Future Visions
Future Visions - Moving Forward with Focus
Rotarian Ryan Geluk, Future Visions Coordinator for the British Virgin Islands, spoke to the Club on 13 November 2012 about Rotary International's initiative to improve how grants from the Rotary Foundation are issued and applied.
Rotary International has structured its new grant programme, called Future Visions, in a business-like model which aims to streamline operations and secure a more effective application of resources. The new model encourages greater emphasis on Rotary's six areas of focus as these will become important criteria in assessing projects for grant approval. (For areas of focus click More... below)
The Future Visions grant model emphasizes sustainability. Thus preference will be given to projects designed to provide continuous benefit to the community after the grant amount has been exhausted.
Future Visions offer Three types of Grants:
District Grants – Block Grants that allow clubs and districts to address immediate needs in district and abroad;
Global Grants – Funding for large scale international humanitarian projects, vocational training teams and scholarships that have sustainable, measurable outcomes in one or more of the areas of focus.
In addition, Packaged Grants are also available to Rotary Clubs in the pilot districts. These clubs can work with the Rotary Foundation's Strategic Partners on predesigned projects and activities funded entirely by the World Fund and the Strategic Partner.
Qualification
Under the Future Vision pilot, clubs must be qualified by their district before applying for Rotary Foundation Global Grants . The qualification process provides clubs with the necessary financial and stewardship controls for meeting Foundation requirements and successfully managing grant-funded activities. The Rotary Foundation has two minimum requirements for club qualification:
- The president-elect or a designated club representative must attend the district Rotary Foundation grant management seminar. Contact your district representative for more information about this seminar.
- The club president and president-elect must read, sign, and submit the club memorandum of understanding ( club MOU ) to their district and agree to follow its requirements. Note that the club MOU is a binding agreement between the club and its district.
Because districts are responsible for the qualification of their member clubs, it is also possible that districts will have additional qualification requirements. To learn more about district requirements, contact your district Rotary Foundation committee.
It is important for club leaders to quickly become familiar with the club MOU and follow all of the terms in the agreement. Clubs must assign a member or members to manage the qualification process and ensure they meet all requirements in the club MOU in time to apply for grant funds from The Rotary Foundation.
Once a club becomes qualified, it retains that status for one Rotary year, and club leaders must requalify each new Rotary year with the new president and president-elect.
The above information was taken in part from Rotary International Website.
For greater details on the Future Visions Model visit Rotary International webpage: http://www.rotary.org/en/members/runningaclub/fv/pages/ridefault.aspx
For an overview go to: http://www.rotary.org/RIdocuments/en_html/elearn_fv_overview_en.htm