D9705 Foundation News (Oct 21, 2021)

Welcome

Welcome to our first edition of the Foundation News for District 9705 in the 2021-2022 year. The News provides updates in developments related to the Rotary Foundation and articles about club and District projects assisted by the Foundation through grants.

John McKenzie

District Rotary Foundation Chair

Australian Rotary Foundation website

The Rotary Foundation in Australia has recently developed a new website specifically for Rotarians in Australia.

It has become the go-to source of information about the activities of the Foundation in Australia. The "My Foundation" page provides links to lots of resources you can use to learn more about The Rotary Foundation , our charity.

Explore the website by clicking on this link and see what you can find.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the following clubs who have been awarded Club Annual Donor certificates in recognition of a club donation to The Rotary Foundation of $USD 100 per member:

Batemans Bay, Belconnen, Bowral-Mittagong, Canberra, Forbes Ipomoea, Gungahlin, Hall, Merimbula, Moss Vale and Tumbarumba.

Well done and thank you!

New body aids funding for Australian grant projects

Rotary Foundation Australia is an affiliate of The Rotary Foundation which enables people and organisations in Australia to make contributions that are tax deductible in Australia. A newly developed Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) has been formed to use contributions to fund projects within Australia. Until now all tax deductible Australian donations received by the Foundation had to be directed to projects outside Australia.

Donors who wish to support significant projects within Australia, to relieve the sickness, suffering, misfortune or poverty of people in need, can make their contribution to Rotary Foundation Australia’s Public Benevolent Institution.

While Rotary Foundation Australia is not limited in the beneficiaries we can support, the PBI places particular focus on five groups:

Indigenous Australians
Refugees
Homeless
Victims of domestic violence
Victims of disasters, such as floods, fires and drought

The aim of the PBI is to match substantial projects (value greater than $30,000) in Australia with high-wealth corporations and individuals.

The opportunity this provides is access to large corporations with very well-funded corporate sustainability programs as well as private ancillary funds (since 2002) such as private ‘charities’ who receive tax deductible donations but must donate to a registered charity a minimum 5% of their capital annually which is approaching $1 billion pa. Generally, these organisations want to use their funds within Australia.

So, do you have a project in Australia that:

relieves the sickness, suffering, misfortune or poverty of people in need?
within the Foundation's 7 Areas of Focus
with a project value of $50,000+

If you do, in the first instance, contact Rob Byrne or Mark Anderson, at RISPPO who can work with you to develop the project and help secure funding.

Polio Movie

Rob Byrne, our local Zone 8 Foundation Coordinator advises that a movie has been selected for the Polio fundraising event:

The Polio Movie Event is a very popular way for clubs to raise funds for End Polio Now. It’s also a great opportunity for people in our communities to have some fun together. With lockdowns in so many parts of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, the pent-up demand for a fun event is stronger than ever.

To enable more communities to participate, this year’s Polio Movie Event has been scheduled to start later than usual—from2^nd December. The movie is THE DUKE:

· “a ridiculously charming British comedy” and “stranger-than-fiction true story”

· with two very popular stars—Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren.

· Rotary has a three-week pre-release window—it’s not open to the general public until Boxing Day.

· Check out the trailer.

Apart from fun and fundraising, this year’s event also provides an opportunity to help your local cinema to recover from the pandemic. The amount paid to the cinema would not normally be less than $10 per seat and a typical ticket price might be $20.

To arrange an event, talk to the group booking person at your cinema and make sure they plan to offer this movie to the public. The cinema can then make all the arrangements to source the movie from the distributor, Transmission Films—there’s no need for clubs to get involved in that.

To assist you in promoting the event, we’ve created a template that your club can use to create your own marketing materials:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ux7cepjt3id5iwx/THE_DUKE_Poster.pptx?dl=0

It’s a PowerPoint file—simply insert your club name and event details and:

· save it as a PDF and arrange for your local printer to produce posters and handouts

· save it as a graphics file and post it to your social media, website, newsletter, etc.

It would be great if you could arrange showings of THE DUKE in your community. Let’s make this year’s Polio Movie Event a blockbuster —and End Polio Now!

District Grants report

The Rotary Foundation enables Districts to apply for funding each year to support club projects which are small-scale, short-term, local or international activities and are aligned with the Foundation’s mission. A requirement of this funding is for the District to report each year to clubs on the use of these funds. The District Board has accepted the report for the 2020-21 year and approved its distribution to all clubs in the District. The full report from District Grants Chair, PDG Phil Armstrong can be downloaded here.

Twenty clubs in the 2021-22 round of District Grants have been notified of their successful applications totalling over $66,000.

Contributions to the Rotary Foundation

For those who like to study numbers, an update on our District's contributions to the Foundation to (almost) the end of October.

Annual Fund: $USD 27,207 compared to $USD 39,086 at December 2020

Other (mainly Polio) $USD 18,857 compared to $USD 26,439 at December 2020.

Remember: the funding the District receives for District Grants, Global Grant projects and Scholarships (District Designated Funds) comes from the contributions made to the Annual Fund. Half of the amount contributed in the Rotary year three years before is returned to the District.

One way for clubs to to help decide the contributions to the Foundation is to establish an annual goal. Currently only 5 of our 78 clubs have entered a contribution goal on My Rotary for this year. It is a simple thing to do and ensure we continue to support our charity.

Stories