What the Gates Foundation Gift Means to Rotary
|
Polio Plus Partnership between TRF & Gates Foundation
WHAT THE GATES FOUNDATION GIFT MEANS TO ROTARY To find answers to your questions, Dan Mooers, PRID, Zone 31 Coordinator, PolioPlus Partners Task Force Director, ICUFR, invites you to participate in an on-line discussion with Rotary Foundation Trustee and PolioPlus Partners Co-Chair Louis Piconi (Dan's message follows) What wonderful news we got this week about the $100 million challenge gift to Our Rotary Foundation from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. What a proud moment for all of us when we read the RI press release, or saw it in the newspaper, or heard it on TV or on the radio, or read it on the Internet. It was wonderful to share the news at our Rotary meetings and listen to the collective expressions of joy from the members. But now that the warm glow is starting to fade, many Rotarians are starting to ask Rotary leaders "What does the Gates gift really mean for Rotary?", "Do we have to raise more money?", "How will this affect annual fund giving?", "Will PolioPlus Partners donations count toward the challenge?" I suspect most of us cannot really answer the many, many questions being asked. We need information. To help sort this out, and to help answer some of the questions floating around Rotary meetings, Rotary Foundation Trustee (and co-chair of the PolioPlus Partners Task Force) Lou Piconi has agreed to participate in an on-line discussion on this and other Foundation subjects. The International Computer Users Fellowship of Rotarians (ICUFR) has generously agreed to once again make its "Community Forums" Internet site available so that Rotarians around the world can discuss the Gates Foundation gift, its impact on Rotary and our clubs, and other Foundation subjects with one of the most knowledgeable Rotarians. The on-line discussion with Trustee Piconi will take place over a 51 hour period beginning at 9:00 A.M., EST, on Monday, December 10th and ending at Noon EST on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. This informative, and perhaps provocative, discussion with Trustee Piconi will take place at the web site http//www2.icufr.org. (Please note the "www2" in the address.) To ask Trustee Piconi questions and to participate in the discussion, Rotarians must register in the Forum. To do that, go to the website and click on 'Register' at the top section of the opening page of the Community Forums () . A 'Terms' page will next appear and, once you accept the terms, you will automatically go to the 'Registration' page. Please complete all 'required' information. When you register, please make sure you make a personal, private record of the 'User Name' and 'Password' you decide to use when registering in the Community Forums. It will be necessary to add your club name and district, and additional information in the profile, if you wish. After you "register", you will receive a confirming email from an ICUFR volunteer confirming your registration. After receiving the confirming email, you may post messages and participate in other services on the web site. Registering for the Community Forums carries no obligation, and you will not be placed on an email list as a result of registering. You also may enter the Forum as a 'guest' and read the discussion in the Community Forum but you will not be able to 'post' without registering. We suggest you go to the ICUFR's Community Forums now, register and then look around for a while to get a 'feel' for the Community Forums. Post a message or two in any of the sections and topics, make some friends, and be ready for the discussion with Trustee Lou Piconi. On Monday, December 10th, on or after 9:00 A.M. EST, you can log into the ICUFR's Community Forums, and be ready to go. Scroll down to 'HOT TOPICS', click on 'The Rotary Foundation' and then click on 'Discussion with Trustee Louis Piconi". Then fire away with your questions about the impact of the Gates Foundation gift and any other questions about The Rotary Foundation. In the meantime, if you have any questions,
you can ask them in the ICUFR's COMMUNITY FORUMS in the 'Computer Help
and Ideas' See you on-line on Monday, December 10th. Dan Mooers, PRID
