Well, we are now into the last quarter of our 2022-23 Rotary year. “Thank you” to all of the Rotarians, Rotactors and Clubs who have supported the Rotary Foundation so far this year. However our zone results for the first nine months are mixed and we do now need to focus on achieving good results for the final quarter.

Article by PDG Peter Garnett, Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator

TRF Contributions - Annual Fund

We saw a good result for contributions to the Annual Fund at the end of February with our Zone being +4.13% ahead of last year. Though the interim results for March are lower, being just +1.87% ahead of last year.

We need at least two times the year to date (YTD) contributions of $1.198m, to exceed the level of last year's giving of $3.590m

The months of April and May are critical as they are traditionally the months when we see many clubs make their contributions. Currently only 718 of our 1254 clubs (56%), have contributed to the Annual Fund this year.

We appreciate, with the impacts of Covid, fund raising has been a challenge over the past 2-3 years. However, the Annual Fund is what funds our Global and District Grant projects so Please contribute to the Annual Fund. Give what your club can afford within its current means.

PolioPlus Fund

This remains Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation’s No 1 Project. Regrettably our zone contributions to the PolioPlus Fund at the end of February were -9.97% behind last year, with a slight improvement in the interim March results to -8.35%.

Again we need at least two times the year to date (YTD) contributions of $0.376m to achieve the level of last year's total giving of $1.044m. Currently 788 of our 1254 clubs (63%), have yet to contribute to the Polio Fund this year. Last year 395 clubs (32%) did not contribute at all to Polio!

The recent news of the polio case in New York and discovery of the virus in the London sewers certainly reinforces the adage that polio is only a flight away. We appeal to all clubs to Please to contribute annually to the Polio Fund until we have finally met our promise we gave to the children of the world - that we will eradicate Polio.

Endowment Fund

The Rotary Foundation’s goal is to grow the Endowment Fund to $2.025b by the year 2025.

This table shows combined total for the Endowment Fund, as at 28 February 2023.

There is the good news for our Zone. Interim results for March are $0.362m which is 104.4% ahead of YTD last year and 44.95% ahead of the total for 2021-22.

There is a real opportunity for us to grow contributions to the Endowment Fund by Rotarians choosing to "leave" to TRF through the Benefactor and Bequest Society programmes.

What a wonderful achievement it would be if all clubs in our Zone were to contribute to both the Annual and Polio Funds this year.