Rotary Foundation Month: Honoring Generous Giving and Progress

Hello Rotary Family!

November is Rotary Foundation month. District 5030 has already had a head start in supporting the Foundation by having two events in October. The most recent event was World Polio Day at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. We heard updates from directly from the Polio Team and were excited to hear that we have fewer strains of Wild Polio virus and we are that much closer to irradicating a disease. More children have the opportunity to live healthy lives because of your dedication and support. This is also a reminder that the Gates Foundation has a 2:1 for the Rotary Polio Plus Program, so your donations go a long way in this fight.

The other event in October was the District Rotary Foundation Donor Appreciation Gala, where we recognized our generous donors. We had 352 Rotarians that moved up their tier of giving in the past year, which includes 101 first-time Paul Harris Fellows. These donations to the RI Foundation through Rotarians moving up a giving level represents nearly $500,000.00 in NEW money to support the RI Foundation from District 5030 Rotarians. This funding lets us continue our work in local and global projects. I’m especially proud of our Grants team, who helps us sponsor more global grants than any District in the world. Thank you for being such active and impactful Rotarians!

Lastly, we have a District Match for those who want to contribute to the Rotary Foundation. The District will match up to $500 for anyone who will reach a new tier of giving (Paul Harris to Paul Harris +8 levels, only). The match will close May 30, 2025 or when we’ve completed 50 total matches, whichever comes first. If you’d like to participate in the match, send your name, copy of your receipt, Club name and member ID number to paulharris5030@gmail.com so we can process the match for you. Many thanks to all of the Rotarians that stepped up to meet this challenge.  

In addition to thanking all our individual donors, I’d like to recognize the following clubs who achieved 100% membership giving to the Rotary International Foundation last year:

100% giving clubs