- Building Our Rotary Foundation
- Humanitarian Grants

Building Our Rotary Foundation

Every Rotarian, Every Year

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, throughout its history, has prided itself on being responsive to the challenges that confront humanity. Rotary’s hope is that every Rotarian will participate in their Rotary Foundation and help to grow and sustain the Foundation's many wonderful programs.

Rotary’s current goal is to achieve an average of $100 ( US) per member. In District 7070 that amounts to a District Goal of $230,000 (US).

In Canada, contributions to the Rotary Foundation are made via the Rotary Foundation Canada (see more info below)

ANNUAL FUND:

The Annual Programs Fund is the primary source of unrestricted support for the programs of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. The mission of the Annual Programs Fund mirrors that of The Rotary Foundation: to support the efforts of Rotary International in the achievement of world understanding and peace through local, national, and international humanitarian, educational, and cultural programs.

It is from the Annual Fund, that the Foundation and District 7070 fund our outbound Ambassadorial Scholars, the Group Study Exchange Teams, and the various Humanitarian Grant programs.

Individual Rotarians, Rotary Cubs and our supporters can all contribute to the Annual Programs Fund. The annual Foundation Walk is District 7070’s major fund-raiser for the Annual Fund.

Contributions to the Foundation can be made at any time. Please when doing so utilize the Contribution/Recognition form when forwarding funds to the Rotary Foundation Canada. The form can be downloaded from the District website by clicking here.

A/ Sustaining Members:

Rotarians recognize that without sustained support of the Annual Programs Fund, the programs of The Rotary Foundation cannot happen. Become a Sustaining Foundation Member by contributing at least US$100 to the Foundation each and every year.

B/ Direct Deposit:

Rotarians can arrange to make automatic withdrawals from their bank account to the Foundation on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis.

An explanatory brochure including a form to authorize such deductions can be downloaded from the District website by clicking here.

The contact for getting set up on TRF Direct (direct withdrawal) is Stephanie Kuta at Rotary International. She can be reached at Stephanie.kuta@rotary.org

C/ Credit Card Payment:

Canadian Rotarians can now directly contribute to the Rotary Foundation using their credit card. To do so click here.

PERMANENT  FUND:

The Permanent Fund ensures The Rotary Foundation's ability to meet the urgent needs of the future by building an endowment. The principle is never spent and while some of the investment earnings are used to help finance Foundation programs, the rest of the earnings are retained to help build the endowment.

1. Benefactors:

You may become a Benefactor to The Rotary Foundation by making the Permanent Fund a beneficiary in your estate plans or by making an outright gift of US$1,000 or more to the Permanent Fund.

District 7070 has an active program to encourage Rotarians to become a Benefactor. For information please contact John Cairns our Benefactor Coordinator. He can be reached at 613-966-5032 or at john@voiceofvictory.ca
Download form here

An acceptable codicil for Canadian wills is:

“I hereby give and bequeath the sum of  ….$ to the Rotary Foundation (Canada) to be used as the directors of the Foundation may from time to time determine.”

2. Bequest Society:
 
The Bequest Society is made up of Rotarians and their spouses who have made a commitment to include in their estate a gift of $10K or more (US) to the Rotary Foundation.

Bequest Society membership forms can be downloaded from the District website by clicking here.

3. Major Donors:

Some Rotarians and their families are in a position to give sizable gifts to the Foundation. The Rotary Foundation recognizes those couples or individuals whose combined personal outright or cumulative giving has reached US$10,000. All outright contributions made to The Rotary Foundation are included in this total, regardless of the gift designation.

District 7070’s Permanent Fund Coordinator is PDG Mike Cooksey. He can be reached at 416.867.7862 or by email at:  michael.cooksey@sympatico.ca

If you and your family are in a position or if you know of someone in your Rotary Club who may be in a position to give a major gift to the Foundation – please like PDG Mike know.

Each year Mike organizes a Major Donors Dinner for Rotarians in southern Ontario. For more information – please contact Mike.

