Rotary International Foundation with Tim Murphy

Posted by Steve Frazier 
on Mar 13, 2012
 
Our program on March 13ta was a presentation on the Rotary Foundation, given by Tim Murphy, who is a member of the Edina Club, and the district chair. He made an excellent Powerpoint presentation using data from the past five years. (Pictured to the left is Tim Murphy from District 5950 with Randy Schumacher who is our club's RI Foundation Coordinator.)

He first explained the two Rotary Foundations that our club supports, the club foundation which is controlled by trustees who are members of our club, and the Rotary International Foundation that is supported by all Rotarians, and makes grants from the RI headquarters in Chicago. All of the monies donated to the RI Foundation are deposited in the bank for three years before any is given as grants. The interest on the deposits is used to pay/offset any expenses of the foundation, so every penny donated can and does go to charitable projects.

Tim showed that 63 projects have been done by RI in the past three years, with a cost of  $3,400,000. Included in the total are $2,000,000 for Safe Water Projects in Africa, plus projects in Asia, Latin and South America, and Europe. Our purchase of the school bus for the orphanage in Haiti is on the list as one of the uncompleted projects, but Jean Gray feels confident it will be completed shortly.

Also highlighted in his presentation was the fact that Rotary International Foundation is always at or near the top of the charity organizations in terms of efficiency – more of the money received goes for grants than in other groups.

Our club is a !00% club; that is, all of our members donate, and this year we would like to see a net increase in our club’s donation by 50%.
(Story by Tad Shaw and photo by Steve Frazier)