standard Rotary Club Constitution.

You may want to ask your club administration committee members to assist you by

  • Educating club members about the attendance requirement
  • Informing club members about how to make up a missed meeting
  • Tracking attendance

Weekly attendance. The weekly attendance can be calculated by taking the number of members present and dividing it by the total number of members in your club. If your club has members who are excused under sections 3b and 4 of the Standard Rotary Club Constitution or because of a district officer position, count them as present if they attend a club meeting, but do not count them as absent if they do not attend.

Active members credited with attendance. When taking attendance at club meetings, there are specific ways to account for active and inactive members.  Be sure you understand who to include in your attendance reports.
Do include active club members present at the weekly club meeting, members credited with make-ups, and members excused by the board for a reason that it considers to be sufficient.

Do not include members whose combined age and years of membership (in one or more clubs) is 85 years or more and who have notified the club secretary in writing of their desire to be excused from attendance; the board must approve the request before the member is excluded from attendance figures.

Do not include current officers of RI or visitors to your club.

Make-ups. You may give attendance credit to a member who misses a club meeting if, within 14 days before or after the missed meeting, the member meets one of the following conditions:

  • Attends at least 60 percent of the regular meeting of another Rotary club or a provisional Rotary club
  • Is present at the usual time and place of another club’s regular meeting and that club is not meeting
  • Is serving on Rotary business as an RI committee officer or member, a Rotary Foundation trustee, or district governor’s special representative in the formation of a new club, or employed by Rotary International
  • Attends or travels with reasonable directness to or from any of the following meetings:
    • RI Convention
    • Council on Legislation
    • International Assembly
    • Rotary institute
    • RI committee meeting
    • Any meeting held by direction/approval of RI Board of Directors
    • Multizone conference
    • District conference
    • District assembly
    • Any district committee meeting held by direction of district governor or RI Board of Directors
    • Regularly announced intercity meeting of Rotary clubs
  • Participates directly and actively in a service project sponsored by the district, RI, or The Rotary Foundation in a remote area where a make-up opportunity isn’t possible
  • Attends a regular meeting of any of the following: Rotaract club, Interact club, Rotary Community Corps, a provisional Rotaract or Interact club or Rotary Community Corps, or a meeting of a Rotary Fellowship
  • Attends and participates in a club service project or club-sponsored community event or meeting authorized by the board
  • Attends a board meeting or, if authorized by the board, a meeting of a service committee to which the member is assigned
  • Participates through a club Web site in an interactive activity requiring an average of 30 minutes of participation

Monthly attendance report to district governor. Every month, the secretary is responsible for sending the district governor a report of the club’s monthly attendance. This report should be sent within 15 days of the last meeting of each month and should be based on the weekly percentages explained above. Simply compute the average attendance percentage for the weekly meetings in a given month.

Canceled meetings. When calculating the club’s monthly attendance report, you can omit a regular club meeting that is canceled for one of the following reasons:

  • Legal holiday, including a commonly recognized holiday
  • Death of a club member
  • Epidemic or disaster affecting the entire community
  • Armed conflict in the community that endangers the lives of club members

Additionally, the board may cancel up to four meetings per Rotary year for causes not otherwise specified, as long as the club does not cancel more than three times in a row. Do not include these canceled meetings when calculating attendance.