Noviembre, mes de la Fundación Rotaria

Message from the chair

November 2010

Celebrate Rotary Foundation Month

November is Rotary Foundation Month. It all began in 1917 when then RI President Arch Klumph announced the acceptance of endowments for doing good in the world – The Rotary Foundation was born! Contributions took off in 1947 in memory of our founder Paul Harris. Although The Rotary Foundation originally sponsored only educational programs, it added humanitarian programs in the late 1960s and has continued to evolve with the addition of our famous PolioPlus program to our Permanent Fund, the Rotary Centers for International Studies and, finally, the Future Vision Plan.

Our 3-year Future Vision pilot took effect on 1 July. The pilot is intended to teach us what is good – or bad – in our plan, so that we can correct it, as the Future Vision Plan is here to stay.

However, The Rotary Foundation’s Future Vision Plan is much more than just a plan for the Foundation. Rotary International’s Strategic Plan is a parallel plan which, to a large extent, joins and supplements our plan. We are too small an organization for two plans of this magnitude – they shall have to merge. Not necessarily tomorrow, but some time after 2017 when The Rotary Foundation celebrates its 100th anniversary. If I were to target a year for this merger, I would pick 2025 – the year when our Permanent Fund is expected to reach USD1,000,000,000 (one billion!).

How can we reach this goal? By Building Communities – Bridging Continents through Service Above Self.

Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar
Foundation Trustee Chair