Rotary Changes us and those we serve. I believe we can change the world one life at a time - Paul Harries What if all our Change-Maker Presidents resolve to be PHFs? They will indeed be leading by example, and their drum beat for TRF giving will sound louder and more convincing for others to follow.
We are Rotarians because we want to do good in the world, to change lives for the better. It is The Rotary Foundation (TRF) that enables us to do more. Arch Klump started TRF in 1917 with an initial giving of USD26.50 (USD567.90 in current dollars) and to date, it continues to provide funding support with donations from Rotarians to this day. So, dear Rotarians of District 9214, let us
GIVE MORE TO DO MORE TO GROW MORE
The GG utilization by our Mother District 9211 has grown rapidly as clubs in Uganda and Tanzania have become more proficient in putting together impactful projects, deserving of TRF funding. Great for the District, but as the usage of TRF funding began to outpace the rate at which District 9211 Rotarians were donating to TRF, we saw TRF’s ability to fund D9211 (and now, D9213 and D9214) GG projects become constrained. For many years, ardent promoters of TRF giving, like PDGs Kenneth Mugisha and Sharmila Bhatt, had warned of inevitability of such outcome, and beat the drums loudly for Rotarians to up their giving to TRF. Unfortunately, that feared scenario has caught up with us.
Without going into detail, the leveraging clubs could have expected from GG to fund a project had to be lowered from around 1:10 in the past to 1:5 or even less. That is significantly dampening our clubs’ ability to deliver bigger and bolder projects. Clubs are working around it by forming multi-club projects with multiclub support from the international partner’s side. But to normalize the situation in our District, we Rotarians have to give more. Let’s make sure that by the end of the year, if not early, our District has improved in giving the TRF.
NO ZERO GIVING CLUBS
Amidst us. In recent club visits at one zero giving club, CC/DGN Francisco took the initiative to donate UGX100,000 toward the club’s contribution to TRF and challenged the club members to donate. I followed suit and donated UGX100,000 also and passed a basket around, urging all present to donate to TRF. Instantly, the club raised UGX360,000 (USD100) in total. A modest sum, but a step that put the club on a new path as a giving club. That change of mindset happened because of asking and leading by example. The club pledged to be more mindful of TRF and to continue to give.
What if every club that is zero giving at the moment designates one meeting every month to TRF giving and ask its members to chip in UGX 30,000/= or TSh 20,000/= on those days. That is affordable for Rotarians. Yes, we could surely give this a try and expect the best.
EVERY ROTARIAN EVERY YEAR
For those aspiring for PHF, they could opt to contribute UGX300,000/= or TSh 200,000/= every month on the same TRF giving day of the month. Let’s get started. Even though we missed the first four months of this year, if we can get all these clubs into the habit of giving, that practice will hopefully continue into the next year and beyond to make a substantive difference to the District’s TRF funding. What if all our Change-Maker Presidents resolve to be PHFs? They will indeed be leading by example, and their drum beat for TRF giving will sound louder and more convincing for others to follow.
THE TIME FOR ACTION IS NOW
And for all the Major Donors and members of the Paul Harris Society, Bequeath Society, Arch Klump Society of our District, thank you for your strong support to TRF. Please continue to support TRF, as it depends on our contributions each year to enable TRF to do justice to our District’s project funding needs. In that, our very own Governor Emmanuel Katongole has set us a great example and challenges us by continuing to contribute USD50,000 each year to TRF since he became an Arch Klump Society member. For that we are immensely grateful, and should endeavour to follow the good example within our own capacity.