REPORT FROM STEPHEN ELLIS

Good morning fellow Rotarians

On behalf of the Rotary Foundation may I THANK ALL OF YOU WHO DONATE,WHETHER IT BE CLUB OR PERSONAL DONATIONS TO FOUNDATION.

The Rotary Foundation is Rotary’s charity, YOUR CHARITY, and the only one that delivers our vision of a better world.

During the past 100 years, The Rotary Foundation has spent £2.3 billion on lifechanging, sustainable projects around the world.

With 91% of funds spent on the programmes and projects it delivers, The Rotary Foundation is globally recognised for its financial efficiency, accountability and transparency.

Each year, The Rotary Foundation gives £54 million worth of grants to Rotary clubs throughout the world for humanitarian projects, vocational training and scholarship in Rotary’s cause areas. Ranging from small-scale, short-term activities to large, international projects, Rotary grants strengthen global partnerships and provide sustainable and measurable benefits to communities. Grants from The Rotary Foundation support over 1,000 projects every year.

The Rotary Foundation of the United Kingdom

The Rotary Foundation of the United Kingdom (RFUK) is an Associate Foundation of The Rotary Foundation. RFUK supports the aims of The Rotary Foundation by providing funding for its programmes and offering a direct service for giving in Great Britain and Ireland. RFUK has recovered over £1 million in Gift Aid since 2001, allowing even more communities to benefit from The Rotary Foundation.

Rotary on the Brink of Polio History

Since 1985, Rotary’s key humanitarian priority has been to rid the world of polio. For more than 30 years Rotary has led the campaign to rid the world of polio, protecting 2.5 billion children from paralysis and death.

With Rotary advocacy and fundraising, we are on the brink of one of the greatest global health achievements ever. Rotary spearheaded the campaign at a time when there were over 1,000 polio cases a day in 125 countries, paralysing and even killing children. Today, the number of cases is down by 99.9%.Over the last 30 years, Rotary has donated £1.25 billion to the eradication effort and has protected over 2.5 billion children from the disease through vaccination programmes.

Whilst Rotary members continue to be key players in many aspects of the polio programme including on the ground in several countries as well as fundraising and advocacy.

So how are we doing this Rotary Year.

As a District you have from July to December donated $45,125.38, Of which $28,416.22 has gone to the Annual Fund and $13,191.14 to End Polio Now whilst the remainder $3,518.02 went to other funds. This time last year we had hit $49,274.68 so we are behind.

We are now into the second half of the Rotary Year and I now ask you to start thinking about your District and Global Grants for 2026/27, as in the past two years the window for District Grants will be between July and August.

You will also during this half of the Rotary year be considering how you proportion your donations to the Foundation. Please remember the more money donated to the annual fund each year the greater amount of DDF will be available to support your grant applications, consider a 70 / 30 split, that is 70% to the annual fund and 30% to the EPN fund which benefits from a double up from the Gates foundation.

If you would like support for fund raising or on any Foundation questions or would like a club visit then please contact me.

May I again on behalf of the Rotary Foundation thank you all for your support.