At last Wednesday's meeting, President Andy Bell presented District Governor Darrell Brown with his new PHF Pin - with a Ruby in it. This depicts that a total of $US 7,000 has been donated to The Rotary Foundation in Darrell's name. Congratulations, Darrell! (Picture by Mark Twyford)I take the liberty to hammer the incorrect view (and I know that our DG will join me), that a Paul Harris Fellowship Award (PHF)"cannot be bought", but can only be bestowed on a member, because "it is designed to be awarded for a member's services to Rotary". Certainly, it is indeed a superb recognition when a club (or other Rotary body) bestows a PHF on a member. My comment here certainly is not intended not diminish this type of recognition in any way. However, the very original purpose of a PHF is, and has always been, to make a donation to the foundation. Over the last 100 years (yes, TRF was founded in 1917), the organization has become one of the biggest non-government charities of the world. It also is one of the very few major charities which have only very negligible overheads - according to Charity Navigator, an independent organization that rates charities, TRF has an overall score of 97.87 out of 100, which gives it the coveted 4 Star rating. So, if you are worried that a substantial portion of your donation ends up in graft or director's salaries, The Rotary Foundation is your answer! Ed.
See Rotary Foundation Director Gerald East for more details.