Robert A. Keely

July 21, 2009

Last week Putnam Rotarians heard their new District Governor call for action. "Don't be a resumé Rotarian," Ray Pollard told club members. And today Bob Keely followed up with a review of the Rotary Foundation as a means to that end.

Keely reviewed the opportunities for service both for individuals and local clubs through the Foundation which is one of the world's largest charitable organizations.

"The Foundation is effective and efficient," Keely told the group. (A gift of one dollar buys three polio inoculations.) A contribution to the Foundation is invested for three years, and the interest pays for almost all operating costs. At the end of this period, the total original gift goes toward projects.

"We are not aware of any other foundation in the world which can make this claim," he said, "that 100% of its contributions go into programs."

Most contributions to the Foundation come as voluntary gifts by local clubs and individual members. Persons who give $1,000 are named as Paul Harris Fellows, a recognition named for the founder of Rotary.

A gift may be designated for others. The Putnam club began budgeting last year for a PHF award for the Rotarian-of-the-Year, and current president Chet Marshall personally funded an award for "a person demonstrating they are a Rotarian, not just a club member."

While contributions to the Foundation are voluntary, all members are encouraged to support it as "sustaining members." A sustaining member contributes $100 each year to the Foundation. The gifts accumulate to a PHF award in ten years.

The local club in recent years has matched sustaining gifts, which means that a $50 contribution is matched for $100 submitted to the Foundation.

In its fourteen-year history, the Putnam club has had 31 PHF awards representing over $33,000 in gifts to the Foundation.