Rotary Club of Denver
World Community Service Committee
2010-2011 Year

Welcome to the Rotary Club of Denver World Community Service Committee’s 2010-2011 Year!  We are glad to have you, whether you are a continuing member or new this year. 

This year’s committee Chair is Sandy Purcell, Vice Chair is Chuck Turner, Secretary is Frank King and Treasurer is Wynn Gandera.

What the committee does

This is the committee that initiates and directs our Club’s World Community Service projects – international projects, mostly in third-world countries, that are designed to improve the health, education or welfare of the people there.

When and where we meet

We meet once a month, on the second Tuesday of the month, 7:30 to approximately 8:45 A.M. in the conference room at Pete Wall’s office, 303 East 17th Avenue, Suite 800.  At each meeting, after introductions and approval of minutes of the last meeting, we review the status of our budget, listen to and vote upon proposals for new projects, and hear brief reports from members concerning the status of our ongoing projects. 

How the committee functions

Each year, the Denver Rotary Club Foundation awards the WCS committee a budget to use for new projects. The amount awarded for 09-10 was $30,000 and $40,000 was awarded in 10-11.

There are basically four ways that the WCS committee spends the money allocated to it:

1. Matching Grants (Minor / Major)

This is the most commonly used way that our committee money is spent.  Members of the committee identify various projects and present proposals to the committee to use a portion of the budget as “seed money” to fund a specific project. The member must identify and establish contact with a Rotary club in the project host country to oversee the project, and may also seek to get other Rotary clubs in Colorado or the U.S. involved in contributing funds to the project. If our committee approves a project, then the member who presented it submits it for matching funds from both (a) a fund set aside by the District (“District Designated Funds” or "DDF") and (b) The Rotary Foundation (its official name) or “TRF”, which is often referred to as the Rotary International Foundation ("RI"), to avoid confusion with our club's separate foundation, Denver Rotary Club Foundation ("DRCF").  The formula for Matching Grants changes from year to year.
           
This fiscal year the District has $120,400 available for matching grants.  The rules for disbursement are as follows;

1. Club funds will be matched $1 to $1 with District Funds.
2. District Designated Funds will be issued on a first / come first served basis until total funds are exhausted.
3. The maximum amount of District Designated Funds each Club will  be allowed is $10,000 for the Year.  (This $10,000 applies whether the Club is the lead Club or a contributing Club.)
4. The maximum District Designated Funds match for a project will be:
    a. $4,000 for one Club
    b. $6,000 for two Clubs
    c. $8,000 for three Clubs
    d. $10,000 for four Clubs

The Rotary Foundation (TRF) matches

o 100% of the DDF contribution, plus
o 50% of the clubs' contributions (The total requested of TRF must be at least $5,000; requests of TRF funds for more than $25,000 make the grant a "Major Matching Grant", and are extraordinary.) 

Often we get involved in projects which are led by or which involve other charitable organizations.  Examples of organizations with whom we have cooperated are Project Cure and Water for People.  And, of course, a member might also present a proposal to use a part of our budget to contribute to a matching grant project initiated by another local club.

2. District Simplified Grants (DSG)

Members of the committee identify projects and present proposals. If our committee approves a project, then the member who presented it submits it for matching funds from a separate fund set aside by the District (within the “District Designated Funds” or "DDF").   Each year guidelines are established by the District regarding the disbursement of these funds. 

This fiscal year $42,843 is available for District Simplified Grants  and the guidelines are as follows:

1. District Simplified Grant Projects are short term in nature, and can be local projects or  international projects that meet the TRF guidelines, but do not qualify for a matching grant.  A DSG will be approved for an international project only if there is no Rotary Club in the country in which the project will be implemented.
2. Club funds will be matched $1 for $1 with District Designated Funds.  District Simplified Grants do not receive an additional match from The Rotary Foundation.
3. Projects that meet TRF criteria will be issued District Designated Funds on a first come / first served basis until total District Simplified Grant Funds are exhausted.
4. The maximum District Designated Funds each Club will be allowed is a total of $4,000 for the    year. (Lead Club and/or contributing Club.)
5. The maximum District Designated Funds for a project will be:
    a. $4,000 for one Club
    b. $5,000 for two Clubs
    c. $6,000 for three Clubs

The projects must be new projects (i.e., not repeats of prior year projects, even if they involve new people), and must have significant Rotarian involvement. 

