The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions.
The Rotary Foundation is recognized as one of the most effective and well-managed charitable organizations in the world, with 12 consecutive four-star ratings from Charity Navigator and an A-plus rating from CharityWatch which:
- Transforms Rotarian gifts into service projects that change lives both close to home and around the world.
- Helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. What impact can one donation have? For as little as 60 cents, a child can be protected from polio.
- The causes of the Rotary Foundation include:
Promoting Peace: We encourage conversations to foster understanding within and across cultures. Adults and young leaders are trained to prevent and mediate conflict and help refugees who have fled dangerous areas.
Fighting Disease: We educate and equip communities to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases like polio, HIV/AIDS, and malaria. We improve and expand access to low-cost and free health care in developing areas.
Providing Clean Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: We support local solutions to bring clean water, sanitation, and hygiene to more people every day. We don’t just build wells and walk away. We share our expertise with community leaders and educators to make sure our projects succeed long-term.
Saving Mothers and Children: Nearly 6 million children under the age of five die each year because of malnutrition, poor health care, and inadequate sanitation. We expand access to quality care, so mothers and their children can live and grow stronger.
Supporting Education: More than 775 million people over the age of 15 are illiterate. Our goal is to strengthen the capacity of communities to support basic education and literacy, reduce gender disparity in education, and increase adult literacy.
Growing Local Economies: We carry out service projects that enhance economic and community development and create opportunities for decent and productive work for young and old. We also strengthen local entrepreneurs and community leaders, particularly women, in impoverished communities.
Protecting the Environment: Rotary members are tackling environmental issues the way they always do: coming up with projects, using their connections to change policy and planning for the future.
Ending Polio Forever: Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for over 35 years, and our goal of ridding the earth of this disease is in sight. We started in 1979 with vaccinations for 6 million children in the Philippines. Today, Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic.
