Rotary
International President Ron Burton's November 2013 Message
Dear fellow Rotarians,
RI President's monthly message, November 2013
\Every Rotarian joins Rotary for his or her
own reasons. Often, the reason someone decides to join isn't the
same as the reason that person ultimately decides to stay. When
I was asked to join Rotary, I accepted because I thought it would
be a good way to get more involved in my community. In the end,
though, what really got me excited about Rotary service was something
I didn't even know about when I joined: our Rotary Foundation.
I knew I could do plenty of good work through my Rotary club in
Norman, Okla., USA.
But through our Foundation, I could have a
hand in the work of every single Rotary club and district around
the world. I could look at any Foundation-supported project, any
Foundation program, any country that was declared polio-free, and
say: I helped make that happen.
Once I realized that, there wasn't any turning
back. I've been very fortunate that over the years, I've gotten
to see an incredible amount of our Foundation's work firsthand.
The more I see, the more passionate I become about our Foundation.
When you visit a school for AIDS orphans and meet the kids who are
being cared for, educated, and taught a trade – and when you
know, as you look into their faces, that if it weren't for our Foundation,
they would be sleeping on the street, eating out of the trash –
you don't ever see our Foundation in the same way again.
We are in the middle of one of the most exciting
years we have ever known for our Rotary Foundation. We've just rolled
out a new grant model, one that will challenge and inspire us all
to think bigger and to develop more ambitious projects that will
have a more lasting impact. We've accepted a new challenge from
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has committed to
match, two to one, every Rotarian dollar contributed to polio eradication
for the next five years, up to US$35 million per year. And we are
now fighting the final battles in our war against polio –
a war we are absolutely committed to win. Our Foundation's goal
always has been Doing Good in the World. With our new grant model,
we aren't going to be satisfied with simply doing good. We will
do the most good we can, in the most lasting ways possible –
for the people who need us the most.
Ron D. Burton
President, Rotary International
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Rotary
International Foundation Chair D. K. Lee's November 2013 Message
Celebrate Rotary Foundation Month
Trustee Chair's Message - November 2013
November gives us the chance to build greater
ownership and pride in our Foundation. PolioPlus is successful because
Rotarians believe in our commitment and support it financially.
We give to the polio eradication effort because we see clearly what
our money is doing and what we are helping to achieve. We all take
pride in knowing that the money we give is helping to fund a polio-free
world.
But many Rotarians do not have the same pride
and ownership of the Foundation's Endowment Fund and Annual Fund.
We are still falling short of our goal of Every Rotarian, Every
Year. Why? Because Rotarians do not know what good works the Endowment
Fund and Annual Fund enable us to do.
The Endowment Fund and Annual Fund are what
make Rotary more than just an association of Rotary clubs. They
allow us to share our resources, work together, and bring our work
to a higher level. The greater our Foundation's resources, the greater
our ability as Rotarians to meet the needs of our communities.
And when every one of us donates to The Rotary Foundation, it truly
becomes our Foundation – and we all share the pride in the
good that it does.
This is why we have Every Rotarian, Every
Year. And this is why our goal for the Annual Fund in 2013-14 is
US$120 million, which represents a donation from every Rotarian,
averaging $100 each.
If we want the freedom to be ambitious in our service, we must know
that we have a strong Foundation supporting us. And if we want to
know that Rotary will endure, we need a strong Endowment Fund –
for whatever lies ahead.
Dong Kurn (D.K.) Lee
Trustee Chair, Rotary International
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