3. Health Hunger and Humanity (commonly called “3-H” Grants)

These grants involve long-term projects too large for one club or district to implement, and they are not frequently done.  Our club has initiated one 3-H Grant in its history, and has contributed to others initiated elsewhere, including the recently approved Russian Health Fair Project initiated by a club in Alaska.

4. Committee "Straight" Grants

Occasionally the committee decides to award a grant for a worthy international-focus cause without seeking matching from either  the District or The Rotary Foundation.  An example would be the Juarez housing project.  Club contributions only are required  because TRF guidelines do not permit the use of TRF grant funds on housing related projects.

Individual / Volunteer Service Grants    

In addition to the foregoing grants, which use money from our budget, a Rotarian may apply for an Individual Grant from TRF for the purpose of traveling internationally to plan or implement a project.  Funds from our club's budget are not involved.  These are flat grants of $3,000 for an individual or $6,000 for a team of up to 5 members.

Timing

Not only our club, but the District and TRF have budgets, too, so if you have a project you are burning to do, it is important that you "get in line" as soon as possible.  The deadline for a Matching Grant to be submitted to the District is February 28, 2009 and the deadline for that application to be submitted to TRF is March 31, 2009.  The current treasurers report for January 2010.

How you can participate

Attending meetings and voting on new projects is just the start!  Each project must have a “champion” within our committee:  In the case of initiating a project, this is the person (or group of persons) who comes up with the project, perhaps tries to get other clubs to contribute to it, presents it to this committee for approval, processes the paperwork through the Denver Club, District and The Rotary Foundation bureaucracies, and if it is approved, monitors it for reporting back to the committee, and is involved with preparing and filing interim and final reports with TRF. In the case of matching grant projects initiated by other clubs, it is the person who presents it to this club for approval and makes sure that our contribution gets to where it is supposed to go, monitors it for reporting back to our committee. In the case of 3-H Grants initiated by another club, it is the person within our club assigned by the committee chairs to manage our club's participation and to monitor and report back on the progress of the project.

Ideas for new projects come in many ways.  You may have a friend or family member in another country who knows of a particular need.  You may hear of an organization doing good work somewhere and contact it for more information; you may learn of a project at a Rotary district conference; you may be approached by a Rotarian from another club seeking our club's participation in his or her club's project. 

The best piece of advice we can give you is this:  before you ever start considering a project seriously, check out the eligibility guidelines, and if you are satisfied that the project would be eligible, pick up the phone and call the staff person at TRF who is assigned to projects in the part of the world where the project would be located! Discuss your idea briefly to get some feedback and direction, and to "grease the wheels" so that if and when the project application is submitted, the staff person is expecting it.  One good thing to inquire about is whether your proposed host club has many open projects, as each club may have only 5 projects open at any one time.  The website should have the most current staff information – note that TRF staff has a high turnover rate.

On the Rotary International website,  http://www.rotary.org/
                   Click on “Service and Fellowship” near the top
                   Under “Fund a Project”, click on “Stewardship and Reporting” on the left
                   Click on “contact Humanitarian Grants staff” in the text, near the end of the topic entitled
                   “Overdue Grant Reporting List”.  Here you will obtain the name and phone
                    number of the Grants Coordinator for the country you are interested in.

When you wish to present a proposal, you must complete one of our “New Project Proposal” forms and submit it to the New Projects Subcommittee.  This is a good time to get two other WCSC members on board to help lead the project, as TRF rules require that both the lead U.S. club and the project country club have at least three club members on the project.  Tom Niver chairs the New Project Subcommittee this year, and its current members include Wynn Gandera, Peter van Dernoot, and Young Cho.  Contact Tom to e-mail to you the most recent version of the form. You will complete the form and submit it to the subcommittee via e-mail.  The subcommittees members will review it and often will make suggestions for improving it, ask for further information, etc. 

The New Projects Subcommittee does not approve or disapprove of the proposal, but only makes sure that it is well-enough thought through for presentation to the full WCS committee for approval, and that it meets applicable criteria.  You need to submit your proposed project to the subcommittee well ahead of the date set for the full committee meeting at which you would like to submit it for approval, certainly no later than two weeks before that meeting.  Once the subcommittee is satisfied with the proposal, they will alert the committee chair to put it on the agenda.

If and when your project is on the agenda, you should bring 25 copies of the approved New Project Proposal form to the committee meeting, and be prepared to briefly “pitch” the proposal and answer questions about it.

If our committee approves the project, then the real fun begins! 

