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The
Rotary Foundation
Back in 1917, Rotary President
Arch C. Klumph had proposed that an endowment
be set up "for doing well in the World".
In 1928, this endowment became
a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary
Foundation. Upon the death of Paul Harris
in 1947, an outpouring of Rotarian donations
made in his honor, totaling US$ 2 million, launched
the Foundation's first program graduate fellowships,
now called Ambassadorial Scholarships. Today the
Rotary Foundation improves the lives of people
in every corner of the world by promoting world
understanding and peace through local, national,
and international humanitarian, educational and
cultural programs.
Since 1947, the Foundation has
awarded more than US$ 1.1 billion in humanitarian
and educational grants, which are initiated
and administered by local Rotary clubs and districts.
Started in 1965, Matching Grants
for International service projects involving clubs
in two or more countries. The group Study Exchange
program, also begun in 1965,
has provided grants for more than 11,000
teams of men and women in the early stages
of their business and professional careers to
travel abroad and share vocational information
with the representatives of their respective professions
in another country. Team members spend four to
six weeks studying the host country's institutions,
economy and culture while observing how their
own professions are practiced abroad. More than
500 exchanges between paired
Rotary districts occur each year, advancing the
program's ultimate goal of promoting international
understanding and goodwill.
The foundation initiated Health, Hunger
and Humanity (3-H) Grants in 1978. The 3-H Grants
are awarded to fund long-term, self-help grassroots
development projects that are too large for one
club or district to implement on its own. Projects
must be self-sustaining after the 3-H
grant funds have been expended. |
