Rotary Foundation for 2009-2010

Fellow Rotarian Ron Graeff recently attended a District level conference that had presentations on a number of Rotary related topics. Ron attended the Rotary Foundation presentations and reported to our Club on what he learned.

The 2009-2010 goals of the Rotary Foundation are

  • To continue to work towards fulfilling the promise of eradicating polio
  • Use the Six Areas of Focus in the Future Vision Plan to achieve a better world
  • To implement the Future Vision Plan to revitalize and strengthen the Foundation to enable it to adequately support another century of Rotary service
  • Support the Every Rotarian, Every Year initiative

    The Future Vision Plan implements a new grant structure which calls for two kinds of grants. First are the Global Grants. These are awarded in six areas of focus:

  • Peace and conflict preservation & resolution
  • Disease prevention & treatment
  • Water and sanitation
  • Maternal & child health
  • Basic education & Literacy
  • Economic & community development

    Second are the District Grants. These are awarded to Clubs and their district to work together to fund smaller educational or humanitarian activities that support the mission of The Rotary Foundation.

    Ron also talked about a key aspect of the Foundation, namely supporting and funding the Foundation. Although each Club is required to donate to the Rotary Foundation, the Foundation also depends on contributions from individual Rotarians. Ron said this is why the Every Rotarian, Every Year is so important. With this program, each Rotarian in every club around the world is requested to donate $100 per year - hence the name of the program. Our club makes this easy by allowing you to donate $25 with each quarterly payment you make. With 1.2 million members world wide, this program has the potential to enable the Rotary Foundation to make an even bigger difference in the world that it already does.

    Another way to make a donation to the Foundation is to become a Paul Harris Fellow. Our Club makes it easy to pursue this recognition as well. The Foundation requires a donation of $1,000 for to receive the Paul Harris Fellow recognition. Our Club will match your contributions dollar for dollar, so if you contribute $500, the club matches the $500 and you qualify as a Paul Harris Fellow. The $500 payment can also be broken down and paid quarterly or monthly. There is also some paperwork involved that Ron can help you with.


    In keeping with the Four Way Test, Ron provided some excellent information on how our contributions work for the 'Benefit of All Concerned'. First all of our contributions work to fulfill the mission of Rotary International. Second, after 3 years, 50% of all our contributions to the Foundation come back to our District in the form of District Simplified Grants. We can apply for these grants to support our own local initiatives like our Thanksgiving Meals program and our Holiday Giving program.