Rotary Foundation Refresher
Posted by Vira Hughes
on Mar 15, 2016
Dimitri Papanicolas, who is the current club chair of the Rotary Foundation, gave us a presentation on the Foundation and how our local area and club fit into the overall picture. It was well done and comprehensive enough for both new and old members alike. We learned that the mission of the Foundation is to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.
This not-for-profit foundation, does this through voluntary donations from Rotary members and friends.They have several funds that one can contribute towards.
The Annual Share fund supports grants and activities selected by local clubs.
A second type of Annual Fund involves donating to a specific area of focus such as water and sanitation, maternal and child health, education and literacy and several others.
A third type is Endowment Funds supporting various activities.
Polio Plus is another of the funds that is part of the Rotary Foundation. Each year our district and club set goals for donations to the Rotary Foundation. Our district 5370 goal is a donation of $100 US for each one of our 2266 members. This works out to about $ 12 per month, per member. So far this year (July 2015 to Mar 2016) our area has raised over 225 thousand US dollars or the Share Fund, 139 thousand US dollars for Polio Plus and other funds, and over 260 thousand US dollars for endowment funds.
Our local club goal of $7300 US for the Annual fund, has also been met, as well as donations to the Polio Plus and endowment funds. On behalf of the Rotary Foundation, Dimitri thanked us all for our continuing support.