Rotary now has easier access to Foundation funds
Doug Pedden and Craig Bennet presented to their fellow Rotarians during Tuesday's meeting where they discussed changes to funding formulas of the Rotary Foundation which will allow districts to better decide where funds will be spent. (ROBIN DUDGEON/THE GRAPHIC/QMI Agency)
The Portage Rotary Club heard from two of its own at Tuesday’s meeting where they discussed changes to the funding formula of the Rotary Foundation.
“We were talking about the Rotary Foundation which is a big part of Rotary International. What it is, is Rotary has its own foundation and they use it to build communities around the world for different projects in the third world and in local communities,” said Rotary member Doug Pedden who spoke alongside Craig Bennet. The two are the Foundation directors for the Portage club. “They use it for different types of projects such as health projects, parks, schools in other countries, and stuff like that.”
During the meeting Pedden and Bennet spoke about the benefits of becoming a Paul Harris Fellow. One can become a fellow by donating $1,000 to the Rotary Foundation. Only the interest from that money is spent, and it goes towards various different projects.
“Most of the Rotarians are Paul Harris Fellows a lot of them are sustaining members as well. It’s more to explain to them how the new system is going to work and the benefit of being a Paul Harris Fellow is even greater now than it was before,” said Pedden.
Perhaps the best part is that local districts now have more control over how that money is spent.
“Before decisions were being made at Rotary’s head office in Chicago and it was becoming too bureaucratic and taking too long. This is a much more simplified system and its set. The funding formula was a little iffy before and this way is a much more methodical and logical way,” said Pedden.
How the Portage club will benefit from this is yet to be seen. It all depends on the upcoming president and the planning they are able to do before their term in order to get things done.
“It’s important for us to have our executive positions in early so we can talk about what kind of programs we are going to be looking at. I think a lot of the programs are going to be locally development that our club is going to be looking at,” said Craig Bennet. “In previous years we have done international projects, but those are a lot tougher to do, there is a lot more planning that goes into that