Rotary District 9800
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Probus - Professional and Business
What is Probus?
Probus is a Community Service project of Rotary International that had its beginnings in the United Kingdom in 1965-66.
The name PROBUS (from the words PROfessional and BUSiness) was adopted as the new clubs were directed at recruiting retired people from the professional and business world.
Probus first came to the southern hemisphere in New Zealand in 1974 and reached Sydney with the formation of the Hunters Hill Probus Club in 1976 there are now 1795 PROBUS Clubs in Australia with a membership of 141,035 members.
In Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific a decision was taken by Rotary, very early in the life of Probus in these countries, to form a body under the guidance of the Council of Governors to provide ongoing administration and service to the rapidly expanding PROBUS movement ensuring Rotary’s ongoing commitment to the expansion and preservation of this Community Service Activity.
All Probus Clubs are sponsored by a Rotary Club and on formation become affiliated to the Probus Centre – South Pacific (PCSP).
Clubs are however autonomous and are responsible for their own operations, through a committee elected annually. Most Clubs are in fact incorporated under their State’s Associations Incorporations Act.
Probus Clubs normally meet monthly to conduct any business and to hear a guest speaker. This is however only a small part of the activity of a club. Healthy Clubs have a wide range of interest groups and social activities involving their members between meetings as well as a wide range of extended tours and day visits to places of interest.
Rotary's role with Probus
The Role of Rotary with PROBUS is as follows;
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Formation of new Clubs
It is the hope that each Rotary Club will accept the challenge to investigate the possibility of sponsoring at least one Probus Club. -
Support of Existing Clubs
While a Probus Club chartered by a Rotary Club will usually very quickly establish its independence and require little support, sponsoring Rotary Clubs are encouraged to maintain an informal contact with the Club so that should the need arise for some support this can be quickly brought to the notice of the Rotary Probus District Chairman (RDPC) and PCSP.
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Supporting Probus Clubs experiencing difficulties
While the vast majority of Probus Clubs are healthy and on many occasions can put Rotary to shame there are each year, a small number of Clubs that face extinction due to a variety of causes but mainly due to aging memberships and a failure to have a successful succession policy in place to ensure the ongoing leadership of the Club. When this is brought to the notice of PCSP the RDPC is advised and an investigation of the problems is undertaken. The RDPC will make contact with the sponsoring Rotary Club seeking help with the development of steps that may lead to the reinvigoration of the Club. To this end each Rotary Club is asked to provide the name of a member who should be designated the Probus Liaison Officer with whom the RDPC can communicate.
Probus in District 9800
- There are currently 101 Probus Clubs in D9800 with an estimated membership of 7500.
- It is however a matter of some concern that the formation of new Clubs in this district has been slow in recent years. Only one Club was formed in 2008-09 and to date there is only one new club on the drawing board for 2009-10.
- The concern is that Clubs in the District are not conscious of the PROBUS organisation as a means of developing a very successful Community Service for active retirees in their community. Clubs are encouraged to give consideration to investigating the potential for a Probus Club in their Community.
- Of further concern are the existing Probus Clubs in D9800 that are experiencing difficulty. This is particularly the case in areas where PROBUS clubs are over 25 years old. Rotary Clubs are therefore asked to check whether their Club has sponsored a Probus Club in the past and if so to make contact with that Club to see if it is experiencing difficulties and if so to look at ways of helping to restore the Club to health.
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