The Rotary Foundation is the charitable trust fund of Rotary International. In simple terms it is our charity and it belongs to every Rotarian who holds membership of any Rotary club world-wide.
At the 1917 convention of Rotary International in Atlanta, Georgia, RI President Arch Klumph proposed the creation of an “endowment fund for Rotary… for the purpose of doing good in the world in charitable, educational and other avenues of community progress”. The objective of the Foundation is the achievement of world understanding and peace through international charitable and educational programmes. It enables Rotarians of any club to work with those in other clubs throughout the world to achieve a level of success which would be undreamed of by any individual member, club, or even district.
A major focus at present is the attempt to eliminate the scourge of Polio from the world. In 2022 The Rotary Foundation spent £120 Million on this.
So – has there been progress? Judge for yourself!
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Our local Rotary Foundation Committee also involves itself in other projects a couple of of which are mentioned below.
- Acting as Counsellor to a Scholar from abroad studying at a local University in the area
- Contributing to service projects organised by Clubs from two or more countries .
The Foundation Committee run a number of fundraiser events each year to raise money, the majority of which are of a social nature.