ROTARY FOUNDATION CANADA:

Rotary Foundation Canada maintains an office in London, ON. Our Canadian administrator is David Prowse. He handles Canadian donations to the Foundation and issues the applicable tax receipts.

The mailing address for contributions to the Foundation is:

The Rotary Foundation (Canada)
Box B9322
P.O. Box 9100, Postal Station F
Toronto ON
M4Y 3A5, Canada

Tax Receipts:

Rotarians can forward any tax receipt related inquiries to the Foundation Canada office at trfcanada@crcid.org or phone 519-473-3646. The TRF Canada fax number is 519-471-8982.

FOUNDATION RECOGNITION:

The Rotary Foundation provides a number of forms of recognition for donations to the Foundation. At this time these are handled through the Foundation office at RI in Evanston.

To verify recognition credits or to order recognition items such as Paul Harris Fellows, please contact Mitch Lowenstein at The Rotary Foundation. Mitch can be reached at Mitchell.Lowenstein@rotary.org  or at (847) 866-3365.

For more information about how you can help the Rotary Foundation grow go to:
http://www.rotary.org/foundation/development/annualprograms/index.html

Humanitarian Grants

The Rotary Foundation offers several grant programs that Rotary Clubs can access for their humanitarian projects. The programs have different dimensions but the general type of project expenditure which the Foundation will help finance are illustrated in the Humanitarian Grant Eligibility document, click here.

Please note: The Rotary Foundation uses the US dollar for all grant and administrative purposes.

1. District Designated Funds

Each District has authority to manage 50% of the annual funds contributed by District Rotarians, but must follow Foundation eligibility and stewardship criteria. These funds are known as District Designated Funds (DDF). The District designates the use – the Foundation approves. In District 7070 – we typically designate funds for an outgoing Ambassadorial Scholar, for District Simplified Grants, for Matching Grants and for PolioPlus projects.

2.  District Simplified Grants:

District Simplified Grants (DSGs) are a tool for Rotary clubs to support short-term, humanitarian projects that benefit the community.  The funds may be used locally or internationally and projects must adhere to the humanitarian grants criteria established by the Rotary Foundation.  District 7070 will match up to a maximum of $2K of District 7070 club funding, per project. 

If used for an international project, District Simplified Grant applications require participation by both a sponsoring District 7070 Rotary Club(s) and a host club in the country where the project is taking place. The host club must provide a minimum of $100 to the project finances. Each group must form a committee with a minimum of three Rotarians who will actively oversee the grant expenditures and will report on their disposition .This partnering of Rotary Clubs is a vital element of the Foundation grants program.

If the intended use of the DSG is for a local community project, the sponsoring club must demonstrate how the funds will have a positive impact on the disadvantaged in the target community.  The funds may not be used to finance a pre-existing program.  The sponsoring Rotary Club must form a committee with a minimum of three Rotarians who will actively oversee the expenditure of the funds and report on their disposition.

Grant applications will be considered on a first come, first served basis until the annual budget has been expended.  The application form is available on the District 7070 website (see below).

The Foundation has a program of Matching Grants to support club and district international service projects. Eligible projects may be supported from District Designated Funds and from the Rotary Foundation directly.

For Rotary Year 2006-07, District 7070 will contribute from DDF, on a dollar for dollar matching basis up to $5K per club per grant application.   For instance, DDF will match three clubs $5 K contribution towards a project up to a maximum of $15K or alternatively one club’s contributions of up to $5K for one or more project applications. Grant applications will be considered on a first come - first served basis. 

For projects that are found eligible, the Foundation will match club funds at 50 cents per dollar of club funds and match dollar for dollar District Designated Funds (defined above).

The minimum Matching Grant that the Foundation will consider is one that requires a contribution of $5 K from the Foundation to a maximum of $150K.  For illustrative purposes, if a club contributed $3,500 towards a project and the District matched that, the Foundation could match the clubs funds at 50% for $1,750 and the District funds at 100% or $3,500 for a total Foundation Grant of $5,250.

