Rotary is 'well on the way' to a new Foundation
By Megan Ferringer
Rotary International News -- 18 January 2012
William B. Boyd, Rotary Foundation trustee chair, gave incoming district governors an update on the Future Vision Plan.
Rotary Images/Alyce Henson
Halfway through the three-year pilot of the Future Vision Plan, Rotarians are designing innovative projects and providing valuable feedback that will help improve The Rotary Foundation's new grant-making model.
Rotary Foundation Trustee Chair William B. Boyd shared these and other highlights from the pilot during the International Assembly -- an annual training meeting for incoming district governors -- this week in San Diego, California, USA.
"We are on a Future Vision journey that will lead us to a new Foundation," said Boyd, noting that "we are well on the way."
Boyd said Future Vision is built on the principles of simplicity and sustainability, and a desire to involve districts, clubs, and Rotarians more in spending and stewardship.
Under Future Vision, the number of grant types is being streamlined from 12 to just two: global grants and district grants. Global grants support large international activities with sustainable impact in one or more of the six areas of focus. District grants can be used for a wide range of activities that align with the Foundation's mission.
All districts will begin using the new model on 1 July 2013. Boyd said that concentrating on the six areas of focus has been one of the chief advantages of the plan.
“We needed to lift ourselves above the multitude of little projects that felt good but addressed symptoms, not causes, and were too short-term in their benefits," he said. "We have finite resources and cannot do everything for everybody, but these are key areas in which Rotarians can make a difference. We can change the world."
Boyd described the service activities of District 5020 (parts of British Columbia, Canada, and Washington, USA), one of the 100 districts participating in the Future Vision pilot. Through a dozen global grants, district Rotarians have supplied schools in Kenya with books in English and Swahili, installed solar panels at schools in Peru and the Philippines, and furnished classrooms and washrooms at a vocational and literacy school in Honduras.
"We are seeing Future Vision re-energizing clubs, so that they are breaking from the cycle of doing last year’s projects this year and again next year," Boyd said.
Boyd told incoming district governors that they can prepare for the global launch of Future Vision by closing old Matching Grant reports so they can focus on new projects, and by tapping resources like the regional Rotary Foundation coordinators. He also encouraged them to think big, to keep pushing boundaries, and to avoid trying to fit old procedures into the new model.
"We are here to serve, and each one of us is a Rotarian because we know that our lives are measured by what we do for others and not by what we do for ourselves," he said.
During the assembly’s third plenary session, Trustee Chair-elect Wilfrid J. Wilkinson also set out the Foundation's goals for 2012-13, which are eradicating polio, achieving Peace Through Service , strengthening the Foundation through the Annual Fund, and providing good stewardship of Foundation funds at the district level.
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