CONTENTS
The Rotary Foundation
Endowment investments
Endowment spending
Investment governance
Unless otherwise specified, the numbers in this report are as of 30 June 2026 and are unaudited. All figures in this report are in U.S. dollars.
The Rotary Foundation
The Rotary Foundation’s mission helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. More than 100 years ago, Rotarians took bold action to empower generations to come — they established The Rotary Foundation to secure a better future.
Today, The Rotary Foundation transforms gifts into projects that change lives close to home and around the world. As Rotary’s charitable arm, the Foundation benefits from a global network of Rotary members who invest their time and expertise to ensure that projects are high-impact and sustainable and meet the most pressing needs of the communities they serve. Strong financial oversight and a stellar charity rating mean that Rotary makes the very most of your contributions.
Endowment investments
Investment objective
The Rotary Foundation invests Endowment assets to provide funding for today’s programs while growing the portfolio to support Foundation programs in the future. Rotary seeks to generate an average annual investment return over time that is at least equal to the rate of inflation plus the average distribution rate. The following asset allocation strategy has been implemented to achieve this goal.
Investment management
The Trustees of The Rotary Foundation are responsible for setting the investment policy, including the investment objectives and asset allocation strategy.
The Investment Committee is responsible for overseeing Rotary’s investments, implementing our investment policy, reviewing and monitoring investment results, and recommending changes to the investment policy and asset allocation strategy.
The office of investment is responsible for the daily management of the Endowment, the implementation of and compliance with the statement of investment policy and guidelines, and deciding how to allocate capital to the various investment strategies and investment managers.
External professional investment managers are appointed by the Office of Investment to invest the assets of the fund on behalf of The Rotary Foundation.
Investment performance
The Endowment’s investment return for Rotary year 2025-26 was 15.2%.
The investment returns net of fees for each fiscal year since 2016-17 are shown below. The average annual rate of return during this period is 8.9%.
Endowment spending
Spending policy
The Rotary Foundation Trustees set spending rates for the Endowment each year. Spending from each named endowed fund is determined by comparing its market value as of 31 December with the principal amount contributed (the gift value).
Any named fund with a market value of at least 90% of the total contributions to the fund will provide spendable earnings for the fund’s designated programs. If a fund’s market value is less than 90% of the total gift value, distributions will be deferred to increase the value of the fund. This policy allows the Foundation to maximize support for programs today while letting the Endowment grow so it can also support programs in the future.