Only about a third of clubs in the districts that make up Sub-Saharan Africa, contribute in any meaningful way to the Rotary Foundation. In our own district, D9400, the figure is 28%. Yet the 35 000 odd Rotary clubs worldwide rely on the Foundation for funding of especially large projects.
"Selling" the Rotary Foundation to Rotarians in the districts he will be representing as Rotary Regional Foundation Co-ordinator with a reach far into Africa, as reported here last week, will be the future task of PDG Jankees Sligcher.
The caption on this illustration by Gwen Kereval on My Rotary emphasises that any gift to the Foundation can be donated to a specific fund, whether it's End Polio Now, an individual global grant or one of the Rotary areas of focus
This has also been my task since July last year as Foundation Chair of the Rotary Club of Johannesburg New Dawn and it hasn't been easy bringing the message and benefits of the Rotary Foundation home to all the members. I have often seen peoples' eyes start to glaze over when I bring up the subject? Why is that? It has a lot to do with money, of course.
For individual members, once you've paid your semi-annual dues, your financial commitments to Rotary have been taken care of. All other contributions are voluntary, such as for the weekly brag when we meet in person and even contributions to the Foundation, as I tried to emphasise in my email to members asking for at least a part payment to the club to help cover the costs of the Every Rotarian Every Year scheme.
As an individual member, you can give directly to the Foundation. Why do so few people do it?
The Rotary Foundation was founded in 1917 when the outgoing president, Arch Klumph, kicked it off with an initial amount of $26.50. He envisaged an endowment to do good in the world. That has done, in spades.
According to the latest updates on the My Rotary website, that same foundation disbursed more than $86 million to 1306 grants in 2018. That included almost $11 million to education projects, the main area of focus of New Dawn.
A graphic representation of global grants for 2018
Consider that the Global Grant of some $33 000 that President Ian Widdop successfully applied for, cost New Dawn only $2 500 directly and a further $5 000 indirectly from a Canadian partner club and you soon see the cumulative effect of the Foundation disbursements. For New Dawn it was more than $13 to each $1 paid out and for the two partner clubs combined almost $4.50 for each dollar contributed.
For the emergency District grant that was initially given for taxi sanitisation and which will now be used for the seedling farm at the National School of the Arts, New Dawn didn't have to fork out any money.
That's something to think about next time you consider a donation, however small, to a project. For the price of breakfasts at Parkview on Wednesday mornings, you can become a donor and quite quickly earn your own Paul Harris Fellowship, placing you amongst the Rotary elite, and that's just the beginning of the donor recognition. There's a whole chapter on it on My Rotary.
Being a Rotarian is all about commitment, whether it's committing to donate money or your time.
The meeting on Wednesday was a business meeting and discussions around this topic and a number of others led to a lively debate and some cracking ideas. The joy of New Dawn is that we don't just give more to the Foundation than any other club in the district, we also do a lot more on our own than most other clubs. Keep the ideas rolling in!
Speakers: The speaker next week is Lee Doig, a Cape Town based advertising guru who makes high-end commercials and short feature films. Lee has won an Emmy and been nominated for countless more and, perhaps his singular highest achievement, has known Helene Bramwell since he was 12 years old.
Lee is planning a film on the heroin scourge in Africa and is looking for financing, although he's not talking to the club in expectation of getting millions out of us.
It promises to be an interesting talk.
Equally interesting should be the speaker the following week. James Delaney is an artist who has taken on the task of keeping The Wilds clean and has agreed to address the club in exchange for either donations or volunteers to help with the weeding.
A Thought for the Week: You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions. - Naguib Mahfouz (1911 - 2006)
At the 1917 convention, outgoing Rotary president Arch Klumph proposed setting up an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” That one idea, and an initial contribution of $26.50, set in motion a powerful force that has transformed millions of lives around the
At the 1917 convention, outgoing Rotary president Arch Klumph proposed setting up an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” That one idea, and an initial contribution of $26.50, set in motion a powerful force that has transformed millions of lives around the globe.
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