Rotary Foundation Changes Its Rules

Rotary's own charity immediately changes its rules to help fund anti-Covid-19 activities.

• Districts can use district grant funds to purchase thermometers, protective medical gear, or other items to donate to medical professionals who need them, and can use contingency funds from an open district grant, or re-purpose previously planned activities as a COVID-19 response.
• Districts are encouraged to designate funds for COVID-19 in grant applications for 2020-21 and, as a one-off, COVID-19 expenses incurred since 15 March 2020 can be reimbursed by 2020-21 district grants.
• COVID-19 has been added to its list of eligible activities for Disaster Response Grants. Each District can apply for one COVID-19 grant (up to $25,000).
• The 30 percent foreign financing requirement is waived for any new global grant that addresses COVID-19.

Rotary leverages Polio expertise to fight Covid-19

• House-to-house vaccinations paused.Tools, workforce and surveillance network are offered to countries in need. 
  
• Globally, people are being trained in Covid case detection, contact tracing, laboratory testing and date management. 
• Global Polio Eradication Initiative (G.P.E.I.) is deploying all its coordination processes and emergency operations centres and sharing physical assets like vehicles, computers and mobile phones to combat the pandemic.
• In Nigeria 20,000 volunteers work nationwide to promote hand washing. 
  
• In Pakistan polio staff have sensitized more than 6,000 health workers on Covid-19. 
  
• In Angola the team is training health staff on case management.  In Benin polio staff are developing pandemic preparedness plans.
  

Conclusion Statement:

“Rotary is committed to End Polio.  We are now also addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.  All donations are matched 2 to 1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Underutilized District Designated Funds are matched 6 to 1 by the Rotary Foundation World Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.