District Grants and Global Grants – April Update

By Michelle Gasbarro and Sanjay Deshpande

Rotary clubs in our District 7910 have been active in utilizing funds of The Rotary Foundation for their service activities, through District and Global Grants. As of March 31, 17 District Grants had been approved involving 19 clubs. And ,seven club proposals for Global Grants had been approved for initiating applications on the Rotary Grant Center website, out of which two have been approved.

 

Qualification for participation in Foundation grants

 

District 7910 established a different program for Foundation grants during this 2016-2017 Rotary year, which ends June 30, and held three Grant Management Training sessions, to help clubs get qualified for participation. Here is the club-qualification update:

 

Qualification criterion	Clubs complying	Clubs not complying
$100 or more per-capita of  Rotary Foundation giving	37	14
2016-'17 Club Memorandum of Understanding executed	26	25
Grant Management Training received	31	20
Met all three criteria (qualified clubs)	26	0

 

Of the 26 qualified clubs, 19 have been awarded District Grants. Seven clubs have submitted proposals for Global Grants, and five of them are among the 19 awarded District Grants.

 

District Grants

 

District Grants fund small (less than $30,000, but typically $3,000 to $5,000), short-term (typically, three to six months) projects that address immediate needs in your community or abroad. In '16-'17, District 7910 elected to reserve a total of $46,436 to support the District Grants program. After allowing for administrative and contingency expenses, the district allocated $35,760 for up to 24 grants of $1,500 each. Also, if the contingency allocation  is not utilized by this April 30, the District Foundation Committee plans to utilize the unused funds for District Grants, Global Grants or for contributions to the Polio Plus fund.

 

As stated previously, 17 grants have been approved this year - of which two grants had two clubs participating.  The grants awarded to those 17 projects, which had a combined budget of $83,080, totaled $28,500. Only one of those projects were located outside the U.S., in India. In addition, there six clubs have open grant requests, which they need to convert to full applications.

 

To view a full list of approved District Grants and open requests, click here.

 

Global Grants

 

Seven clubs have submitted Global Grant proposals, so far this year. All seven have been cleared to submit applications on the Rotary Foundation Grants Center.

 

Two applications, from Wachusett Area Rotary and Westborough Rotary, have been approved by the Rotary Foundation. Two applications, from Billerica Rotary and Nashoba Valley Rotary, are in the draft stage. And, the remaining three Rotary clubs - Brookline, Montachusett Area and Sturbridge - will initiate their applications soon.

 

To view a comparison of the Global Grants projects, click here.

 

District 7910 has always encouraged its clubs to participate in Global Grants initiated and led by our clubs.  It is our understanding that Wachusett Area has raised the $7,350 needed for its cash contribution, while Nashoba Valley has raised the $21,000 needed for its cash contribution. 

 

Westborough Rotary is continuing to solicit clubs in our district for participation in its approved Global Grant, for which they need to raise $10,000 in cash. Since this Global Grant is already approved, it represents an opportunity for other clubs to get credit for Global Grant participation for a $500 contribution.

 

Later in the year, Brookline, Montachusett Area and Sturbridge will offer more opportunities for participation in Global Grants.  Clubs in our district are strongly encouraged to take advantage of these opportunities.

 

Let us pool our resources so that, collectively, we can "Do More Good in the World" through "Rotary Serving Humanity," and "Rotary Making a Difference.