John F.
Germ
Trustee Chair 2021-22
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Trustee chair's
message
When people ask me what The Rotary Foundation is,
I tell them it’s the heart of Rotary. You may
have heard before that Rotary has an intelligent heart.
The Foundation combines our emotional response of
compassion with pragmatic action. With both heart
and brains, you can change the world.
So, what does the Foundation mean to
you? November is Rotary Foundation Month, but do you
really know our Foundation?
First, it truly is our Foundation. The
Rotary Foundation doesn’t belong to me or the
other 14 trustees, nor to the RI Board of Directors,
nor to the RI president. It belongs to each Rotarian
around the world.
And it’s there for all of us to
change the world. We save mothers and children because
we have compassion, and we know how to plan. We provide
clean water and sanitation where they’re needed
to those who need them, because we build strategies
based on a community’s needs. We combine support
for peace, education, and economic stability for at-risk
communities with an ability to manage big projects.
Giving to the Foundation is smart, too,
because in doing so, you multiply the value of that
gift. How many other foundations can you think of
that identify the projects, fund them, and run them
on the ground themselves? Ours is the only one I know.
And we get it all done at such a relatively low administrative
cost. This is one reason Charity Navigator consistently
gives the Foundation a four-star rating.
I sometimes get asked a question: How
much should I be giving to the Foundation? Each year,
make a gift of what you can afford to give. For some,
that is $100, and for others, more. What’s most
important is that you give something, because each
generous gift helps us meet the increased demand we’re
seeing from members for global grants and our other
programs.
This year, we want to raise $50 million
for PolioPlus, which will be matched 2-to-1 by the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for a total of
$150 million. If every Rotary club contributed just
$1,500, we would surpass this goal. We have other
goals as well — for the Annual Fund, the Endowment
Fund, and outright gifts — adding up to a grand
total of $410 million.
We will get there if we set our hearts
— and minds — to it. But remember, it’s
not about the money; it’s what the money can
do.
There’s a saying that goes, “I
alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone
across the waters to create many ripples.”
The Foundation is that stone, so let
us turn ripples into great waves with it, using our
hearts and our minds.
http://www.endpolio.org/donate.
John F. Germ
Trustee Chair 2021-22
