Remember—“Every Rotarian Every Year”

November is Rotary Foundation Month
By Gary Speed, District Foundation Coordinator

November is Rotary Foundation Month on the Rotary calendar and time to remind our Rotarians of the need to support The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International in their annual giving.  The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is “Our Foundation”.  As the charitable vehicle for much of Rotary’s international service activities, the Foundation sponsors our popular and well-known programs for Ambassadorial Scholars, Group Study Exchange and several types of grants, including Matching Grants, Simplified Grants and 3-H Grants.  The Foundation has also been the conduit by which Rotarians around the world have contributed over $500 million to eradicate polio.

Our district has used or is using the contributions of our Rotarians to do the following things over the past three years:

Ambassadorial Scholars—We have sent seven students as Ambassadorial Scholars or Cultural Scholars to other countries over the past three years.  We have also selected two Ambassadorial Scholars to study abroad next year.

Group Study Exchanges—We have sent three Rotarians and 12 non-Rotarians to visit Chile, Sweden, Norway as Group Study Exchange team members over the past three years and we have just selected five individuals to go to England next spring.  We will send a team to Brazil in 2006-07.

Matching Grants—We have contributed $22,107 in District Designated Funds (DDF) as part of six matching grants in five countries, that has been or will be matched by $71,425 of money from the World Fund of The Rotary Foundation as part of humanitarian projects with a total value of $200,304.  These projects have provided or will provide fresh water in Honduras, transportation for school children in Brazil, livestock and training through Heifer Project International in Thailand and Viet Nam, reforestation in Chile and eye surgeries in Bangladesh.  We currently have another grant proposal pending for four school buses in India, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Bald Knob.

District Simplified Grants—We have funded $17,540 in District Simplified Grants to Helena, North Little Rock, South Little Rock, Fairfield Bay and Stuttgart.  We have committed to fund another $16,800 in DSG for Pulaski County clubs, Jonesboro clubs Marianna, and Heber Springs.  We have another $22,000 for DSG this year.

Polio—The contributions to the Polio Eradication Campaign by our district have been nothing short of phenomenal.  Through 2004-05, we contributed $274,532.14 to the eradication of polio.  Wow!  What a great effort!

3-H Grant—Our district and Rotary Club of Little Rock each committed $10,000 in 2002-03 to a project in Cluj Napoca, Romania with Heifer Project International, which was matched with another $183,593 from the World Fund of The Rotary Foundation and additional funds from HPI.  This project received worldwide publicity in June, 2005 at the Centennial Convention of Rotary International at Chicago when Gary Parrish of Club 99 was interviewed in the convention program and photographs of Matt Bradley were shown.  Club 99 and its project team led by Gary Parrish are to be congratulated upon their incredible efforts to make this project so successful.

Rotarians should be quite proud of the many programs of the Foundation.  In 2004, the first class of graduates completed their studies at the Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution.  These scholars are now assuming positions of leadership with government agencies, private businesses, charities, church organizations and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world to quietly influence the course of our world and promote peace.  Our district has contributed $100,000 toward this program, which will pay for two scholars in the two-year masters program.

What is your club goal for Rotary Foundation Annual Programs Fund giving this year?  Every member in Rotary worldwide is encouraged to contribute at least $100 annually.  How about in your club?  Do you need ideas in how to reach that goal?  Have you made plans to conduct an Every Rotarian Every Year campaign in November and remind your members about the programs of The Rotary Foundation?  If you need a speaker to talk to your club about the foundation, be sure to ask.  Although there are GSE team members, Ambassadorial Scholars and other beneficiaries of TRF around, many times they are never asked to speak to clubs.  If you don’t know who to ask, just give me a call at (501) 219-2800.

Thanks for all that you do for Rotary and The Rotary Foundation!