November is a wonderful time of year! The hot weather in District 6900 has finally cooled off a bit, the trees are changing colors giving us good reasons to travel to the northern section of our district to enjoy them and Thanksgiving is now just around the corner.

In the Rotary world, November also marks Foundation Month! Having just had an outstanding World Polio Day, we now turn our attention to The Rotary Foundation. We spoke last month about what dollars were raised last year, $569 million is certainly worth mentioning again, along with the fact The Foundation surpassed the milestone goal of $2 billion dollars for the Rotary Endowment. Furthermore, we looked at where the dollars went grant-wise as The Foundation awarded 1,424 global grants, 468 district grants, and 74 disaster response grants. Let’s also celebrate our District 6900 2024/25 achievements. Our District was fortunate to award $497,000 in District Designated funds. Of that amount, $69,000 went to PolioPlus, $172,000 went to District and Competitive Grants and $255,000 went to 12 clubs for Global Grants used around the world. What a fantastic year for our district and our clubs!

Now let’s turn our attention toward the source of the dollars coming into the Foundation. The two main areas for donation are the Annual Fund and PolioPlus. When you donate, you have the option of directing where you would like your donations to go. The Annual Fund is considered the main source for The Rotary Foundation’s programs. Many new members of Rotary will have a certain dollar amount collected quarterly that will go into that fund. In general, all Rotarians are asked to donate to strengthen this fund in support of Grants and programs. What I’d like you all to remember is the other major area for donating and that is Polio and PolioPlus. For every dollar we as Rotarians donate to Polio, the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation matches two dollars to every one dollar donated!

There are so many ways you can donate to the Foundation. Consider:

1. Benefactor: You become a Benefactor when you designate $1,000 or more in your estate plans.
   
2. Paul Harris Fellow: You become a Paul Harris Fellow (PHF) when you have donated $1,000 total to the Annual Fund or to PolioPlus and you will continue to be recognized for each $1,000 you give until you reach $10,000 in donates.
3. Major Donor: Once you have attained $10,000 donated you are considered a Major Donor and recognized as such.
4. Bequest Society: If you pledge $10,000 or more in future gifts you join the Bequest Society with special recognition at different levels of giving.
5. Arch Klumph Society: At $250,000 you join the exclusive Arch Klumph Society

There are so many ways to give and be a part of the Foundation in life changing ways! There is much work to be done this year, but we are off to an excellent start!!

Our overall goal is $375,000 for District 6900 for 2025/2026, and we are already at $132,000 for the Annual Fund YTD and over $88,000 for PolioPlus through October. That’s a great start! Let’s keep it rolling!

If I can personally assist you in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me via cell or email. I’m here to help and together we will….Unite for good!