The Rotary Foundation Director, who initially reports to the club International Service Director, is primarily responsible for educating members about the various programmes undertaken by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International and for finding new contributors to enable the Rotary Foundation to continue it's international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programmes.

There are three primary ways a person can contribute to the Rotary Foundation:

1) Become a Paul Harris Fellow: Anyone who contributes an initial sum of US$1,000  to the "Annual Programs Fund" of the Rotary Foundation, is recognised as a "Paul Harris Fellow". This recognition is named in honour of the Chicago lawyer, Mr. Paul Harris who, with three other friends, founded Rotary in 1905.

Payment of the US$1,000 can be either by way of a single payment or by way of cumulative installments of US$100 each, whereby the donor becomes a "Sustaining Member" until the full amount of US$1,000 has been achieved.

For each subsequent (and full) contribution of US$1,000 the donor is recognised as a "multiple" donor, for which the donor will receive additional recognition in the form of special pins with multiple identifying sapphire or ruby stones.

2) Become a Benefactor: Anyone who bequeaths in their will the sum of US$1,000 to the "Permanent Fund" of the Rotary Foundation is recognised as a "Benefactor", and will receive the appropriate recognition.

3) Become a Major Donor: Anyone who, either in a single payment or accumulatively, contributes the sum of US$10,000 or more to the Rotary Foundation will be recognised as a "Major Donor".

The Rotary Foundation Director should, first and foremost, encourage those club members who are not yet donors to become donors, but he may also encourage existing donors to become multiple and/or major donors. 

Of course, the Rotary Foundation Director should be a donor too, otherwise his efforts at promotion will seem hollow and insincere!

As November of each year is designated "Rotary Foundation Month" by Rotary International, it is important for the Rotary Foundation Director to actively promote the foundation during this month. This can be achieved by making a presentation to club members during a regular club meeting and/or contributing articles to the club bulletin.

When contributors are identified, the Rotary Foundation Director should assist the contributor to complete the necessary donor forms (available from the download page situated on the club web site), to assist the donor to organise a US$ bank draft payable to the foundation and to ensure that all the requisite items are sent directly to the foundation. 

Experience has proven that working through Rotary District and/or Regional intermediaries is both slow and unreliable.

Additionally, the Rotary Foundation Director will normally signify on the forms that recognition items should be sent directly to him, so that a formal presentation can be given to the donor during a regular club meeting.

Visit the Rotary Foundation information pages to learn more about it's various programmes.

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