IMPACT CHALLENGE: When Service Meets Primetime

That sunny morning in October, Solaire North's Skybar buzzed with an energy it rarely sees in daylight. The venue, typically the domain of Manila’s hardworking professionals unwinding after dark, had been transformed into a television studio. Past Rotary International President Holger Knaack and partner Susanne arrived from their hotel, not for another ribbon-cutting ceremony or formal speech, but for something unprecedented: taping Episode 1 of “The Impact Challenge”—a reality television series that would put youth-led service projects on primetime ABS-CBN News Channel.

That in itself was remarkable. The couple had flown to the Philippines for official functions—Knaack now serves as Trustee Chairman of The Rotary Foundation. But that October morning, he joined District 3800 Governor Gina Sanchez, Assistant Rotary Membership Coordinator Johun Joshua Santos, and Rotary Club of San Juan Supreme President Salve Ibañez for a panel discussion that would become the conceptual foundation for everything that follows.

The conversation, moderated by host Cara Eriguel-Rabat, would launch a 10-episode primetime series where Filipino youth groups compete for a total of ₱700,000 in grants by pitching solutions to real community problems. Each of Rotary’s seven areas of focus gets its own episode, complete with auditions, finalist presentations, judge deliberations, and the kind of high-stakes drama that makes “Shark Tank” compulsive viewing—except here, the stakes are communities transformed, not profits earned.

The Genesis of a Format

Impact Challenge represents something entirely new in the Rotary universe—a 30-minute primetime reality competition that captures not just the metrics of transformative service, but the strategic thinking and emotional stakes behind work that transforms communities. This format builds on reality TV’s most compelling elements: the audition drama of “The Voice,” the pitch intensity of “Shark Tank,” the transformation documentation of home renovation shows.

Here’s how it works: Each of episodes 2-8 focuses on one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus. Youth groups audition on camera—emotional pitches, passionate presentations, judges assessing feasibility. Each youth group gets two minutes to pitch their solution plus 1 minute of judge interrogation. Then comes the deliberation—filmed with all the tension-building music and dramatic editing that makes reality TV addictive. One winner per episode receives ₱100,000 and 60 days to execute.

But here’s the accountability innovation: Episodes 9 and 10 document actual results. Not promises—results and impact. The seven winners return to report what worked, what failed, what they learned. Episode 10 becomes a live finale with opportunities for the audience in the theater to scale successful ones.

It’s everything traditional charity broadcasting isn’t—transparent about challenges so that lessons are learned, honest about complexity, focused on learning rather than just celebrating good intentions.

Club President Salve Ibañez with her club conceived the project after watching many exceptional service projects from across the Philippines disappear into organizational silence. Philippine Rotary Clubs accomplished extraordinary things, but oftentimes their insights remained trapped in PowerPoint decks nobody outside their district see.

Charter President Johun Joshua Santos with Club President Salve Ibañez and the club, asked: What if Rotary’s most impactful youth-led solutions weren’t buried in reports, but competed for funding on national television where their reasoning, their struggles, their impact would be visible to millions?

“We kept seeing young people with brilliant solutions getting zero visibility,” Santos, a young master storyteller, says. “Traditional Rotary channels need to innovate. We needed something that would reach beyond the usual 35,000 Rotarians.”

The answer became a 30-minute, 10-episode series scheduled for weekend primetime on ANC, with global reach through The Filipino Channel and live streaming on ANC’s YouTube channel with 3 million subscribers. Not niche Rotary content—mainstream television with commercial sponsors, professional production, and the accountability that comes from broadcasting outcomes to 2.5 million expected viewers.

From Pilot to Precedent

The project started close to home—documenting San Juan Supreme’s own work. The Supreme Store Project provides seed capital for sari-sari stores, but that’s not the innovation. The innovation is requiring beneficiaries to complete financial literacy training first, teaching them to understand profit margins before they stock a single shelf. Watch Your Bottle project saw Supreme club members and their families clean up a beach in La Union to protect sea turtles, and use the collected plastic bottles to produce a limited series of only 100 Luminox watches. The strap is completely made of recycled plastic from the beach cleanups. 

