RTF Centennial Letter - John Germ & Kalyan Banerjee - November 14, 2016

 

 

 

A Letter from '16-'17 RI President John Germ and Foundation Chair Kalyan Banerjee

Dear fellow Rotarians,

At the 1917 Rotary Convention in Atlanta, Past President Arch C. Klumph proposed a revolutionary idea: an endowment fund for the purpose of doing good in the world. Since then, The Rotary Foundation has grown tremendously and in many ways, serves as the foundation for Rotary as we know it today.

This November is particularly special for Rotary. We’re not just celebrating Foundation Month, but also The Rotary Foundation’s centennial. There are many ways to join us in celebrating 100 years of changing lives and improving communities all over the world:

  • Holding an event in your community will help you share all the good work you and your fellow Rotarians have done thanks to the support of The Rotary Foundation. Additional information that can help you in planning your centennial event can be found on The Rotary Foundation Centennial website.
  • • Your club can also plan and sponsor a project to address the needs of a community with locally raised funds or global grant funds. You can choose to help provide clean water, ensure basic education for young girls around the world, or tackle preventable diseases like malaria.
  • In honor of the Foundation’s centennial, we have a set a $300-million fundraising goal. Your gift to the Foundation will not only go towards this goal, but help ensure an additional century of doing good in the world.

Our celebration will culminate in Atlanta, Georgia during the 2017 Rotary Convention. It’s only appropriate that we return to Atlanta a century later to celebrate our Foundation’s centennial and all the good work Rotarians around the world have done since then.

If you register by 15 December, you’d still receive the special early-registration discount of $340. One of the many events you can join us for is The Rotary Foundation’s 100th birthday party, a special event that will take place in the House of Friendship. To learn more about other Foundation centennial events during the Convention, click here.

We can never truly quantify all that we have accomplished with the help of The Rotary Foundation. What we do know is that if Arch Klumph were able to see the impact Rotary has had in the last century, he would be very proud. We hope that you’ll join in marking this historic occasion, as we come together and continue the tradition of Rotary Serving Humanity.

Sincerely

John F. Germ (shown, left)
Rotary International President, 2016-'17

Kalyan Banerjee (shown, right)
Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair, 2016-'17