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Joined: 2008-07-01
Posts: 272 | |
Posted at: 2009-12-22 16:07 hrs IST
by Rtn PP PHF Mohanraaj K.M. ( Tirupur North )
Past President
Post Subject: The Rotary Foundation (TRF)
General Administration
(A) Programs and Funding:
The Rotary Foundation has two main streams of activity: Programs and fundraising. Fundraising directly feeds program activities.
The programs of the Rotary foundation fall into three main categories:
Educational programs, which fund Ambassadorial scholarships and cultural exchanges.
Humanitarian programs, which fund a wide variety of grant programs to assist people in developing countries.
Polio Plus, Rotary's worldwide effort to eradicate the polio myelitis virus.
The fundraising efforts fall into two main categories.
The annual programs fund, which supplies money for the Educational and Humanitarian programs.l
Permanent fund, which is Rotary's endowment - a fund whose principle is never spent and investment earnings are channeled programs.
The polio plus program is funded through a separate polio plus fund the result of an extraordinary fund raising effort in the mid 1980s when Rotarians and friends of the foundation contributed more than US$240 million to eradicate polio.
what make the Rotary foundation unique are its three year funding cycle and the foundation's mechanism for program participation, known in Rotary as share. Through the three year cycle, funds contributed in any given year are invested for three years before being spent on programs. This ensures that all contributed dollars go directly to programs; only investment earnings are used to pay administrative costs.
Share is the system the foundation uses to allocate Rotarian contributions toward programs. At the grass roots level, individuals are members of Rotary club's. Rotary clubs are organized into administrative units known as districts. Foundation contributions are tabulated by district. At the end of the fiscal (Rotary) year each district's contributions to the Annual programs fund is split, with 50 percent going to the district (to its District fund - DDF) and 50 percent going to the Rotary foundation (known as the world fund - WF).
District can choose from a wide variety of options as to how they wish to spend their DDF. The foundation uses the world fund to pay for certain program activities available to all Rotary districts. The system allows Rotary districts and the Foundation to share in the process of deciding how best to use Rotarian contributions.
(B) Administration:
The Rotary foundation uses the Rotary district as its main administrative unit. Each district has a district Rotary Foundation committee. The Foundation recommends districts to appoint seven subcommittees:
Annual Giving
Permanent fund or Major Gifts
Ambassadorial Scholarships
Group study Exchange
Humanitarian Grants
Polio Plus
Alumni
To provide continuity, the foundation recommends that the district Rotary foundation committee (DRFC) chairperson serve for three years.l
One of the main responsibilities of the DRFC is to decide the use of the district's share DDF. The DRFC chairperson certifies share allocation decisions on behalf of the foundation committee. Since 2003-04, districts are not able to access their DDF if they have not appointed a DRFC chairperson. In addition, DRFC must also keep records on foundation educational and humanitarian grants and ensure the submission of final reports.
The District Grants subcommittee also has new responsibilities in that it must certify the accuracy and completeness of all Grant applications. The foundation asks that each Rotary club also appoints a Rotary Foundation committee. If possible, the club committee should mirror the district committee. The foundation suggests that clubs have at least two main foundation subcommittees namely, programs and fund raising.
In addition to club and district foundation committees, there are a number of Rotarian task forces and advisory committees that assist clubs and districts in reaching foundation program and fundraising goals. These groups include:
Regional Rotary Foundation coordinators
Polio plus national committees
The foundation Alumni resource group
Permanent fund national Advisors
Annual fund Strategic Advisors (USA and canada only)
Regional Rotary foundation coordinators have the task of overseeing the activities of some of the other groups to ensure continuity in program and fund raising activities at the district level.
At the global level, overseeing the worldwide reach of the Rotary foundation and setting policy guidelines are the Rotary foundation Trustees. Trustees are appointed by the RI president elect and serve four years terms. There are 15 Trustees which include chairman and vice chairman.
Acting in parallel with and supporting Rotarian efforts is the staff of the Rotary foundation at world Headquarters in Evaston, lllinois, USA, and at the RI International offices.
The Rotary foundation in Evanston is organized into five main divisions: Educational programs, Humanitarian programs, polioplus, fund development, and planning and Administration. The general manager oversees all these divisions and reports to the general secretary of RI, who is also the general secretary of the Rotary foundation.
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