Foundation looks to the future with new goals

At the International Assembly, Foundation Trustee Chair-elect Jonathan Majiyagbe outlines the Foundation's 2008-09 goals.

Enhancing Rotary’s public image and asking clubs and districts to partner more with The Rotary Foundation are just two of the new 2008-09 Foundation goals.

Foundation Trustee Chair-elect Jonathan Majiyagbe asked the more than 530 district governors-elect attending the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA, to accept the duty of achieving the goals and to Make Dreams Real .

The 2008-09 Foundation goals are:
1. Keep our promise to eradicate polio .
2. Embrace the two pillars of support for The Rotary Foundation: the Annual Programs Fund through Every Rotarian, Every Year and the Permanent Fund .
3. Participate in Your Foundation/Our Foundation, a "lend a hand" program for sharing funds from club and district foundations to permanently establish the Rotary World Peace Fellows program and support global polio eradication.
4. Enhance Rotary's public image .
5. Support the Future Vision Plan of The Rotary Foundation.

The first two items are similar to the 2007-08 goals of eradicating polio and ensuring contributions to the Foundation. The last three, however, are new.
If Rotarians work together toward the third goal of supporting Your Foundation/Our Foundation, Majiyagbe believes the Foundation can both permanently endow the Rotary World Peace Fellowships program and help eradicate polio.

"Many Rotary clubs and districts have their own endowment funds or foundations, some of which have greater funds than our Rotary Foundation," he said. "In the past, The Rotary Foundation has sometimes viewed these entities as competitors for Rotarian contributions, but I would like to change that perspective. I would like to see our relationship move from that of competitors to partners."

The Foundation can accomplish much more if club and district foundations contribute at least 10 percent of their funds to the polio eradication effort and the peace fellowships program, said Majiyagbe. He also urged Rotarians to use their affinity credit cards , which have raised US$5.5 million for the Foundation since the program’s inception in 2000.

With so much to accomplish, now is the ideal time to work on the fourth goal of enhancing Rotary's public image, a task that must be carried out at the grassroots level. "Better public acknowledgement will help us attract new members to our Rotary clubs, and it will help us attract new donors to our Foundation," he said.

The last goal of supporting the Future Vision Plan will help keep the Foundation viable, make it more efficient, and "meet the needs of the ages," said Majiyagbe.

The promise of today's Rotary Foundation

Foundation Trustee Chair Robert S. Scott discusses the 2007-08 Foundation goals

The dreams of past Rotarians have become the present, just as the dreams of today's Rotarians will bring a better future, said Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair Robert S. Scott at the International Assembly in San Diego, California, USA.

Speaking to the audience of incoming district governors, Scott discussed the 2007-08 Foundation goals:

* Finish the job of polio eradication .
* Fulfill the promise of Every Rotarian, Every Year .
* Reconnect with Foundation alumni .
* Peace is possible .

"I inherited a set of goals that I wholeheartedly believe in and support," Scott said. Trustee Bhichai Rattakul began the year as Foundation trustee chair and sought Scott's input in developing the goals before stepping down in July.

The Foundation's most important goal in 2007-08, and one close to Scott's heart, is ridding the world of polio. "I firmly believe that polio eradication is possible," he said.

Continuing all the Foundation's work is crucial, he explained, which is why it’s important for every Rotarian to contribute every year.

Foundation alumni can also donate and may eventually become Rotarians, making them a vital source of support. That's why reconnecting with them is the third goal. "Alumni are a forgotten resource to Rotary," said Scott, who encouraged the governors-elect to invite their district's alumni to the first all-day Rotary Alumni Celebration at the 2008 RI Convention in Los Angeles.

To achieve the final goal, Rotarians must work together to show that peace is possible. Though it may seem unattainable, Scott told the audience, "you are an example to the world, showing that men and women of diverging views can indeed break bread together in an atmosphere of fellowship and friendship. Yes, peace is possible."

Rotarians have dreamed of and created the Foundation, its scholarship and peace studies programs, and the polio eradication effort. Over the last 10 years, said Scott, "a conservative estimate is that Rotary has directly affected the lives of 20 million to 30 million people, and then we have had the ripple effect of two billion children having been immunized against polio."

Through the graduates of the peace studies programs, the eradication of polio, and the generosity of donors, the family of Rotary will fulfill the promise of the 2008-09 RI theme and Make Dreams Real .

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