Foundation Explained plus a New Member Joins

Meeting held August 3, 2021

 

Once again, the meeting was held via ZOOM due to Covid19 lockdown.

ZOOM meeting August 3, 2021

 

New member induction:

 

Yvonne Howie

Yvonne Howie was inducted into Balgowlah Rotary on Tuesday August 3, 2021 after expressing interest in joining late last year, having deferred because of pending travel which is was subsequently placed on hold. She however is intending to leave for overseas in the near future in order to visit family.

 

Yvonne is a former Rotarian and is now semi-retired. Her impressive career encompasses being an experienced Chairman, non-executive director, CEO and adviser. For 15 years she has worked with CEOs and leaders, assisting well over a thousand leaders to grow their business leadership skills. Her roles have involved creating numerous thought leadership elite events for CEOs, assisting them keep up to date with current business thinking and trends. 

 

Yvonne is a Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Education (University of New England), is a Graduate of the AICD (Australian Institute of Company Directors) Company Directors course, is a Member of AICD; and has completed numerous management and leadership courses. Yvonne was CEO, NSW for The CEO Institute for over 10 years, and is now a consultant to its Chairman. Yvonne also founded a public relations and issues management firm.

 

A current company director, she was formerly Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Chairman of key board committees and non-executive director for boards including the health, retail, pharmacy, education, sport and government sectors. She is the former CEO of a major regional Chamber of Commerce with over 500 members. 

 

Yvonne has attended a number of club meetings prior to being inducted and has already contributed to investigations with the club’s proposed community recycle for cash project, Yvonne is providing valuable involvement in the club is keen to contribute her talents to community service.

WELCOME YVONNE!

 

ROTARY FOUNDATION

 

Gavin Ralston - Centurion project Champion

Gavin Ralston, a member of the E-club of Greater Sydney and a Past President of Belrose Rotary, was our guest speaker and gave members an interesting and in-depth talk on the Rotary Foundation. Gavin has served as an Assistant Governor, District Chair of the Centurions Program and is a member of the Rotary Foundation District Committee. He encouraged Club donations to Foundation and in addition, that club members who have not done so, to become Centurions. All members of the Foundation Committee serve as ambassadors to educate, motivate and inspire Rotarians to participate in Foundation giving and granting activities in District

 

“What is Foundation?” was the opening question posed by Gavin.

·      The Rotary Foundation helps Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty: the key objectives of Rotary.

 

Since it was founded in 1917, the Foundation has spent more than $4 billion on life-changing, sustainable projects.

·      Moreover, 92% of funds are directly employed - it receives the highest possible rating for Financial Stewardship, Transparency and Accountability from Charity Navigator; an independent highly regarded charity-rating agency

·      Although administered by an International Committee who monitor all endowments, all funds that are donated in Australia stay in Australia in Trust. 

 

The Charitable Foundation for all Rotarians is The Rotary Foundation. 

 

Gavin explained that the District (D9685) Foundation Committee promotes all of the programs of the Rotary Foundation within clubs to ensure understanding of Foundation Goals, Areas of Focus, and Process. It seeks to maximise the use of Club and individual giving and to maximise the use of Foundation funds to assist Club projects.

 

Grant funds are applied to Club projects via District Grants, Global Grants (projects in excess of $10K) and World Fund support of programs such as World Peace Fellows (130 scholarships each year). Grant applications are evaluated by the District Grants Committee- usually a single grant is approved for a club that must have participated in District Assembly. Grants for Club projects are awarded annually -usually during July.

 

How is the money applied?

The most significant Foundation project is Polio Plus. Since 1985 Rotary has been fighting for global Polio eradication. As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, Rotary Foundation helped to reduced polio cases by more than 99.9 percent. It’s crucial to eradicate polio from the last two countries (Pakistan & Afghanistan) where it remains endemic and to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyse as many as 200,000 children each year.

Rotary World Peace Fellowships and Scholarships: Every year up to 130 Fellows are sponsored to study at one of the six Rotary Centres for International Studies in peace & conflict resolution for a master’s degree or certificate. District 9685 offers one grant in the form of a competitive scholarship of US$30K for Postgraduate study in one of the Area of Focus. Clubs submitting suitable candidates should base their application on motivation & dedication.

