The Denver Rotary Club Foundation has had a busy and productive first-half of the fiscal year 2022-2023. Some of the principal activities and results of the foundations efforts include the following.
- A major initiative of DRCF this year has been undertaken to better acquaint our Club 31 members with the beneficiaries of our foundation’s grants program. The impact of our Club 31 members’ generosity to organizations throughout our community is deep and widespread and profound; to many, the foundation’s gifts to the community are the soul and substance of Rotary’s place in the greater Denver community.
Through check presentations and lunch programs the following grantees have explained or graphically demonstrated – showcased – to our Club 31 members what they do in the Denver community and how they do it; how DRCF helps youth, educational programs, the homeless, the hungry and unemployed, and those otherwise underserved members in the greater Denver area…and across the world: The St. Francis Center, We The People, Denver Kids, EarthLinks, Club 31’s World Community Service Committee (Rwanda, Agriculture Program and the Kenya, Youth Reproductive and Health Training initiative) Junior Achievement, and Education Through Music.
Special thanks and appreciation go to Bill Imig, Mark Donovan, John Finegan, Patrick Byrne, Les Volpe, Jay Kamlet and, of course, Lauren Mast, among others, who have managed the showcase programs for these organizations.
- Colorado Gives Day, under the remarkably energetic leadership of Mark Donovan, and with the invaluable generosity of Club 31 members, the Foundation collected more than the year before, $8,200.00, and from a greater number of donors than 2020 (two) for its funding – and continuing to build its charitable trust program.
- The Annual DRCF/Club 31 Peach Sale, under the guidance of Kevin Shelledy, and again with the invaluable generosity of Club 31 members, was a great success garnering for the foundation a net contribution to its funding the amount of over $24,000.
- Our DRCF charitable trust fund managed by TIAA and our own Foundation Treasurer, Sandy Purcell, has done well during uncertain times and somewhat better than many other market averages as the stock market has gone thru challenging times and stress in the investment markets. As of yesterday close the portfolio stood at $4,002,540.71. That is down 6% (S&P500 is down 10%) from where we started the year, and includes the debit of $70K we took out at the end of January to replenish our reserves at Wells Fargo. The one-two punch of inflation, and the situation in Ukraine are taking a toll on financial assets everywhere, and our portfolio is of course, not immune. Sandy remains confident in our asset mix, and the stewardship of TIAA, and hopeful that as the year unfolds, we will improve on this.
- The DRCF Grants Committee, under the very able leadership and guidance of its Co-Chairs, Jack Green and Mike MacPhail, is now beginning its work to solicit, receive, evaluate and verify, and decide on grant applications from well over a dozen applicants, a process that is expected to conclude most of its work by the end of March, 2022. The Committee is seeking to identify and solicit new worthy and qualified 501(c) (3) organizations to be beneficiaries of our granting program in addition to the regular and demonstrably successful organizations we have funded in the past.
- Due to tragic weather related events, like tornados in the Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas area of the country, and in our own backyard, with the Marshall Fire in the Boulder County, Superior and Louisville area, DRCF has taken extraordinary steps to grant $5,000 for tornado victims relief programs in the impacted area of the Midwest, and collected over $16,000 for distribution to some of the over 1,000 families who have lost their homes, or often lost everything, in the catastrophic fires just several weeks ago. The process of distributing those funds is ongoing, as we speak.
Again, appreciation to the Executive Committees of Club 31 and the Foundation, and Lauren, are in order for this work.
- The DRCF leadership is working to improve the relationship and working arrangement between Club 31 and the DRCF. We wish to increase the cooperation and communication between the two organizations – to build a better and stronger partnership – and to enhance the role and stature of DRCF – and elevate the role and benefits of Club 31’s signature outreach to this community and preeminent accomplishment in Colorado: the Denver Rotary Club Foundation.
Yours in Rotary,
Sid Brooks
DRCF President, 2021-22
Thanks Sid for your leadership and time you give.