To All Members of the PolioPlus Partners Task Force: On 26 November a worldwide announcement was made about the $100 million challenge grant to our Rotary Foundation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Rotary has stepped forward to meet the terms of the challenge grant to raise a total of US$100 million in matching funds over a three-year period beginning 1 January 2008. The Rotary Foundation Trustees and the Board of Directors of RI have endorsed the conceptual plans to raise the matching funds and more details will be available in the coming months. After the International PolioPlus Committee (IPPC) meeting in January, we will come back to you with more information about the last half of the Rotary Year and a look at the future. In the mean time, we are almost half way through this Rotary Year and we must stay focused on the goals of the 2007-08 PolioPlus Partners Challenge in an effort to provide full funding for all the projects on the Open Projects List. The goals of the 2007-08 PPP Challenge are: 1. Asking for 100% participation from
all Rotary districts to allocate a minimum of 10% of their available
District Designated Funds (DDF). Several questions have surfaced in regards
to the status of PolioPlus Partners program funding in light of the
Gates Foundation Challenge grant. Please use the following statements
to address these questions: The Gates Foundation Challenge grant is an additional incentive for districts who have not yet made a DDF donation to PolioPlus Partners this Rotary Year. The Trustees are doing their part by providing a matching fund incentive, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have demonstrated their commitment, and it is our responsibility to seek support for PolioPlus Partners project requests from fellow Rotarians in polio endemic, importation and high-risk countries immediately. Together, we will reach our funding goal of at least US$5 million. Your continued regional, district and club communications will help us reach this goal. If Carrie Bruce, our staff support person in Evanston, or either of us can be of any special assistance, please let us know. Sincerely, Charles Keller Louis Piconi
Read the Nov. 2007 online discussion with Rotary Foundation Trustee Carolyn Jones and join the ICUFR Online Discussion with Lou Picone
December 2007 Dear Zone 32 Governors, DRFC chairs, and Zone Area Coordinators:
Some of you have asked for additional information about the wonderful PolioPlus $100 Million Challenge Grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Past RRFC Eddie Blender provides an update on that announcement in the appended Our Foundation newsletter for December 15. It also includes suggestions for identifying candidates and promoting applications for the Rotary World Peace Fellows for the next Class of 2009-11, a process that should begin now in order to meet the application deadline of 1 July 2008. Contributions in response to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation PolioPlus Challenge to Rotary are being accepted now for PolioPlus and PolioPlus Partners, whether from Rotarians, other individuals, clubs, district fundraisers, or allocations from DDF. Gifts to PolioPlus and PolioPlus Partners also continue to earn PHF recognition. The PolioPlus Office recommends that we use the following statements to motivate contributions and to answer questions: • Rotary has stepped forward to meet the terms of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Challenge grant to raise a total of US$100 million in matching funds over a three-year period beginning 1 January 2008. • The Rotary Foundation Trustees and the Board of Directors of RI have endorsed the conceptual plans to raise the matching funds. More details will be available soon. • Cash and DDF donations to PPP, effective 1 December 2007 through 30 June 2008, will be counted towards matching the Gates Foundation Challenge Grant. • 2007-08 cash and DDF donations to PPP will continue to be matched US$.50 for every $1.00 contributed, up to US$1.5 million. • Effective 1 July 2008, PPP projects will be funded from the PolioPlus Fund, up to US$5 million per year, for the period of the Gates Foundation Challenge to continue support of the National PolioPlus Committees in polio endemic, high risk and importation countries. • Effective 1 July 2008, PolioPlus Partners (PPP) Task Force members are asked to refrain from fundraising for PPP. • It is envisioned that the PPP Task Force will be asked to provide direct support to this new fundraising effort for PolioPlus over the three-year matching period. • It is expected that 2007-08 funding for PPP will decline after the public announcement of the Rotary/Gates funding partnership, and even more so after the International Assembly in January 2008. • PolioPlus Partners is counting on the PPP Task Force’s 2007-08 fundraising efforts to provide full funding for all Partners project requests this year. Additional questions may be addressed to the PolioPlus Office. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to fulfill our promise of a polio-free world.
Hogie G. Holger Hansen, Regional Rotary Foundation
Coordinator, Zone 32
|
To top