Stewardship: The Stewardship committee is responsible for ensuring the careful and responsible management of Rotary Foundation grant funds and promotes proper and effective grant management.

 

And Foundation Grants:

District Grants (within Australia – DGA): Amounts from $500 to $3,000 for smaller local community projects and enquire active participation by Rotarians.

District Grants (International – DGI): Projects with budgets below $30k & do not qualify for a Global Grant. They must be partnered with and overseas Rotary Club, District or responsible third party. (Range from $1K to $6K)

Global Grants- Humanitarian (GG): International projects meeting the Foundation’s Global Grant Program and expenditure greater than $30K – the level of local contribution must be a minimum of $10K from a single or a group of clubs.

Global Grants (Vocational training VTT): Meats Foundation vocational training teams grants program and can be club or District instigated. The level of local contribution must be a minimum of $10K.

 

How to Contribute

Gavin outlined a number of possibilities:

Personal Giving:

Centurion: Contribute A$100 per year paid into the Rotary Foundation Trust (making it tax deductable). A centurion tower holding 50 x$2 coins was shown ,but Direct Debit is preferred for simplicity and ease of operation..

An application form has been sent out by John O’Brien.

Join the Paul Harris Society: Commit to US$1000 annually (Tax deductable) makes the donor a Paul Harris fellow and contributions aggregated for major Donor recognition.  A PHF badge with wings is awarded.

Become a major Donor: Outright or cumulative giving reaching US$10,000 and there is increased recognition of several levels above this .

 

Club Contributions:

Club annually contribute Foundation: Balgowlah currently give $1000 each year.

 Award Paul Harris Fellowships: A PHF results from $1000 donation to Foundation. It is one of the main fund-raising projects of the Rotary Foundation.

The audience warmly thanked Gavin for an impressive and very interesting talk on Rotary Foundation, many felt that what was regarded previously as a highly complex setup had been clearly explained and now is much better understood.

Gavin has also addressed the club on 22 March 2016. In addition to his role with Foundation, he has been a Rotarian for more years than he can remember and has been the Sydney coordinator of the Science & Engineering Challenge for about 20 years.

 

Meeting - other items:

·      Changeover by ZOOM Tuesday 10^th August 2021 @7pm. Be there!

·      Nepal Hospital Building Fund combined meeting - 26 October 2021

·      Special Olympics Day – postponed due to Covid19 restrictions.

·      Return & Earn -Bev Yarich updated the meeting on this community project progress. Project is ongoing

·      Use of Social media – President Rick outlined the experiences of the Upper Northern Beaches club and its benefit and leverage in the local community with club projects and initiatives. Further investigations underway.

For your calendar:

10th August 

TUESDAY

Changeover Night

6.50 for 7pm Zoom  

 

17 August

TUESDAY

Formal Meeting

7pm - Via ZOOM

Speaker - Mike Molins - new member talk

 

7 September

TUESDAY

Formal Meeting

7pm  - Venue to be advised

Speaker - Michael Regan - Mayor - Northern Beaches Council

 

21 September

TUESDAY

Formal Meeting

7pm - Venue to be advised

Speaker - TBC 

 

5 October

TUESDAY

Formal Meeting

7pm - Venue to be advised

 

19 October

TUESDAY

Formal Meeting

7pm - Venue to be advised

Speaker - TBC 

 

26 October

TUESDAY

Joint Meeting with several Rotary Clubs

7pm - Venue to be advised

Speaker - Dr Ray Hodgson - "Heartbreak in the Himalayas" - the plight of women in Nepal 

--ooOoo--

AND:

Medical Alert VIRUS WARNING:

 

 I have it for sure!
  
The NILE Virus, type C We are still battling the COVID-19 and the next thing is here already. Virologists have identified a new Nile virus - type C. It appears to target those who were born between 1930 & 1970.   

Symptoms: Causes you    
1. To send the same message twice.             
2. To send a blank message.        
3. To send a message to the wrong person.     
4. To send it back to the person who sent it to you.    
5. To forget to attach the attachment.    
6. To hit SEND before you've finished.         
7. To hit DELETE instead of SEND.            
8. To SEND when you should DELETE.        

It is called the C-NILE virus!

And if you cannot admit to doing the above, you have obviously caught the mutated strain:

the D-NILE virus.

 

 That's all Folks!