As well as promoting donations to our Foundation, it should also be a time when we, “take a beat” and celebrate what we have done to support our Foundation.

I’m constantly overwhelmed by the generosity and dedication of my fellow Rotarians.  Recently I was at our Clovis Club where I awarded their Immediate Past President, Kurt J. Sieve, with his Major Donor, Paul Harris Society and Bequest awards.  He is now the Club Foundation Chair and I’m looking for our Clovis Club to continue to be in the forefront of our efforts to support the Foundation.

Acknowledging and celebrating our successes is almost as important as achieving the success in the first place.  We do good, unselfish, important work to make the world a better place.  This can sometimes be hard and even seemingly futile work.  The whole, “Virtue is its own reward” may be true but it can get old fast.  We need to turn to one another, and say, “That was magnificent, thanks for helping make the world a better place.”  We need to honor those among us who make the extra effort, be it in terms of money or time, and let them know they are appreciated and loved. 

So if your Club is planning a special event for the Foundation or not, I urge my fellow Foundation Chairs to coordinate with their Club Presidents to, “take a beat” during one of your meetings this month and recognize and honor their fellow club members who have demonstrated their outstanding support of the Foundation.  Ask them why they do it, some of the explanations are truly inspiring.

Tips for Club Foundation Chairs: Using Mail Merge to Inform Club Members.  My Club holds an annual Foundation event to promote and raise money for the RI Foundation.  About a month prior to the event, I downloaded the Club Recognition Summary as an Excel worksheet.  I add an additional column calculating the amount each member needs to achieve the next level. Then I use mail merge to print out a personal letter, (you could probably do the same with an email, we have several members who don’t use email) to each member.  The letter has their name, Rotary number, current level and how much they need to achieve the next level.  Members seem to really appreciate this and in our event, a fundraiser, they often donate to gain a level.

Tip 2:  By the way, there is a great summary of how our Foundation is doing at this link.  It’s perfect to use as a quick update at one of your November meetings.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the Foundation, I’m here to help.  559-362-6048, savvycyclist@gmail.com .

Congratulations to the Top 10 Clubs in Foundation Donations
For the Month of September  2024

Kind of a shake up in these lists for the start of a new Rotary year.  Congratulations to new clubs still on the list!

• next to the Club name indicates on how many of the Top Ten lists the Club appears this month.

Annual Fund per Capita

Club	Amount
Hanford Sunset ***	$88.15
Sanger**	$71.43
North Fresno ****	$71.42
Hanford ****	$70.55
Soledad *	$69.57
Salinas Steinbeck ***	$59.62
Clovis **	$52.32
Corral de Tierra ***	$51.73
Fresno Cultural Arts **	$47.30
Carmel-by-the-Sea *	$46.20