These projects represented proof of concept. They demonstrated what the club believed: effective service demands impact and real transformation.  

The Impact Challenge scales that visibility exponentially. Production timeline runs October 2025 through March 2026, with broadcast scheduled for weekend primetime—slots where families watch together, but also on demand through the iwantapp and Youtube, where youth audiences might stumble across something that changes how they think about community problem-solving.

But securing Holger Knaack for the October pilot taping changed everything. Getting a former RI President—now the 2025-26 Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair—to sit for this format during an official Philippines visit required hard work and diplomatic maneuvering most clubs couldn’t pull off. Knaack’s schedule during Foundation duties is measured in 15-minute increments. 

His participation validated something crucial: Rotary’s most senior leaders are now aware that the old communication playbook isn’t working. Knaack’s willingness to engage without prepared remarks, without a podium, without the protective ceremony of official events—that signaled openness to reinvention in how Rotary shares what it knows.

But validation from leadership only solves part of the problem. Television production costs money—real money. San Juan Supreme structured The Impact Challenge as authentic corporate partnership, not charity solicitation.  

The pitch to corporate partners: “This isn’t charity. It’s strategic brand building through authentic social impact.” In a market where 87% of Filipino consumers prefer brands supporting social causes, The Impact Challenge offers documented CSR outcomes with built-in audience reach. Sponsors aren’t just buying ads—they’re funding youth solutions to community problems while getting year-round content library rights for their own marketing.

It’s the business model that makes sustainability possible. The ₱700,000 in grants comes from sponsors who gain measurable marketing value, not from Rotary club treasuries that could never sustain this scale. If the model works, it’s replicable across districts and countries—which is exactly the kind of systematic thinking Knaack has championed throughout his Rotary leadership.

What Made October Different

The October pilot taping broke every rule of standard Rotary protocol. No podium separating speaker from audience. No prepared remarks vetted by committees. Instead, host Cara Eriguel-Rabat facilitated a thoughtful panel discussion designed to establish the intellectual and emotional foundation for everything that follows.

Episode 1, titled “The Call to Serve,” opens with what television producers call a “cold open”—two minutes of montage showing Philippine challenges juxtaposed with youth volunteers making differences. Then the question appears on screen: “What if the next generation could change everything?” It’s the kind of opening that makes channel-surfers stop scrolling.

The panel discussion that follows isn’t the stiff Q&A typical of educational programming. Cara, moderating with the energy of someone who understands the value of impactful and authentic service, posed questions designed to surface genuine conversation: “Some might say Rotary is an organization for established professionals. How do we bridge that perception gap?” She asks Knaack about whether young people with big dreams but limited experience can actually deliver. She pushes Sanchez on how to ensure lasting impact versus temporary solutions.

This wasn’t yet the competition format—that comes in episodes 2-8 with youth groups pitching to judges. This was conceptual foundation: establishing why strategic service thinking matters, what questions separate effective intervention from wasted resources, how transparent accountability changes outcomes. The panel establishes the standards that will be applied when youth groups compete.

The Episode 1 panel makes institutional knowledge feel urgent and personal rather than bureaucratic and distant.

Knaack isn’t there to deliver another speech about Rotary’s history. Cara pushes him to explain why his “Rotary Opens Opportunities” theme from his 2020-21 presidency manifests in this competition format. She asks him directly: “You’ve seen successful youth programs worldwide. What makes the Philippine approach unique?”  

Sanchez brings ground-level reality. She’s been championing District 3800’s innovation, navigating the unglamorous challenges of urban service where poverty borders luxury developments. When Cara asks how to ensure lasting impact versus temporary solutions, Sanchez talks about creating an ecosystem where no club gets left behind when it comes to creating impactful service projects. 

Santos, as Assistant Rotary Membership Coordinator, represents the bridge generation—young enough to understand why traditional Rotary communication needs to connect with youth, experienced enough to navigate institutional structures. His segment addresses misconceptions head-on. Rotary isn’t just for older established professionals. But how do you change perception when perception reflects decades of reality?

