FOUNDATION GIVING CAN BE A CLUB TRADITION

It takes the financial contributions of Rotary club members for The Rotary Foundation to fulfill its mission: to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

How do some Rotary clubs maintain their high rates of Foundation support? One key is to establish a tradition of member giving – and capitalize on it when the opportunity arises. (more after the break)

 

The Rotary Club of Alexandria, La., USA, presented 61 members with Paul Harris Fellow recognition in June, taking advantage of a $100,000 donation to the Foundation from honorary member Norman Martin. Martin, who was already a Paul Harris Fellow, accumulated 100,000 recognition points from his contribution, which supported Rotary’s US$200 Million Challenge. The points can be transferred, so after obtaining Martin’s approval, club leaders offered members up to 500 points each toward Paul Harris Fellow Recognition, which requires a $1,000 contribution (or 1,000 points). The club already had 89 Paul Harris Fellows out of 195 members.

Everyone in the club is a Rotary Foundation Sustaining Member, donating at least $100 a year to the Annual Programs Fund. Many already had a balance of several hundred dollars to apply toward Paul Harris Fellow Recognition, says club secretary Edwin Caplan, which made it possible to build on Martin’s donation. “We played it up as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become a Paul Harris Fellow, basically for half price,” Caplan says. “People readily signed up. It was not a tough sell.”

Caplan advises clubs that want to increase Foundation giving to encourage all members to become Sustaining Members and to renew contributions automatically every year. Although members always have the opportunity to opt out, he says, no one in the Alexandria club has ever withdrawn support after becoming a Sustaining Member.

The Rotary Club of Hillsdale Sunrise, N.C., is part of a district with a long tradition of Foundation giving. District 7690 has 11 “Triple Crown Clubs,” a term the district uses for clubs in which everyone is a Paul Harris Fellow, a Sustaining Member, and a Benefactor (a member who has designated $1,000 or more to the Permanent Fund in his or her estate plan). The Hillsdale Sunrise club was chartered in February with 23 members who held all three distinctions, making it the first club to achieve the Triple Crown status at charter.

“What made it happen is the precedent of this district in stressing contributions to the Foundation,” says 2009-10 District Governor Mike Conrad. “Look at what those dollars are doing. That’s how we energize the Rotarians in our district to accomplish these goals.”