First call or e-mail our Area Representative to the District WCS Committee, Carolyn Schrader a member of the Denver Mile High Club, to discuss the project and get her advice and guidance (home number 303-329-3257, cell 303-589-7599, ilgirasole@earthlink.net ).  You must then complete the Matching Grant, District Simplified or other application form.  The deadline for submitting the form to District is February 28, so get a big head-start!  You will find the form (and LOTS of information) on the Rotary International website, http://www.rotary.org/ and on the District website, http://www.rotary5450.org/. 

On the Rotary International website, http://www.rotary.org/:
• look under “Service and Fellowship”
• click on “Fund a Project”
• click on “Matching Grants” (on the left side of the page)
• There is lots of material on this page – browse through it!   Under “How to Apply”, download the Word version of the Matching Grants application.  You can also download “The Guidelines to Matching Grants” and “the terms and conditions of matching grant expenditures and activities” and “frequently asked questions”.

The form must first be submitted to the Carolyn Schrader for her approval and certification to the District that it meets all of the eligibility rules.  The rest of the steps in the process are clearly listed in "Steps in Processing Matching Grant Applications" on the District website.  Do not jeopardize your project by not following them exactly! 

On the District Website, http://www.rotary5450.org/:
• Under “Foundation” near the top of the page, on the drop down menu, click on “Grants Sub-Committee”
• You will find lots of information there, including both Matching Grant and District Simplified Grant application forms, and lots of "how to" information. 

This District Simplified Grant application form also must first be submitted to Carolyn Schrader for her approval and certification to the District that it meets all of the eligibility rules.  The rest of the steps in the process are clearly listed in "Procedures for District Simplified Grants" on the District website, and the report for DSG projects is there, also.  Again, do not jeopardize your project by not following the rules exactly!

The other best piece of advice that we can give you is to KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING!  Local clubs (ours and others), Rotary District 5450 and The Rotary Foundation are bureaucracies that function with both paid and volunteer labor, and they have a lot of turnover.  Applications and other paperwork have not infrequently been lost, never to appear again.

If a Matching Grant application is accepted for consideration it is assigned a Matching Grant number.  Please let our committee Chair and Vice Chair know right away what the MG number is, and use it on everything having to do with the project from then on.  Thereafter, if the project is approved by TRF, you will get a package of information from TRF, including an agreement form.  Please read the form, follow all instructions, and let our committee Chair and Vice Chair know if and when you have obtained approval.  You will then be responsible for making sure that the money gets sent from our club to TRF, which gathers all of the contributions and then disburses the money to the project.  Ask our Chair to submit a check request to our club's staff.  After that you are responsible for monitoring the project by communicating with members of the project country club, being involved with filing the interim reports, and final report when the project is completed.   Reports are due each 12 months from the date that funds are received from TRF. Timely filing of the reports is very important, because TRF will hold up approval of projects submitted by any club that has overdue reports.    Reports for Matching Grants go to TRF, with a copy to our committee Chair.

District Simplified Grants also have reporting requirements.  Check the website, and copy reports to our chair.

If a grant application is not approved by either the District or TRF, please advise the committee Chair promptly, so that the funds may be freed up for allocation to other projects.

In addition to the RI and District websites, experienced members of the committee who have “been there, done that” can be a great resource.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help!

General guidelines for projects

These are some of our club's general guidelines for projects:

• We seek to participate in projects that will benefit many people, rather than just a few. 
• Generally, our club’s contribution will not exceed $4,000.
• We try not to do too many “repeat” projects.
• We like to involve other local clubs, including local clubs in other U.S. Rotary districts and other countries. Doing this increases the matching funds available from our district and others, as well as from TRF.
• If a project has not obtained a Matching Grant number within 6 months of the date that our committee approved it, it will likely be cancelled and the funds returned to the "available" portion of our budget to be used for other projects.
• In the case of Matching Grants, be sure to check the RI website for other project requirements and guidelines.  Examples are: (a) host Rotary Club in the country where the project is located must agree to contribute at least $100 and to oversee the project, disburse funds, and help prepare interim and final reports, (b) the host club must have a committee of 3 on the project.  It may not have more than 5 open projects at any one time.
• In the case of District Simplified Grants, check the District 5450 website for project procedures and rules. Examples are:  (a) no "repeat" projects, (b) projects must start and be completed within the Rotary year. 

Where the money comes from

Ultimately, YOU!  Rotarians who contribute to the Rotary Club of Denver Foundation and The Rotary Foundation makes it all happen.