Dear Rotarians,
The Rotary Foundation - our Foundation - was started in 1917 at the behest of outgoing President of Rotary International, Arch Klumph, with a mere US$26.50 and today has grown to more than US$2B under management with the aim of doing good in the world.
The Rotary Foundation allows Rotarians like you and me, members of clubs qualified to access funding, to convert our compassion and concern regarding needs in our community, district, and across the globe by responding with tangible, meaningful, and impactful projects that addresses these needs. Depending on the nature of the needs and the scope of the projects, the funds utilised could be district grants, global grants, disaster response grants, Peace Scholarships, etc.
Our Rotary Foundation is really a lever that allows Rotarians and Rotaractors to exert relatively little effort to effect impactful, transformative and sustainable changes in peoples' lives, the community and the world particularly in its seven areas of focus. I have witnessed firsthand the tremendous impact of The Rotary Foundation right in district 7020, whether its providing cardiac surgery to children in Jamaica with congenital heart disease, providing clean, safe drinking water to communities in Haiti, essential medical equipment to ensure mothers deliver their babies safely in St. Maarten, or recreational facilities and playgrounds in Cayman, just to mention a few. As Rotarians we should be eager to both donate to our Foundation as well as use its funding to do good in the world.
The Rotary Foundation has just approved a disaster response grant of fifty thousand United States dollars (US$50K) to district 7020 to be used in Jamaica and Haiti for relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the devastation caused by hurricane Melissa. This demonstrates the responsiveness of our Foundation to humanitarian needs in the face of natural disasters.
Let us continue to support our Foundation by giving to the Annual Fund, the PolioPlus fund which funds Rotary's Polio eradication efforts; and let us not forget our endowment fund where donations are invested in perpetuity to ensure the Foundation's ability to continue doing good in the world in the future. Donations to the endowment fund allows our monies to continue to positively impact the world after we have left it. Thank you Rotarians of district 7020 for being both donors to our Foundation as well as good stewards of its funds to do good in the world.
William (Bill) Aiken
District Governor 2025-2026
Rotary International District 7020
Unite For Good
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