When I watch the news and see the shattering of peace in Ukraine; the devastation arising from recent natural disasters; children suffering from famine; the effects of the COVID pandemic and the impact we are having on our environment, I see more than ever the world needs Rotarians. It needs us, as People of Action, to continue to be “Doing Good in the World”.

Article by PDG Peter Garnett, Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator

As Rotarians, we are fortunate our past and present Rotary International leaders had the foresight to initiate and to continue to foster and grow our charity, The Rotary Foundation. For it is this world respected charity of ours which enables us to be “Doing Good in the World”. I suggest actively supporting our seven Areas of Focus – our causes – with local and global projects meeting community needs, is more important than ever in the current environment our world is facing.

However for The Rotary Foundation to be able to provide ongoing support for eradicating Polio and for Global, District and Disaster Response grant projects, OUR Charity relies on individual Rotarians and Rotary Clubs making active and regular contributions to its funds.

Research indicates on average most Australians and New Zealanders give to three charities annually. For many Rotarians, the Rotary Foundation is their charity of choice. Imagine the impact if ALL Rotarians were to make it their charity of choice, for it to be the leading one of those three charities we support annually. The wonderful thing about our charity’s activities is we can be confident that 92 cents in every dollar we give does go to the projects “Doing Good in the World”.

To grow our fundraising we need to expand our donor base both within Rotary and beyond Rotarians. Imagine the impact the Rotary brand could deliver if our fundraising and projects were all linked to Areas of Focus - our causes.

Our Rotarians are already successfully completing wonderful and meaningful projects locally and globally. However, we are not as successful at telling our story, telling our communities about the impact our projects are making. Rotary is a very trusted brand so let us work to ensure our projects:

• are hands on projects actively involving our members
• are Rotary branded projects, with clear signage
• include an integral publicity component.

Please arrange for good action photos to be taken during the project and, on completion, provide an article which your Public Image team can use to promote Rotary to the community.

Good publicity promoting our activities will:

• Grow our Foundation - attract (non-Rotarian) donors interested in supporting our causes.
• Grow our membership - attract others in the community interested in joining Rotary, so they too can participate in projects meeting community needs.

I am confident we can meet the need the world has for more Rotarians, People of Action continuing to “Do Good in the World”.