Art asked Peter Falley to come up. Peter gave a presentation about
The Rotary Foundation via a slide show presentation prepared by the Foundation. The Rotary Foundation is the charitable arm of Rotary International. Our Foundation is separate from the club because under IRS regulations a club cannot accept charitable donations that are tax deductible. For the same reason, The Rotary Foundation (TRF) is a charitable organization separate from but linked to Rotary International. The Rotary Foundation supports all the good work that Rotary does around the world. Their goal is to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace, improving health, providing good quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. The Foundation is an unusual organization in that it is primarily funded by contributions from members. It is in very good standing nationally with respect to other charitable organizations. It has been given four stars—the top rating— by Charity Navigator, an organization that rates charitable organizations, for 15 years. The reason is because the donated money goes to funding projects around the world. The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund supports global and district grants every year and also provides support for other projects. Polio is another aspect of that. The Rotary Foundation is focused on seven Areas of Focus: peace building and conflict prevention, disease prevention and treatment, water sanitation and hygiene, maternal and child health, basic education and literacy, community and economic development and the environment. When you apply for a global grant, you have to focus on one of these areas. The annual fund has a couple of different aspects. The SHARE portion comes back to the districts and clubs after three years. When we make our contribution, the money gets invested and the interest earned is used to fund the operations of the Foundation. After three years the principle is redistributed giving half to the world fund and the other half to the districts as District Designated Funds (DDFs). Our District divides its DDF into two portions: One for district grants and the other for global grants. Any funds left over go into Polio Plus, or disaster response projects or are saved for use in a subsequent year. A global grant our club has participated in is the Guatemala water project. Our club has benefited over the last nine years by getting back almost $24,000 for our District Grant projects. We did a school garden project, installed a wafer cistern for The Commons, had a couple of books for kindergarten kids projects, supported The Commons food pantry project, had the School Hygiene Project through which we supplied hygiene supplies to local school nurses' offices, and we worked with The Commons on the food package program for Cobre students.
The amount we get from the District for District Grants is determined by the club’s contribution to the TRF Annual Fund three years prior to the awarding of the grant. Last year we did the computers for SPIN project. All in all our club has received quite a bit of money for grants. However, we did not make a request for a district grant this year; perhaps, we should next year.
The Rotary Foundation wants every member to contribute to the Annual Fund every year. It is really important in order
to continue all the good work. Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY) is the motto for the Annual Fund. In 2023 the annual fund raised $147 million from Rotarians. Thirty-four percent of Rotarians donated to the Annual Fund that year, eighty-one percent of all clubs contributed. This year thirty-eight percent of our club has contributed so far. EREY means you contribute at least $25 a year; $100 makes you a sustaining member. To become a Paul Harris Fellow, you have to contribute $1,000 over a period of time. Our club has lots of Paul Harris Fellows. You can also belong to the Paul Harris Society which consists of people who make the commitment to contribute at least $1,000 every year. Paul Harris Society members contribute more than twenty percent of the money that goes into the Annual Fund.
There are several ways to contribute: a check payable to the Rotary Foundation can be given to Peter for transmission to The Rotary Foundation, or you can go online at Rotary.org. and click on the Donate button at the top of the page to make a donation by credit card, or you can ask our treasurer to include a specific amount for The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund in your quarterly membership bill, or you can go to our website and donate there. On the rotary.org website you can also enroll in Rotary Direct to withdraw monthly or quarterly donations from a credit card or bank account. No matter how you make your gift donation it helps carry on all the good work that Rotary does. Donations for this year must be made before June 30 to count for the 2024-25 Rotary Year. However you make your donation, make sure it is allocated the the Annual Fund-SHARE, so that part of it can come back to the District and to our club three years down the road.
