The Rotary Foundation Disaster Response Fund Grant
Purpose: To provide Rotary Foundation funds to our clubs to fill COVID-19 related needs in their communities
We asked clubs to submit requests, ranging from $500 to $2,500, as to how they would use these funds in their communities. With only allowing 12 days until the deadline for submission, we didn’t know what the response would be…and we were overwhelmed by the response! 33 of our clubs requested funds totaling nearly $67,000, while contributing over $20,000 of their own money in these proposals! With only $25,000 to be able to disperse obviously clubs won’t get their full requests, but we will still be able to do a great amount of good in our communities.
District Sponsored Grant
Purpose: To bring the District together to make significant contributions to three organizations that operate throughout all communities in our District
Every year, our District receives District Designated Funds (DDF) from The Rotary Foundation that we use to match grant requests from our clubs. Due to COVID-19, we have funds leftover from grants that were not able to be completed this year. To make best use of these funds and not roll them forward to future years (where they can only be spent internationally), we wanted to use them to make significant contributions to three organizations:
- Second Harvest Heartland (Regional Food Bank)
- Channel One Regional Food Bank
- YMCA of Greater Twin Cities
We asked your clubs to join us in this effort and make contributions to add to the DDF funds we had remaining. 17 clubs came forward to contribute over $10,000 so, coupled with the $16,700 of DDF available, we will be making contributions to these organizations for over $27,000 total!
Bottom Line: The efforts of you and your fellow Rotarians over the past two weeks mean that we are activating over $72,000 to be used in our communities in a time of great need, and this doesn’t count what clubs have done on their own over the past six weeks!
When speaking about The Rotary Foundation and all we do as Rotarians, we often talk about how everything we do leads to positive peace in our backyards and around the world. Positive peace is not just the absence of war/violence, but the fulfillment of all needs in a society. Your efforts in these initiatives over the past few weeks have been great examples of how we as Rotarians work to bring positive peace to the lives of the people around us.
Thank you for the positive peace you create every day, and especially in these challenging times. Keep up the great work! We are honored to be part of the Rotary family with all of you!