The Rotary Foundation

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The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions.

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The foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International's sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from an initial contribution of US $26.50 to more than US $1 billion. It has one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world.

Programs

Polio eradication

PolioPlus: [1] [2] Rotarians have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands to ensure that children are immunized against this crippling disease and that surveillance is strong despite the poor infrastructure, extreme poverty, and civil strife in many countries. The Polio Plus program was promoted by Sergio Mulitsch di Palmenberg, President and founder of Rotary Club Treviglio e Pianura Bergamasca in Rome, during the June 1979 3H Promotion Convention. Mulitsch, thanks to the 204 District Governo VALMIGI, began the fundraising and, thanks to their professional packaging technology, solved the temperature shipping issue, starting the first immunization campaign in the Philippines in 1980. Since the PolioPlus program's inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received the oral polio vaccine. To date, 209 countries, territories, and areas around the world are polio-free. As of January 2012, India was declared polio-free for the first time in history, leaving just Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan with endemic polio. [3] As of June 2011, Rotary has committed more than US $850 million [4] to global polio eradication. Rotary has received $355 million in challenge grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Rotary committed to raising $200 million by June 30, 2012, and met that goal by January 2012. This represents another $555 million toward polio eradication. [5]

PolioPlus Fund: [6] Grants supported out of the PolioPlus Fund that are primarily geared towards national level and supra-national efforts. For example, National PolioPlus Committee chairs or a major partner agency, such as the World Health Organization or UNICEF may apply for these funds. [7] Support is available for eradication efforts in polio-endemic, recently endemic, and high-risk countries, including National Immunization Days, poliovirus transmission monitoring, and other activities. [5]

PolioPlus Partners is a program that allows Rotarians to participate in the polio eradication effort by contributing to specific social mobilization and surveillance activities in polio-endemic countries. In 2003–2004, grants were approved in Africa and South Asia for a total of $330,000.

Humanitarian grants programs

Disaster Recovery: [8] Facilitates club efforts to support disaster preparedness and recovery.

District Simplified Grants: [9] Support for short-term service activities or humanitarian endeavors of districts in communities locally or internationally. This program began in 2003–2004 and, projects in 44 countries for US$5.2 million were awarded.

Health, Hunger, and Humanity (3-H) Grants: [10] Support for large-scale, two- to four-year projects that improve health, alleviate hunger, or promote human development. Since 1978, projects in 74 countries have been funded for US$74 million. As of 1 July 2009, the foundation will no longer award 3-H grants, except projects being developed to support water and sanitation projects in Ghana, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic.

3-H Planning Grants: Support for the planning activities of Rotary clubs and districts designing 3-H projects of significant size and impact. Also in a moratorium in conjunction with the 3-H Grants program.

Matching Grants: [11] – Provide matching funds for the international service projects of Rotary clubs and districts. Since 1965, more than 20,000 Matching Grants projects in 166 countries have been funded at a cost of more than US$198 million.

Educational programs

Scholarships: [12] Founded in 1947, the Ambassadorial Scholarships program was the largest non-governmental and most international scholarship program in the world. Scholars studied in a country other than their own where they serve as unofficial ambassadors of goodwill. Over 37,000 scholars from some 110 countries received scholarships at a cost of almost US$446 million. The program ended in 2013. Scholarships are now funded by district and global grants and are offered directly through Rotary clubs.

Group Study Exchange (GSE): [13] These annual awards are made to paired Rotary districts to provide travel expenses for a team of non-Rotarians from a variety of vocations. Rotarian hosts organize a four- to six-week itinerary of educational and cultural points of interest. Since 1965, almost 48,000 individuals in more than 11,000 teams from more than 100 countries have participated at a cost of US$85 million.

Rotary Peace Fellowships: [14] Up to 100 fellows are selected every year in a globally competitive process based on personal, academic, and professional achievements. Fellows earn a master's-level degree or a professional development certificate in peace and conflict studies at one of six Rotary Peace Centers at leading universities in Australia, England, Sweden, Japan, the United States and Thailand.

