November:  ROTARY FOUNDATION Month

The Rotary Foundation is Rotary's own charitable fund and is operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes throughout the world. The Foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International’s sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary “to do good in the world.” It has grown from an initial contribution of $26.50 to more than $1 billion. It is one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world.

Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.

Through our Foundation, Rotary members have supported thousands of projects to provide clean water, fight disease, promote peace, provide basic education, and grow local economies. We’ve also been a leader in the fight to eradicate polio worldwide.

The Rotary Foundation transforms gifts into projects that change lives both close to home and around the world. As the charitable arm of Rotary, The Rotary Foundation taps into a global network of Rotarians who invest their time, money, and expertise into Rotary's humanitarian priorities.

The Rotary Foundation is one of the largest foundations in the world. Annual contributions to the Foundation are invested and every annual giving dollar contributed to the Foundation is available for its programs three years later (actually, 50% of District 5870's contributions are subsequently returned to the District for District-level projects as well as Club-level and local projects). Members of our Club have contributed a cumulative total of nearly $584,000 to The Rotary Foundation (a significant portion of that total has been returned to our Club over the past 29+ years to help fund projects in our area communities).

The mission of the Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education and the alleviation of poverty.