Submitted by Will Arscott March 22nd, 2016

 

MARCH 21st- MEETING RECAP - REGULAR MEETING AT THE BESSBOROUGH ‘The Rotary Foundation and the District 5550 Million Dollar Dinner’

 

The meeting was presided by President Bev Dubois

Greeter - Gary Kerr

Cashier - Clare Heagy

Visitors and Guests - Vic Dubois

 

O Canada was led by Wayne McGillivray (I was sitting at the table furthest away from Wayne and he still sung louder than anyone at my table.)

 

Grace - Al Morton - He asked that while we should be mindful of our limitations we should not just accept them but also prayerfully ask that those limitations be extended so we can do good in our world.

 

Visitors and Guests we had two visiting Rotarians

Immediate Past District Governor Pat Chernesky

PDG Rotarian and Klumph donor Chris Offer from BC - Our guest speaker

 

 

- President Bev reminded us that there will be no meeting next week because so many are away over Easter. She also reminded us that Wayne Storozuk had grocery cards which were perfect for all out Easter shopping.

 

- Jack Brodsky brought news of the Badge Shield and Star dinner which will be held at the Prairieland on April 21^st. He reminded us that there were notices on our tables. Last year the dinner committee undertook a big push to get Rotarians from our club and all clubs out to the dinner. We did well last year but could do even better this year. So mark the date in your calender and bring lots of friends.

 

- The guest speaker at the BSS Dinner will be our own Winston Blake who will not be speaking on RAP but rather to another talk entitled ‘Follow Your Dreams.’ Winston and our RAP program have been in the news lately as the city tries to deal with bullying issues. It should make it easier to attract people to our dinner.

 

- Tickets will again by $125 with a significant portion qualifying as a charitable donation for tax purposes. A significant donor is contributing the full cost of the dinner so your ticket cost goes directly to club projects especially to RAP.

 

- Dave Sundby spoke briefly on the Master’s Golf project. He is just about ready to get started pending issue of a charity number from Liquor and Gaming. He will then send out forms to those who promised to help. This year should be a particularly interesting year as there are many possible winners.

 

- Will Arscott asked for a Rotateller scribe to do the next two meetings as Will has to visit Mexico. Steve Wilson graciously stood up and will scribe the next two meetings.

 

- Our next meeting will take place on election day when the guest speaker will be Joe Garcia from the U of S Political Science Department.

 

 

GUEST SPEAKER - Chris Offer ‘The Rotary Foundation and the District 5550 Million Dollar Dinner.’

 

Past District Governor Pat Chernesky introduced Chris Offer. Chris is from Vancouver where he has served as a District Governor. His classification is law enforcement where he spent a period as head of the traffic department of the Vancouver City Police. In recent years he has worked on Foundation and been a part of Rotary projects in many areas of the world most recently in India. Chris’s wife Penny has also served as a district governor. Chris is also one of seventeen Canadian Klumph Fellows, a distinction that requires a contribution of $100,00USD to the Rotary Foundation.

 

Chris gave us a brief history of the Rotary Foundation which dates from 1917 and will have its centennial next year. The Foundation was created by Arch Klumph ‘for the purpose of doing good in the world.’ The first donation received was for $26.50. In the early years the Foundation grew very slowly as the idea of creating a Foundation was not universally supported among the Rotary fellowship. The first grant was made in 1930 for $500 in favour of the Crippled Children Society. The Foundation took off after the death of Paul Harris in 1947. There was much Foundation giving in honour of our founder.

 

The Paul Harris Fellowship was established in 1957 and required a donation of $1,000USD to qualify. This qualification has never changed and in relative terms is much less today than it was in 1957. All Rotarians are encouraged to become Paul Harris Fellows and Multiple Paul Harris Fellows.

 

The Foundation celebrates is centennial next year. Clubs are asked to have a celebration of some type over the course of the year. These celebrations do no have to specifically involve fund-raising for the Foundation. The larger organization will honour the Foundation at the international convention in Seoul and in Atlanta. An anniversary book entitled ‘Doing Good In the World’ was published by Rotary in January. This book provides a history of the Foundation. Since its beginning the Foundation has given out over $3Billion in grants and currently holds an endowment of just over $1Billion.

