The Rotary Foundation is a well-regarded charitable organizations in the world, and for good reason. Since its establishment in 1917, the Foundation has invested more than $5 billion in community development, world peace, and disease prevention initiatives. Every one of those dollars came from Rotary members who believed in something larger than themselves.
As the club's Rotary Foundation Chair, your job is to bring that global mission home to your members, to make Foundation giving feel personal, purposeful, and achievable. This guide covers everything from understanding the Annual Fund to managing grant applications, from inspiring EREY participation to recognizing Paul Harris Fellows with genuine ceremony.
The Rotary Foundation is a separate legal entity from Rotary International, though the two organizations work closely together. The Foundation operates under its own Board of Trustees, which includes members elected by the RI Board of Directors.
The Foundation's programs fall into three broad categories:
The Annual Fund is the Foundation's primary fundraising mechanism. Contributions to the Annual Fund go into a global pool that is then divided in the following manner after a three-year "lag period":
This three-year lag means that the Annual Fund contributions your members make today will fund grants for service projects three years from now. This design creates a self-sustaining cycle of giving and impact, one of the reasons the Foundation has earned a reputation for financial stewardship and accountability.
The EREY goal is simple: every member of every club contributes at least $100 per year to the Annual Fund. At scale, across Rotary's 1.4+ million members worldwide, this goal would generate over $140 million for the Foundation annually.
As Foundation Chair, EREY is your primary fundraising target within the club. Here's how to move the needle:
Members give more when they understand where the money goes. Bring grant impact stories to club meetings, not generic statistics, but specific stories: "Our EREY contributions three years ago funded a clean water project in rural Kenya that now serves 2,400 people." Make it real.
Set up a direct link to the Foundation's online giving page (rotary.org/give) and share it in every club newsletter. Remind members that $100 is $8.33/month, or $2/week. Many members who balk at "a $100 donation" respond enthusiastically to "a $2/week commitment."
At each meeting, the Foundation Chair can provide a brief update: "We're at 62% EREY participation this year, 12 more members to go!" Public tracking creates friendly motivation without pressure. Consider a visual display, a thermometer chart or a simple progress board, at the meeting venue.
Many clubs direct Happy Dollars collections to The Rotary Foundation rather than the club's general fund. This is an excellent practice that simultaneously builds fellowship and increases per-member Foundation giving. Work with the SAA and Treasurer to confirm this designation and ensure proper credit is assigned to individual members' Foundation records.
A Paul Harris Fellow recognition is one of the most meaningful moments in a Rotarian's membership journey. As Foundation Chair, you are responsible for ensuring that PHF recognitions are presented with appropriate ceremony at a club meeting, not quietly mailed in an envelope.
Best practices for PHF recognition presentations:
Rotary International launched its PolioPlus campaign in 1985. In partnership with WHO, UNICEF, the CDC, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary has contributed more than $2.5 billion to polio eradication and helped immunize more than 2.5 billion children worldwide. Polio cases have decreased by more than 99.9% since 1988.
Every $1 Rotary commits to polio eradication is matched with $2 from the Gates Foundation, making each member's contribution three times as powerful.
World Polio Day is October 24. The Foundation Chair should plan a PolioPlus fundraising event or awareness campaign around this date every year. Common club activities include:
Global grants must address at least one of Rotary's seven areas of focus, the strategic priorities that guide Foundation grantmaking:
To be eligible to apply for Rotary Foundation grants, your club must:
Here's how the Foundation Chair's year typically unfolds:
The most effective Foundation Chairs don't just collect checks, they build a culture where Foundation giving is a natural, celebrated part of club membership. This means talking about Foundation impact at every opportunity, celebrating every level of giving (not just Paul Harris Fellows), and personally modeling the giving they're asking others to make.
If members see that you're giving, they give. If they see that every contribution, $25 or $10,000, is acknowledged and appreciated, they give more. If they see their contributions translating into real projects in their community and around the world, they give for life.
Honor your Foundation donors with professional digital certificates from IssueBadge.com. Issue Paul Harris Fellow certificates, EREY achievement certificates, and major donor recognition, verifiable, shareable, and a permanent digital keepsake for every recipient.
Issue Foundation Recognition CertificatesEREY is The Rotary Foundation's goal for every club member to contribute at least $100 per year to the Annual Fund. The Foundation Chair works to inspire and track each member's participation toward this benchmark. Clubs at 100% EREY participation earn special RI recognition.
A Paul Harris Fellow is a recognition for any individual who contributes, or in whose name contributions are made, of $1,000 or more to The Rotary Foundation's Annual Programs Fund or other approved funds. The recognition includes a medallion and certificate. Multiple PHF levels exist at each additional $1,000 cumulative.
The Paul Harris Society recognizes Rotarians and non-Rotarians who contribute $1,000 or more per year to the Annual Fund for three or more consecutive years. Unlike the cumulative PHF recognition, the Society requires annual re-qualification and includes a distinct pin recognition separate from the PHF medallion.
District grants are funded by District Designated Funds (DDF), the club's Annual Fund contributions returned by the Foundation after a three-year period. Clubs apply to the district grants committee through a district application process. Clubs must complete Foundation training and sign an MOU with the district to be eligible.
District grants are smaller ($1,000–$30,000), locally focused, and simpler to apply for. Global grants are larger (minimum $30,000 total project), internationally focused, address Rotary's areas of focus, require an international partner club, and have more extensive reporting requirements. Both are funded through The Rotary Foundation.