Foundation Note - August 1, 2016

 
 
 
 
 
Foundation Note: First set of '16-'17 District Grants approved, second review cycle in August
 
By Sanjay Deshpande
The first three District Grants approved for 2016-2017 will utilize $4,500 in district grants to deliver $11,900 in community benefits, including
  • Cooking lessons, crockpots , and cookbooks, which will benefit an estimated 200 people in year one and 1,000 people over the next five years through the efforts of Marlborough Rotary under District Grant 1701.
  • Increased awareness of domestic violence and supplies for healing arts and garden, to benefit 100 people in year one and 500 people over the next five years through the efforts of Brookline Rotary  under DG 1702.
  • Solar PV panels to provide assured power to the computer lab in a school in India, to benefit 200 students in year one and 1,000 students in the next five years through the efforts of Needham Rotaryunder DG 1704 with the support of Waltham Rotary and Jubilee Hills Rotary in District 3150 in Hyderabad India.
During the July review cycle, theGrants Subcommittee members used the scoring rubric to evaluate five district applications (DGs 1701 through 1705) over the first two weeks in July, which led to the approval of the three grants, above, by the District Foundation Advisory Board, comprising District Governors Pat and Skip Doyle, DG-Elect Karin Gaffney and DG-Nominee Steve Sager upon the recommendation of Grants Subcommittee Chair Jorge Yarzebski. So far, the process has worked reasonably well and a few areas of improvement have been identified for action in the August review cycle and beyond.
 
DG 1702, submitted by Athol-Orange Rotary, is awaiting final action pending the submission of their executed '16-'17 Club Memorandum of Understanding. DG 1705, submitted by Sturbridge Rotary, is pending for changes and further details and will be reviewed in the August or September cycle, depending on when that club resubmits the revised application.
 
To view the status of the 23 District Grant requests, in PDF format, click here. Note that there are five applications (DG 1706-1709) that will be reviewed by Grants Subcommittee members in August and will hopefully be approved. There are 13 grant requests that are awaiting application submission by the clubs, and one grant request from Shrewsbury Rotary that was cancelled at the club’s request; Shrewsbury will soon be submitting a replacement project through a new request.
 
Based on the requests and applications received so far, the 22 active projects will leverage up to $33,000 in District Grants to deliver $95,659 in benefits to the communities where these projects will be implemented.
 
Stewardship Subcommittee Chair Ed King has pointed out that only 10 clubs have submitted executed '16-'17 club MOUs among the 23 that have grant requests listed in the above-mentioned status report. To avoid delays in approval of District Grant applications and enable participation in Global Grants, an e-mail has been sent to 41 club presidents and their Foundation chairs to urge submission ASAP of their executed '16-'17 Club MOUs - and four clubs did do so last week.
 
The Grants Subcommittee will initiate efforts to persuade at least eight more clubs to submit grant requests so that the $45,000 available in District Designated Fund is fully awarded during this '16-'17 Rotary year.
 
If you have any questions, please contact District Grants Subcommittee Chair Jorge Yarzebski at yj.rotary@gmail.com, or me, District Rotary Foundation Committee Chair Sanjay Deshpande, at sanjdesh51@aol.com.
 
For the Foundation Notes archive, click here