Message from the Trustee Chair

I am happy to report that The Rotary Foundation enjoyed a good year in 2010-11. I am particularly pleased that the donations to the Annual Programs Fund again passed the USD100 million level. In spite of the world financial crises, Rotarians stood up for our Foundation.

I was also gratified that we welcomed 44 new members into the Arch C. Klumph Society in 2010-11. The actual induction ceremony has been moved from the 17th floor to the auditorium at headquarters in Evanston. The format has also changed to make it a little more festive when inducting these important donors.

At the convention in New Orleans, we merged the Bequest Society reception, Arch C. Klumph Society Dinner, and the Major Donor Dinner into a single event at a unique venue, Mardi Gras World. The positive feedback from the event has been just fantastic.

The Trustees accepted a new university to the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution. A subcommittee to the Rotary Peace Centers Committee headed by Past Trustee Carolyn Jones made site visits to five universities and unanimously recommended Uppsala University in Sweden.

The Future Vision pilot launched this year. Exciting feedback has been reported from the 100 pilot districts and is being processed. We are certainly learning from their experiences and some changes will no doubt be made in order to make a successful launch of the Future Vision Plan in 2013.