 

The Rotary Foundation Today:

 

The Foundation holds three accounts. Two are current accounts designed to fund Rotary projects and the third is an endowment fund. The first fund is call the Annual Fund and holds money raised through the district. This fund provides grants back to the districts who pay money into the fund. Money is paid on a current basis and no money is held in the Fund longer than one year.

 

The second Fund is the End Polio Now Fund previously known as the Polio Plus Fund. This fund has three major contributors. The first are Rotarians. The second is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that matches the gifts of Rotarians $2 to $1. The third contributor is the Government of Canada that also matches Rotarian gifts by $2 to $1. The result is a $1 gift by a Rotarian becomes a $5 gift to end Polio. The Gates grant has been extended through 2018. One of the conditions of the Gates grant is that all money must be spent on the project within one year of being received.

 

The third fund is the Rotary Endowment Fund which now holds assets in excess of $1Billion. This money is to be held in perpetuity and only the income is used for Rotary projects.

 

Of all the money the Foundation receives 92% is used in the work of the Foundation (Grants and End Polio Now). 6% goes to giving development and only 2% goes to administration. The Rotary Foundation is rated 4Star by Charity Navigator. Last year the Rotary Foundation was #5 on it list of ‘Top Charities Changing the World.’

 

To date in the 2016 Rotary year almost 500 district grants have been approved. Money is held in two conservative income funds supervised but not managed by a Rotary committee. A vice-president of the RBC is the Canadian representative on the investment board. The funds have provided very good long-term returns.

 

Chris also spoke briefly on the Rotary Peace Fellowship that is funded by the Foundation. This fund provides a recent university graduate with a full scholarship of $70,000 for one year to attend one of six major universities in the world. He says that though the competition for these scholarships is severe we should keep the scholarship in mind and be looking for a deserving candidate in Saskatoon.

 

There is recognition for major gifting to the Rotary Foundation. The highest level is the Arch Klumph level that requires a gift of $250,000USD. This donation may be in cash or, more often, as an estate gift. All gifts up to $10,000 are considered individual gifts. Gifts of $10,000 or more are considered family gifts. In answer to a question Chris indicated that if husband and wife are both Rotarians they are both credited when the family makes a gift of $10,000 or more. Currently there are seventeen Canadian Arch Klumph level contributors. The Foundation is looking for another seven for this year.

 

If you are interested you should work through your lawyer and financial planner. Chris volunteered Steve Wilson to help those in our club set up qualifying gifts.

 

District 5550 has a major Foundation event taking place at the district conference in Gimli. The million dollars is currently about two-thirds subscribed. This dinner format has been successful in other districts and has raised significant money. The qualifying gift is $10,000USD and can be individual or multiple individuals can subscribe and share a gift. The gift may be in cash or as an estate gift and it may be funded over as much as three years. If you are interested please contact President Bev or Pat Chernesky.

 

Chris was thanked by President Bev and the usual donation will be made to Bethany homes in honour of his talk.

 

 

Our sergeant was very brief. He expressed thanks for all the members for the quality of the Foundation presentation Chris Offer had brought to our club. He thought the club should feature the Foundation quarterly. He asked all who had learned from Chris’s presentation to put in a dollar. Everyone put in a dollar.

 

 

- Mark Gryba for Husky Ladies basketball and for a great weekend of learning at the PETS meeting in Russell.

 

- Past DG Pat C for being able to attend our meeting and having also been able to be at PETS on the weekend.

 

- Jack B happy for PETS. Jack said the PETS experience was outstanding. He also put in a sad dollar for the men's hockey Huskies who just couldn’t score when needed.

 

- Wayne M happy for Huskies but really enjoyed the Golf particularly watching Day perform.

 

- Dave S happy for spring which President Bev tells us may only last a few more hours.

 

 

 

Next Meetings:

 

March 28th: Easter - NO MEETING

 

April 4^th Joe Garcia U of S Political Science (and voting day)