And then there’s the unusual dynamic of having a financial journalist whose “Boardroom Tea” column specializes in exposing institutional dysfunction—serve as both panelist discussing the initiative and President of the club creating it. Cara asks her the accountability question viewers are probably thinking: “A year from now, how will we measure if this initiative succeeded?” Salve discusses why metrics must be clear, even in projects designed to do good things, just like businesses designed for profit. 

The 25-minute panel discussion becomes the series’ intellectual foundation. By the time they reveal the seven focus areas and show teaser footage from auditions, viewers understand what they’re watching isn’t charity theater—it’s strategic service with transparent accountability.

Replicability as Service

RC San Juan Supreme designed The Impact Challenge for scale. The format doesn’t require unlimited budgets—it requires thinking differently about how service organizations fund innovation. The sponsorship model solves the sustainability problem that kills most ambitious Rotary projects: relying solely on club resources that can never scale beyond local efforts.

This philosophy runs through all the club’s work. The Supreme Store Project doesn’t just hand out capital—it teaches profit margins and supplier negotiations. Project Habi ng Pag-asa doesn’t merely provide skills training—it teaches weavers to price labor appropriately for international buyers, not local charity markets.

The Impact Challenge extends this logic: it doesn’t just fund youth projects—it creates a sustainable financing mechanism that aligns corporate marketing objectives with documented social impact. The format itself becomes service, proving that Rotary can think like strategic business partners rather than just charitable organizations seeking donations.

The October Conversation’s Substance

The pilot episode won’t be released until the series launches in early 2026, but participants describe the exchange as establishing intellectual foundation for what’s coming.

When youth groups present their solutions, judges won’t just ask “What will you do?” They’ll ask “How did you validate this would work? What happens when your assumptions prove wrong? How will you know if you’re creating sustainable change or just temporary relief?”

That’s the format’s power. By establishing these standards in the pilot with Knaack—someone whose credibility is unquestioned—the series can hold youth groups (and by extension, all Rotary projects) to higher strategic standards without seeming cynical or dismissive of good intentions.

The Ripple Beyond Content

The deeper innovation may be what The Impact Challenge reveals about Rotary’s capacity for self-reinvention. Organizations that survive generational transitions share a trait: they preserve core mission while permitting radical innovation in method. Mission ossification is fatal, but so is method worship.

Rotary’s mission—bringing together people of goodwill to address community needs through service—hasn’t budged since 1905. Good. But the mechanisms for identifying needs, designing interventions, measuring outcomes, and communicating impact must evolve or become irrelevant.

The District 3800 Context

The project’s emergence from District 3800 makes sense. The district covers Metro Manila and Rizal—one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic, most unequal urban environments. Clubs here don’t have the luxury of simple service. They confront inequality where slums border luxury developments, infrastructure gaps that government can’t or won’t fill, social service demands requiring sophisticated interventions—not just fundraising dinners and goodwill.

Governor Gina Sanchez’s support reflects district culture that rewards experimentation but understands limitations. District 3800 historically produces clubs testing new models—cause-based clubs, digital-first communications, integrated professional networks. The environment permits risk, which generates more innovation than risk-averse cultures ever produce.

What’s Next?

Will youth groups rise to the challenge of defending their strategic thinking on camera? Will judges ask the hard questions that separate fundable innovation from feel-good ideas? Will the 60-day implementation period reveal truths about what works that clubs can actually use to improve their own service? Will the live finale create the accountability moment that changes how Rotary thinks about measuring impact?

And perhaps most crucially: Will corporate sponsors and collaborators see enough value—in brand exposure, in documented CSR outcomes, in authentic connection with next-generation consumers—to make the financial model sustainable beyond this first season?

That’s when format innovation becomes service innovation. That’s when a pilot conversation filmed on a sunny October morning transforms into a tool helping Rotary organizations worldwide attract younger members, secure sustainable funding, and deepen their impact in communities.

Impact. What the world desperately needs.

Written by: Rtn. Salve Ibañez, Rotary Club of San Juan Supreme, Rotary International District 3800