Rotary Grants for University Teachers: Awarded to faculty members to teach in a developing nation for three to ten months. Since 1985, 377 university teachers have taught at a college or university in a developing country. As of 1 July 2009, the foundation has discontinued this program.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polio</span> Infectious disease caused by poliovirus

Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe symptoms develop such as headache, neck stiffness, and paresthesia. These symptoms usually pass within one or two weeks. A less common symptom is permanent paralysis, and possible death in extreme cases. Years after recovery, post-polio syndrome may occur, with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Foundation</span> Charitable organization

The United Nations Foundation is a charitable organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., that supports the United Nations and its activities. It was established in 1998 with a $1 billion gift to the United Nations by philanthropist Ted Turner, who believed the UN was crucial for addressing the world's problems. Originally primarily a grantmaker, the UN Foundation has evolved into a strategic partner to the UN, mobilizing support to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and help the UN address issues such as climate change, global health, gender equality, human rights, data and technology, peace, and humanitarian responses. The UN Foundation's main work occurs through building public-private partnerships, communities, initiatives, campaigns, and alliances to broaden support for the UN and solve global problems. The UN Foundation has helped build awareness and advocate for action on, among others, antimicrobial resistance, regional action on climate change, local implementation of the SDGs, as well as global campaigns such as Nothing But Nets against malaria, the Measles & Rubella Initiative, the Clean Cooking Alliance, Girl Up, Shot@Life, and the Digital Impact Alliance, among others. In March 2020, the UN Foundation was also a key founder of the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO), helping to raise over $200 million USD within the first six weeks to support the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</span> American private foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the second largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $69 billion in assets as of 2020. The primary stated goals of the foundation are to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty across the world, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the U.S. Key individuals of the foundation include Warren Buffett, chief executive officer Mark Suzman, and Michael Larson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotary International</span> International nonprofit service organization

Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through [the] fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders". It is a non-political and non-religious organization. Membership is by application or invitation and based on various social factors. There are over 46,000 member clubs worldwide, with a membership of 1.4 million individuals, known as Rotary members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulse Polio</span> Indian governmental immunisation campaign

Pulse Polio is an immunisation campaign established by the government of India to eliminate poliomyelitis (polio) in India by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against the polio virus. The project fights polio through a large-scale, pulse vaccination programme and monitoring for poliomyelitis cases.

Rotary International offers a number of scholarships worldwide for periods of 3 months, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Harris (Rotary)</span> American lawyer (1868–1947)

Paul Percy Harris was a Chicago, Illinois, attorney. He founded the club that became the humanitarian organisation Rotary International in 1905.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polio eradication</span> Effort to permanently eliminate all cases of poliomyelitis infection

Polio eradication, the goal of permanent global cessation of circulation of the poliovirus and hence elimination of the poliomyelitis (polio) it causes, is the aim of a multinational public health effort begun in 1988, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Rotary Foundation. These organizations, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and The Gates Foundation, have spearheaded the campaign through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Successful eradication of infectious diseases has been achieved twice before, with smallpox in humans and rinderpest in ruminants.

Measles & Rubella Initiative (MRI), launched in 2001, is a long-term commitment and partnership among leaders in public health and supports the goal of reducing measles deaths globally by 90% by 2010 compared to 2000 estimates.

Global Citizen, also known as Global Poverty Project, is an international education and advocacy organization that seeks to catalyze the movement to end extreme poverty and promote social justice and equity through the lens of intersectionality. The organization was founded by Hugh Evans, Michael Sheldrick, Simon Moss and Wei Soo, and aims to increase the number and effectiveness of people taking action to support the cause.