Matching grant applications require participation by both a sponsoring club, the club(s) providing the majority of the funds and a host club (in the country where the project is taking place). Each group must form a committee with a minimum of three Rotarians.

4.  3 – H (Health, Hunger and Humanity) Grants

The 3-H Grants are awarded to fund long-term, self-help, and grassroots development projects that are too large for one club or district to implement on their own. Projects must be self-sustaining after the 3-H Grant funds have been expended. All projects must involve Rotary clubs and districts in at least two different countries with a significant number of Rotarians actively participating in the project. The Foundation will consider grants for projects from a minimum of $100K to $300K.

Additional eligibility requirements include:

• The primary host and international sponsor clubs/districts of a 3-H must have successfully worked together as primary sponsors of a Matching Grant project within 5 years of submitting their 3-H application;
• Utilize an integrative approach that uses multiple program components to address humanitarian needs;
• Completed a community needs assessment that demonstrates local need and support from the local population for the project; and,
• A minimum contribution of 10% of the total 3-H grant award amount. (i.e. US $30,000 contribution for a US $300,000 grant award.)

5. Volunteer Service Grants:

Individual Rotarians or small groups of Rotarians may apply for a grant to assist with their travel expenses to undertake international service projects. Commencing 1 July, 2006, Rotarians may apply for volunteer travel taking place after 1 October 2006.

The grants consist of a flat grant with US$3,000 available to an individual or $6,000 available for a team of up to five members

6.  Application Processes:

All grant applications must be completed before forwarding for processing. All grant applications must be forwarded to the District’s Foundation Grants Committee for review, and where requested, consideration of a DDF contribution. Please note consideration of grant applications must be in advance of the project or the aspect of a multi-year project for which funds are being requested. Retro-active applications will not be considered.

In District 7070, completed District Simplified and all Matching Grant applications (whether DDF is requested or not) must be forwarded to Mike Phelan, Foundations Grants Sub-committee chair. This can be done electronically via email at mike.phelan1@sympatico.ca
For more information please contact Mike by email or by phone at (o) 416-439-9952.
 
Applications for the Volunteer Service Grants and 3-H Grants may be made directly to the Rotary Foundation.

7.  Applications Forms:

For District Simplified Grants – the form is downloadable for the District 7070 website – click here.

For Matching Grants, can be downloaded from the District website by clicking here.

3- H Grant applications can be downloaded from the District website by clicking here.

For Volunteer Service Awards can be downloaded from the District website by clicking here.  

8.  Application deadlines:

District Simplified and Matching Grant requests of up to $25K are processed as they are received. Applications must be received by the District no later than March 1, 2007 for consideration in the 06-07 Rotary year.

Matching Grant requests for amounts greater than $25K up to the maximum of $150K are considered by the Rotary Foundation Board of Trustees at their autumn and spring meetings. Deadlines for the autumn Grants is August 1, 2006 and for the spring grants is January 1, 2007. To meet those deadlines, the District must receive those applications 2 weeks in advance.

The 3-H Grant process is approximately 18 months long. Applications forwarded between July 1, 2006 and March 31, 2007, will be considered by the Foundation Board of Trustees at their April 2008 meeting.

Volunteer Service Grants applications must be received by the Foundation three months prior to departure

9. Stewardship:

The Rotary Foundation takes pride in its stewardship of Foundation Funds. To ensure proper stewardship – interim and final reports on projects progress and completion are a condition for receiving a Foundation Grant.  Specifically a report must be filed 12 months after receipt of the Foundation Grant and final report within 2 months of the projects completion. 3-H Grants require an interim report six month after receipt of funds.

Report forms can be downloaded from the district website by clicking here.

NB.

For more information on Rotary Foundation Humanitarian Grants please go to the Foundation section of the RI website at

http://www.rotary.org/foundation/grants