Foundation

The Rotary Foundation is Rotary's own Charity. It is a separate entity from Rotary International but also an integral part of Rotary International.

Mission Statement

The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.

Annual Programs Fund (Every Rotarian, Every Year)

Contributions to the Annual Programs Fund through the Every Rotarian, Every Year (EREY) initiative are the primary source of funding for Foundation Programs, which cover more than 160 countries and geographical areas on seven continents. From digging water wells for villages in Africa to teaching basic literacy skills to children in Latin America, during any given moment, thousands of Rotarians volunteer their time and expertise. All contributions to the Annual Programs Fund are spent wisely on quality Rotary projects. Clubs are encouraged to raise $100 per member for the Annual Programs Fund.

Education

The Rotary Foundation promotes world understanding and peace through a host of educational programs. Through these programs people are brought together from different countries and cultures to foster better understanding and good will.

Scholarships such as Ambassadorial Scholars, World Peace Fellowships and Group Study Exchange have helped thousands of young people to gain an insight into different methods of communicating and comprehending the needs of others.

Education is a primary concern of Rotary International and the organisation runs a range of scholarships aimed at encouraging personal development while at the same time helping to further world understanding.

Ambassadorial Scholarships

The purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarships program is to further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries and geographical areas. The program sponsors academic yearscholarships for undergraduate and graduate students as well as for qualified professionals pursuing vocational studies. While abroad, scholars serve as goodwill ambassadors to the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to a greater understanding of their host country

Rotary World Peace Fellowships

This unique Rotary scheme sponsors 60 fellows each year to study at one of six Rotary Centers for International Studies around the world, Argentina, Australia, Japan, Thailand, UK (Bradford), USA.

Fellows are chosen from countries and cultures around the globe based on their ability to have a significant, positive impact on world peace and conflict resolution during their careers.

Rotary Peace Fellows are leaders promoting national and international co-operation, peace, and the successful resolution of conflict throughout their lives, in their careers, and through service activities. Fellows can earn either a master's degree in international relations, public administration, sustainable development, peace studies, conflict resolution, or a related field, or a professional development certificate in peace and conflict resolution.

Cultural & Vocational

The Rotary Foundation's Group Study Exchange (GSE)program is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for business people and professionals between the ages of 25 and 40 who are in the early stages of their careers. The program provides travel grants for teams to exchange visits in paired areas of different countries.

For four to six weeks, team members experience the host country's culture and institutions, observe how their vocations are practiced abroad, develop personal and professional relationships, and exchange ideas.

In a typical four-week tour, applicants participate in five full days of vocational visits, 15 to 20 club presentations, 10 to 15 formal visits and social events, two to three days at the district conference, three to four hours per day of cultural and site tours, and three to four hours per day of free time with host families. For each team member, the Foundation provides the most economical round-trip airline tickets.

Humanitarian - 3H Grants

Health, Hunger and Humanity Grants are awarded to fund large long-term international self-help and grassroots development projects that use an integrative approach to address humanitarian needs.

Humanitarian grants enable Rotarians to support service projects that provide water wells, medical care, literacy classes, and other essentials where these facilities are limited or even not available. Rotarian participation is a key to the projects' success.

Rotary often collaborates with different organisations such as UK based charities, businesses, non-governmental organisations or government agencies. Partnerships such as these allow extra funding and relief to be delivered to disaster areas.

Rotary Foundation grants contribute to the costs of programs that are promoted by Rotary clubs working together across the world. An important part of these grant aided projects is that Rotarians are involved in the planning, administration and implementation of the projects.

Thanks for Life - End Polio Now

In 1985 Rotary International started a campaign to immunise the children of the world against polio.

In 1988 the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, UNICEF, and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) forged the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to eradicate polio as a global imperative. The goal was to remove it permanently so that surveillance, screening, and control measures, such as vaccines, would no longer be needed.

Since then, the number of cases has dropped dramatically, but the disease still exists in a handful of countries. Although worldwide efforts to distribute a vaccine reduced polio by 99 percent, young people are still being infected.

Rotary support however is not limited to raising funds. Rotary members in non-endemic countries personally volunteer their time to support the immunisation program in the endemic countries. They seek to ensure that the message gets to the people who are cut off from the mainstream by conflict, geography or poverty and that the children living in these communities are immunised.

Rotary members in endemic countries volunteer to help with the immunisation events by delivering vaccine, recruiting volunteers, transporting health workers and volunteers and administering the vaccine. They also organise and support meetings of religious and community leaders to ensure that the whole community is involved in the program.