Pakistan is one of the two remaining countries in the world where poliomyelitis (polio) is still categorized as an endemic viral infection, the other one being Afghanistan. While it has yet to fully eradicate Polio, there has been a major downwards trend in the number of reported cases per year; the total count of wild poliovirus cases in Pakistan in 2019 was down to 147, compared to 84 in 2020, 1 in 2021, 20 in 2022, 6 in 2023 and 8 as of June 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betty Bumpers</span> American activist (1925–2018)

Betty Lou Bumpers was an American politician, advocate for childhood immunizations, and world peace activist, who served as the First Lady of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975. Together, she and Rosalynn Carter ran a successful campaign to ensure that all American school children were immunized. Bumpers was the wife of Dale Bumpers, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975 and as a U.S. Senator from 1975 to 1999.

Luciano Ravaglia was an Italian engineer and member of the Rotary Club of Forlì, D 2072, Italy. In 1979, when the United States saw its last case of polio, Sergio Mulitsch di Palmenberg, the celebrated Rotarian from the Treviglio Club, joined the Rotary 3-H project and volunteered to try out a vaccination campaign which, starting from Italy, took the first doses of polio vaccine to the Philippines, a country which was then badly affected by the disease. This marked the beginning of a Rotary project known as Polio2005, and later renamed PolioPlus, resulting in the vaccination of more than 6 million children in that country.

India National PolioPlus Society is a non-profit organization. The Initiative has achieved significant progress toward its goals. There has been a dramatic decline in cases everywhere in the seventeen years since the target was set in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Polio Eradication Initiative</span> Initiative to eradicate polio

The Global Polio Eradication Initiative is an initiative created in 1988, just after the World Health Assembly resolved to eradicate the disease poliomyelitis. Led by the World Health Organization, it is the largest international public health initiative in history.

Foreign aid from the United Arab Emirates is provided in the form of assistance, grants and loans through both the government and nongovernmental organizations. These projects provided to other countries deal with healthcare, infrastructure, development, alleviating poverty, responding to natural disasters, refugees and internally displaced people.

Sir Clement William Bailey Renouf was an Australian accountant and President of Rotary International from 1978–79. In this latter role he contributed significantly to the planned eradication of poliomyelitis worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royce Abbey</span> Australian public leader

Royce Abbey was an Australian who was President of Rotary International in 1988–89.

The World Health Organization (WHO) created the Global Commission for the Certification of the Eradication of Poliomyelitis in 1995 to independently verify the eradication of wild poliovirus. The GCC certified the worldwide eradication of indigenous wild poliovirus type 2 on 20 September 2015, and wild poliovirus type 3 on 17 October 2019. In addition, five of the six World Health Organization Regions certified their status as free of indigenous transmission of all three serotypes of wild poliovirus :

Rotary Australia World Community Service (RAWCS) is an Australian non-profit public company controlled the Australian division of Rotary International. Its purpose is: “Within the areas of focus of Rotary International, to enhance support services to Australian Rotarians and Rotary Clubs to assist disadvantaged communities and individuals with humanitarian aid projects.”

References

  1. ↑ "Rotary's work". Archived from the original on May 30, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Rotary International's END POLIO NOW Campaign". 17 October 2018.
  3. ↑ http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/240350.php and www.cbsnews.com/.../india-declared-polio-free-by-world-health-org
  4. ↑ "Programs" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 16, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2012.
  5. 1 2 "Programs of The Rotary Foundation". Archived from the original on June 28, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  6. ↑ "PolioPlus Fund". Archived from the original on June 7, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Two Drops Of Patience: UNICEF And Rotary's Fight To Eradicate Polio". Forbes .
  8. ↑ "Disaster recovery". Archived from the original on July 3, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Humanitarian Grants – District Simplified Grants". Rotary.org. Archived from the original on 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
  10. ↑ "Humanitarian Grants – Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants". Rotary.org. Archived from the original on 2009-03-13. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
  11. ↑ "Humanitarian Grants – Matching Grants". Rotary.org. Archived from the original on 2009-03-09. Retrieved 2014-09-13.
  12. ↑ "Create a Scholarship". rotary.org. Archived from the original on March 18, 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  13. ↑ "Group Study Exchange". Archived from the original on June 9, 2010. Retrieved June 11, 2010.
  14. ↑ "PEACE FELLOWSHIPS". Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
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