Magnifying The Possibilities Of Making A Difference
 
By Ralph Hammond
 
Thank you for your continued Foundation support - both programmatically by getting project titles on the list for the $44,000 available in District Governor-Elect Pat and Skip Doyle’s 2016-2017 leadership year, and financially by seriously considering tax advantage contributions prior to this December 31.  
 
Rotary is one of the most trusted organizations in the world. Membership in Rotary opens many doors and magnifies the possibilities of making a difference. The impact we are all having with the seemingly simple projects we do when multiplied by the nearly 35,000 clubs and 1.2 million Rotarians allows us to make a very powerful statement.
 
Those Rotary clubs that won the District Grant Funding Hold Raffle on November 30 are, in order of priority: Lowell; Natick; Concord; Athol-Orange; Nashoba Valley, and Worcester. Should any club currently involved with an approved district grant fail to submit either a Progress Report or a Final Report by next April 15, then that funding would go to the above clubs in the priority order shown. Those projects above are also first for funding during the 2016-2017 grant cycle, which begins this January 1.
 
Now is the time to begin to start planning ahead to Rotary Year 2016-2017, which begins next July 1. The following projects, in alphabetical order by club name, have already entered the queue for funding for the new grant cycle, which begins next April 1. If your club’s project is approved by that date, you could actually begin working on that project.
  • Athol-Orange: Backpacks for Breakfast Project  
  • Bedford: Food Bank and Meal Packaging Project, in partnership with Stop Hunger Now
  • Concord: Syrian Refugee Project, in partnership with Save the Children
  • Lowell: Youth Educational Success Afterschool Program
  • Nashoba Valley: Healing Garden in Harvard
  • Natick: Food Bank Project
  • Westborough: Pre-global grant planning trip to Central America toward a medical-mission  project
  • Worcester: Refrigerator for Food Pantry Project
You will soon need to be entering your goals into Club Central. Projects - we encourage two titles per club - can be part of your club goals. To get district grant funding, we need to submit a grant spending plan to The Rotary Foundation prior to next March, if possible.   The projects that you list can later be changed to a different project. This list is not locked in stone. However, the projects do allow for the estimated cost of the project to become a part of the spending plan. That money will be sent to our district in July for whatever district grant projects you choose to do.
 
At this point, we need only project titles. Both grant-application forms and district-stewardship approval must be completed to lock in your project funding beginning next April 1.
 
Last year, our district was No. 2 in Rotary District Zone 32 in contributing to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund-SHARE.  All of the projects above and others that will be coming in are very promising.  Please consider gaining a tax advantage in helping your club to reach 100-percent “Every Rotarian, Every Year” participation, to enable projects such as the wonderful ideas above to actually happen.
 
Consider using the Multiple Donor Form, which is pre-populated. Here is the new way to get to that form:
  • Visit https://www.rotary.org/myrotary/en/rotary-foundation
  • At the top of the home page, pull down “Manage”
  • On far left, click on “Club Administration" and sign in with your Rotary membership login
  • Scroll way down to “Club Giving” section
  • Under that section, go to the “Online” section and click on “Multiple donor form”
If you have problems, call me at 781-275-2373.
 
Use this form for one to 20 - perhaps more - contributors and attach only one check, made payable to: The Rotary Foundation. All people listed will be credited toward Paul Harris Recognition.
 
We may have been No. 2 in our zone last year, but the way we are progressing this year, no matter what, Rotarians in District 7910 will always be No. 1 in the hearts of the many people we impact with the district-grant and global-grant projects we continue to do. Thank you all for your kindness - especially during this very special time of the year.
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Ralph Hammond, chair of District 7910's Foundation Grant Coordinator Team, may be reached at ralph.hammond@verizon.net.