My dear friends and fellow Rotary leaders,
As we enter Foundation Month, we would like to thank each and every one of you who did so much to make World Polio Day such an enormous success.
We welcomed Rotarians, Rotary staff members, Rotaractors, and guests to our livestream viewing and virtual reality event here at Rotary headquarters in Evanston. It was an amazing experience—not only sharing our excitement and enthusiasm for polio eradication with so many strong supporters, but knowing that our event was just one of the 3,300 registered World Polio Day events taking place around the world on that day. Every one helped raise awareness of our work; every one brought eradication that much closer.
Rotary’s work to eradicate polio continues, as does our work to promote literacy, economic development, better health, clean water, and peace throughout the world—all of it supported by our Rotary Foundation. In its 101
st year, our Foundation continues to be the engine that drives the Rotary machine, allowing Rotary clubs and districts to aspire to larger, more ambitious projects with transformative, sustainable impact.
If your club is thinking about taking on a more ambitious project, remember that Rotary Action Groups
(RAGs) are great resources. RAGs are international groups of Rotarians, family members, program participants, and alumni who are experts in a particular field, such as microcredit, peace, family health, disasters, or water. In addition to contributing technical expertise, RAGs can also assist clubs with global grant projects by helping prepare grant applications, conduct community assessments, identify partners, raise funds, and establish monitoring and evaluation plans.
Some of the largest RAGs serve as leaders in Rotary’s areas of focus and help clubs take on large-scale global grant projects:
RAG for Population and Development,
Water and Sanitation RAG,
RAG for Family Health and AIDs Prevention,
Microfinance and Community Development RAG, and
RAG for Peace. Connect directly with a RAG for assistance with a project, district, or global grant, at any stage of planning.
You can end Foundation Month on a charitable note by participating in Giving Tuesday, 27 November. Rotary will be joining thousands of other organizations worldwide for a global day of giving. Our
new online giving platform has made it easier than ever to give to the Foundation, and you can easily notify someone of a gift made in their honor via email or by printing and delivering a customized notification yourself.
We usually refer to The Rotary Foundation as Our Foundation. Unlike most charities, our Foundation is truly Our Foundation, because it is both supported by the Rotary family, and supports the work we do. This year, our Foundation has already approved 222 district grants, with $31.9 million USD in total funding, and 41 global grants, with $11.9 million in total funding.
Our ambitious goals to grow our endowment and our annual giving set the stage for a larger, more effective, more sustainable Rotary—that will
Be the Inspiration for generations to come.
Yours in Rotary,
Barry Rassin
President, Rotary International 2018-19
Ron D. Burton
Trustee Chair, The Rotary Foundation 2018-19
