The Rotary Foundation is Rotary’s own charity delivering our vision of a better world.

Since it was founded more than 100 years ago, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.

Together, we can make an impact in your community and around the world.

Our mission

The Rotary Foundation helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty.

What impact can one donation have?

• £2 is the average cost to fully protect a child against polio.
• £50 can maintain water filters to help fight waterborne illness.
• £200 to develop work opportunities by replacing livestock for people impacted by disasters.

The Rotary Foundation is supported solely by contributions from the public, Rotary members and friends of the Foundation.

Those contributions, gifts and donations are transformed into service projects that change the lives of thousands of people across the world.

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

The Rotary Foundation of the United Kingdom

Rotary Foundation of the United Kingdom (RFUK, a charity -No. 1002059 – and limited company – No. 2582374 – registered in England), is an Associate Foundation of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) of Rotary International Evanston, USA. 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.

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Rotary Foundation Grants

Every year, The Rotary Foundation gives hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to Rotary Clubs throughout the world for humanitarian projects, vocational training and scholarships 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 thousands of projects every year

Rotary and the Fight Against Polio

See short video at https://youtu.be/_JOLYLPyIdY

·     1960 The U.S. government licenses the oral polio vaccine developed by Dr. Albert Sabin

·     1979 Rotary International begins its fight against polio with a multi-year project to immunize 6 million children in the Philippine

·      1985 Rotary International launches PolioPlus, the first and largest internationally coordinated private-sector support of a public health initiative, with an initial fundraising target of US$120 million.

·      1988 Rotary International and the World Health Organization launch the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. There are an estimated 350,000 cases of polio in 125 countries.

·      1994 The International Commission for the Certification of Poliomyelitis Eradication announces that polio has been eliminated from the Americas.

·      1995 Health workers and volunteers immunize 165 million children in China and India in 1 week. Rotary launches the PolioPlus Partners program, enabling Rotary members in polio-free countries to provide support to fellow members in polio-affected countries for polio eradication activities.

·       2000 A record 550 million children – almost 10% of the world's population – receive the oral polio vaccine. The Western Pacific region, spanning from Australia to China, is declared polio-free.

·       2003 Six countries remain polio-endemic – Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan.

·       2006 The number of polio-endemic countries drops to 4 - Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Pakistan.

·       2009 Rotary's overall contribution to the eradication effort nears $800 million. In January, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledges $355 million and issues Rotary a challenge grant of $200 million. This announcement will result in a combined $555 million in support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

·       2012 Polio remains endemic in just 3 countries.

·       2014 India goes 3 full years without a new case caused by the wild poliovirus, and the World Health Organization certifies the South-East Asia region polio-free. Polio cases are down over 99% since 1988.

·       2019 Nigeria goes 3 full years without a new case caused by the wild poliovirus. 

 ·     2020 The World Health Organization certifies the African region wild polio-free.

Scholarships

The Rotary Foundation and clubs invest in our future leaders and philanthropists

by funding scholarships

Rotary Foundation Scholarships through Global Grants.

Rotary Peace Fellowships  through programmes at Rotary Peace Centres around the world.

Other scholarship opportunities (non-Foundation)

Georgia Rotary Student Program

Peace Initiatives

Rotary refuses to accept conflict as a way of life

Rotary invests in peace education and capacity building, fosters strategic relationships, and integrates peacebuilding into all of Rotary’s programs and service.

We believe when people work to create peace in their communities, that change can have a global effect.

By carrying out service projects and supporting peace fellowships and scholarships, our members take action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, discrimination, ethnic tension, lack of access to education, and unequal distribution of resources.

Click here to find out more about Peace Centres. 

An ambitious goal, put into action by Rotary

Since 2002, more than 1,800 Peace Fellows have graduated from our Rotary Peace Centres. They now work in peacebuilding, conflict prevention, and development roles in more than 140 countries. Follow the Rotary Peace Centres Facebook page to learn more.

Each year, The Rotary Foundation awards up to 50 fellowships for master’s degrees and up to 120 for certificate studies at premier universities including the latest Rotary Peace Centre at Symbiosis International University (SIU) which was inaugurated on 26 January 2026. The new Rotary Peace Centre at SIU will welcome up to 40 Rotary Peace Fellows each year.

A culmination of the ethos, vision, mission, and expertise of both Rotary International and Symbiosis, the centre is situated on Symbiosis’ scenic 400 acre Lavale campus in Pune. It offers a fully funded one year postgraduate diploma programme in Peace and Development Studies, which has been designed for mid-career professionals working in different sectors of peace and development either within Asia or Asian communities.

Rotary Peace Fellowships

Rotary members are essential to recruiting qualified candidates for Rotary Peace Fellowships. You can advance peace around the world by promoting peace fellowships and supporting peace fellow candidates through the application process.

Since their inception, Inter Country Committees have been building understanding and peace among people of different origins. https://rotary-icc.org/peace-initiatives/