Charting a Confident Path Forward for ESRAG

Dear ESRAG Members, Partners, and Friends,

Thank you for your unwavering dedication to our shared environmental mission. Your passion is the true engine of ESRAG, and it is on your behalf that our leadership team is working to ensure our long-term success. We want to share a very positive, transparent update on our current organizational progress and the steps we are taking to secure an incredibly bright and highly confident future for our global network.

A Productive Partnership with Rotary International

Your Board of Directors is engaging with the Rotary International Board in a highly positive, constructive, and productive manner. We are absolutely determined to strengthen Rotary’s pursuit of the environmental area of focus. We share a profound joint agreement with RI leadership that protecting the environment is one of the most critical areas of service for Rotarians all over the world.

Our current efforts are focused entirely on strengthening ESRAG’s organizational capacity so we can better encourage, resource, and inspire clubs and districts globally to pursue environmental service. We want to actively empower our global membership to strengthen even further the vital environmental work being done in their local clubs and districts, directly advancing Rotary’s Seventh Area of Focus: Environmental Sustainability.

Activating the Interim Transitional Committee (ITC)

To systematically upgrade our administrative, legal, and operational structures, the Board of Directors has established the Interim Transitional Committee (ITC). This temporary team is tasked with modernizing our bylaws, chapter oversight mechanisms, and electoral procedures to ensure absolute compliance and operational transparency.

The board has brought together an extraordinary team of internal and external leaders for this effort, blending our own board’s context with external experts possessing significant global expertise in Rotary Action Groups (RAGs), legal compliance, and nonprofit governance.

• Elite Advisory Support: We are privileged to announce that dedicated ESRAG members and Past Rotary International Presidents Barry Rassin and Ian Riseley are serving actively on the ITC team.
• Direct RI Board Liaison: In addition to their advisory roles, Past Presidents Barry and Ian are serving as direct liaisons to the Rotary International Board, providing them with crucial monthly milestone updates on our progress.
• RI Leadership Confidence: In his official correspondence, incoming RI President Olayinka (Yinka) Babalola expressed his absolute delight and confidence in our ESRAG leadership team to successfully chart this better future.

Important Informational Item: Leadership Continuity

As a direct point of information regarding our governance, the ESRAG Board successfully passed a formal resolution on June 30, 2026. To ensure absolute operational continuity, quorum protection, and organizational stability, the previous board from the 2025–26 year will continue in full operation with complete voting rights until the work of the ITC is complete. This guarantees that the experienced leadership team currently managing this transition remains legally anchored and fully capable of ratifying our upcoming structural improvements without any governance gaps.

Our Operating Philosophy: The Four-Way Test

To ensure that internal politics are permanently set aside, all committee deliberations and leadership discussions are being conducted in strict adherence to Rotary’s Core Values and the RI Member Code of Conduct. Every step we take will be explicitly guided by the Four-Way Test.

Emerging Stronger: A Message of Confidence to Our Global Fellowship

We want to assure our membership that our ultimate plan is to emerge from this temporary suspension period significantly stronger, more transparent, and more helpful to the wider Rotary world than ever before. This brief pause is an investment in our foundation, ensuring that ESRAG remains the premier environmental voice of Rotary for decades to come.

We encourage absolute pride and confidence in the thousands of Rotarians, clubs, and districts around the globe who continue to champion environmental service daily. Rotary’s commitment to environmental sustainability is unwavering. Please continue—and step up—your vital local activities. The world needs your environmental leadership now more than ever.

Your Voice Matters: Help Us Build a Better ESRAG

To ensure our members feel fully confident in our shared future, we want this rebuilding process to be completely collaborative. We value your insights, your experience, and your vision. We believe that “None of us is as good as all of us.” and want to invite you to send your questions, ideas, and structural suggestions on how ESRAG can be better directly to our transition team via email at itc-feedback@esrag.org.

The future of ESRAG is filled with immense potential and opportunity. Thank you for standing with us as we seek to chart this exciting path forward for Rotary and the environment.