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Foundation History

The Foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International's sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world in charitable, educational and other avenues of community service."

 

Arch C. Klumph; 1916-17 President of Rotary
International and founder of The Rotary Foundation.

A Difference to the World

The most visible program has been Polio Plus, where worldwide over US$600 million has been raised to provide funding for vaccine and transportation for mass immunization campaigns. From 350,000 new cases of polio every year in 1985 to less than 600 now, 127 polio endemic countries down to 6 today. A 99% decrease in polio cases.

Foundation Programs

• Polio Plus. Since the Polio Plus program's inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received oral polio vaccine. Rotarians have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands 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. As of June 2005, Rotary has committed more than US$581 million to global polio eradication.

• Polio Plus Partners is a program that allows Rotarians to participate in the polio eradication effort by contributing to specific social mobilization and surveillance activities in polio-endemic countries.

• Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants fund large scale, two to four year projects that enhance health, help alleviate hunger, or improve human development.

• Matching Grants provide matching funds for international service projects of Rotary clubs and districts. Since 1965, 22,000 Matching Grant projects in 166 countries have been funded at a cost of more than US$224 million.

• District Simplified Grants provide an opportunity for Rotary Club Districts to utilize a portion of their District Designated Funds to implement humanitarian projects locally or internationally. Since the inception of the District Simplified Grants in 2003-04, 772 grants have been approved for projects in 57 countries totaling more than US$11 million.

• Solidarity in South Asia. Shortly after the deadly tsunami struck South Asia on 26th December 2004, The Rotary Foundation established the Solidarity in South Asia fund to assist Rotarians in supporting long-term recovery efforts in affected communities.

• Rotary World Peace Scholars. Each year up to 70 scholars are sponsored to study at one of the seven Rotary Centres for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution for a master's level degree. Since the program's inception in 2002-03, 180 Fellows from 50 different countries have participated at a cost of almost US$11 million.

• Ambassadorial Scholarships. The Foundation sponsors one of the largest international scholarship programs in the world. Scholars study in a country other than their own where they serve as unofficial ambassadors of goodwill. In 2004-05, 737 scholars from 70 countries studied in 62 countries. Program awards were US$15.6 million

• Rotary Grants for University Teachers are awarded to faculty members to teach in a developing national for three to ten months. Since 1985, 406 university teachers have shared their expertise with a college or university in a developing country.

• Group Study Exchange (GSE). These annual awards are made to paired Rotary districts travel expenses for a team of non-Rotarians from a variety of vocations. Rotarian hosts organize a four to six week itinerary of educational and cultural points on interest. Since 1965, more than 52,000 individuals (almost 12,000 teams) from 102 countries have participated.