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Dave Moyers reviewed the roles of leaders in our District, who volunteer their time and resources to help the individual Clubs with their expertise in areas such as fundraising, financial management and special projects.  They are not a hierarchy, but volunteers available to assist individual Clubs as needed.  Our merged District 5280 has 2600 members and 63 Clubs now.

The Club President is the most important person in Rotary, and needs to know who to ask for assistance, such as the Assistant Governors for Club Service, each responsible for arranging assistance as needed to 3-4 assigned Clubs.  The Senior Assistant Governors collect all of these ideas to help all Clubs in each Avenue of Service.  This structure helps to organize our volunteer services committed to the ideals of Rotary.

 

The Rotary Foundation began in 1947 with a $26 donation.  It is now supported by 34,000 Clubs in about 530 Districts in about 200 countries and geographical areas, to fund community and world service projects performed by volunteers.  As an example, our member Don Reeves arranged funding to help establish the Helen Coffey Reading Room at the Harbor Interfaith Center with funding of $750 each from 3 Clubs — San Pedro and PV Peninsula as well as PV Sunset, plus additional individual donations.

Money donated to the Foundation accumulates interest for 3 years to support its administration, and then 100% of the principal is used for projects, one half returning to the District and the other half for Rotary’s world projects.  Individual Clubs can apply for matching grants on either District or global projects.  Last year our District had $82,000 divided among Clubs’ projects, increasing to $90,000 this year.  One Club can be primary with up to 2 other Clubs as partners on a project.  The application deadline is September 30.  Projects require hands-on participation by Rotarians as well as opportunities for non-Rotarians such as families and children to participate.  Applications and progress reporting of receipts and expenditures are all done online now.

A Global Grant Project now requires a $30,000 minimum budget including world fund support, allowing fewer but larger projects than in the past.  There will be about 350 District Grants, with each District responsible for monitoring its projects, rather than the Rotary Foundation.  The District Governor is the responsible officer for each District’s projects.

This year, $402,000 is available for our District and Global projects, with about $160,000 at the District level for local vocational and community projects.  Our District is also sending a Team to Turkey in September to promote training in Conflict Resolution, and another Team will go to Colombia next year.  Our Club now has 8 members in the Paul Harris Society, committed to giving $1000 per year.  Hands-on participation also increases the meaning of our service.  Our Rotary Motto is “Service Above Self” (not just “Checkbook and Dinner Above Self”).  “Doing Good in the World” is the main purpose of our organization.