Rotary International Foundation
The Rotary Foundation
The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.
The Rotary Foundation helps fund our humanitarian activities, from local service projects to global initiatives. Your club or district can apply for grants from the Foundation to invest in projects and provide scholarships. The Foundation also leads the charge on worldwide Rotary campaigns such as eradicating polio and promoting peace. Rotarians and friends of Rotary support the Foundation’s work through voluntary contributions.
**Note: Only donations to the Annual Fund count towards the Club's global grant opportunities.
The Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world.
Major Rotary Foundation programs include:
End Polio: To eradicate polio, Rotarians have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands. They’re working to ensure that children are immunized against this crippling disease and that surveillance is strong despite the poor infrastructure, extreme poverty, and civil strife of many countries. Since the program’s inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received the oral polio vaccine.
Disaster Recovery: Allows Rotarians to donate money in response to specific disasters. Funds are distributed to local committees to support recovery efforts.
District Simplified Grants: Support the service activities of districts locally and abroad.
Matching Grants: Provide matching funds for the international service projects of Rotary clubs and districts.
Ambassadorial Scholarships: The Foundation sponsors one of the largest international scholarship programs in the world. Scholars study in a different country, where they serve as unofficial ambassadors of goodwill. Since 1947, more than 47,000 scholars from 110 countries have received scholarships of more than $476 million through The Rotary Foundation.
Group Study Exchange (GSE): Annual awards are made to paired Rotary districts to cover travel expenses for a team of non-Rotarians from a variety of professions. Rotarian hosts organize a four- to six-week itinerary of vocational, educational, and cultural points of interest. Since 1965, more than 57,000 individuals (almost 12,000 teams) from 100 countries have participated at a cost of more than $92 million.
Rotary Peace Fellowships: Each year, up to 100 fellows are sponsored to study at one of the six Rotary Peace Centers for a master’s-level degree or professional development certificate.
For more information, go to the Rotary International Foundation website.