Sparkle 41 #42 25 May 2021 (May 25, 2021)

Dear Everyone,

I hope you all enjoyed a pleasant Tuesday evening this week; those of us who joined the Monbulk and District Rotary Club for its Wine-tasting Fundraiser certainly did. There was a good deal of camaraderie amongst all attendees. And we helped Monbulk and ourselves by collectively buying 13 assorted bottles, to be delivered shortly.

Would you like to find out some of what Shalini and I learnt when we attended the Grants Qualification and Planning Seminar last Friday night? - that’s what I thought. District Grants Chair Graham Richardson did his level best to remove some of the barriers of ignorance, and started by asking why do Clubs have to qualify? – because the projects are carried out with Rotary funds largely contributed by Rotary action, therefore the funds must be managed securely and put to use in an educational or humanitarian field. The District Grants are managed by the Districts and therefore require this qualification.

To begin with, the Club President and the President-Elect sign a Memorandum of Understanding by the 1^st of July, saying they will abide by the rules in the MOU. These include the responsibility for grant funds, Club Officer responsibilities and the five-year document retention policy.

For a Global Grant, a separate bank account is needed for every project, because at least $30,000 USD is being managed. This is still the minimum project size.

A Global Grant has a primary sponsor and that person has to have completed the online learning course. The international Club must partner with a Rotary Club in the country where the project is happening. The leading person for a Global Grant is the international partner.

How much money do we have for grants?

2021/22 Spending Plan:

SHARE Funds USD $94.4 K

Less the Admin levy -$ 2.4 K

Net SHARE Funds = $92.0 K = Total available to split as @ 1^st of July.

50% comes back at the end of three years for us to manage.

Therefore, the total District Grant (max. 50%) is $46 K.

D9810 Support for Global Grants:

The maximum DDF for a Global Grant is USD$12,000, which is to be matched $ for $ by D9810 Club contributions. USD$12,000 equates to AUD$15,480 at present.

To reserve a DDF, you submit a Global Grant project proposal to the Grants Committee and discuss it with them.

Ways to Address Limited Global Grant Funding:

Apply for maximum DDF (USD$12,000)
Invite other Districts to contribute DDF
Invite other Clubs to contribute cash – Note: cash contributions to Global Grants aren’t matched.
Seek other grants – DFAT, banks, corporates, Government agencies etc.
Increase focussed fundraising, i.e. special events

The grant money is received on approval of your report.

You can test your project’s value by answering these questions:

Does it support the Foundation’s Mission?
Is it an appropriate project for Rotary?
Does it offer value for money?
Have its objectives arisen from interaction with the beneficiaries?
Have necessary partners/other organisations been identified, i.e. to facilitate the work overseas, the MOUs etc.?
Have the objectives been communicated to partners?
What active involvement of Rotarians/Rotaractors is planned?

John Barnes spoke about the Annual Fund Giving and how we generate the funds for the Global and District grants.

We put up a goal for our Foundation giving, which is USD$120 or AUD$151 per Rotarian; this is a goal and not necessarily a promise. Included are the donations from the Paul Harris Society and the Centurion Club members. Fortunately the number of members of the latter group have risen, as there has been a great response this year - our own Club has added four members, which is very pleasing. It costs less than 30 cents a day to be a Centurion.

District is hoping for $185 K - $200 K this year, and they are still $40 K short. The donation is invested for three years and the growth supports the Foundation’s operations.

The funds raised in:

2017/18 were USD $97,500
2018/19 were USD $95,000
2019/20 were down to USD $80,500.

The percentage of the Rotary Foundation’s Funds that go to administration is 9 to 10% according to DGE Daryl Moran, and it is still one of the best charities.

District Training Assembly started today, Sunday, and runs to Sunday 30^th of May. It is wonderful that many of our members have enrolled in the excellent workshops even though they have done their roles many times before. This will only help to make our Club even stronger and better than ever.

Thank you’s this week to:

for the amazing job she is doing as Secretary taking minutes, running the Deb Ball and preparing for her Presidential role.
Lorna and Lyn for their work for the Deb Ball.
and Russell M. for “personing” the Membership Stand at Emerald Station during the R100 celebrations.
Ian Wakefield for his outstanding job making last-minute preparations for our R100 Celebrations.
Ian Wakefield and Roy for preparing the static stand at Emerald Station to promote public awareness of our Club.
Ros for her outstanding job to get publicity through various channels for our R100 event.
Chris Adams for his excellent cooking skills at the R100 Barbeque lunch.
Kris for keeping our Facebook and Linked in up-to-date and her well-written posts.
Gayle and Barry Plant for printing our T2T Market flyers for the Monbulk Fundraiser and the Membership Stand at Emerald Station.

**This Tuesday night on the 25^th of May, it’s Club Assembly again! – chaired by Shalini.

**Next week: on the 1st of June, unfortunately our guest speaker Sandra Goss, fantastic local physiotherapist and horsewoman, has had to cancel owing to a health issue. So watch this space!

**The following week: on the 8th of June, our guest speaker is Dr. Dan from Monbulk, talking about croup, anaphylaxis, asthma and defibrillators.

Stay safe and stay Rotary Even Prouder.

Yours in Rotary,

Vicki.