Service in Action

By Victor Barnes, Director of Programs & Grants

In 2013, Rotary set out on its new grant model under the Future Vision Plan, in the hopes that the approach would enhance the scope, impact, and sustainability of humanitarian projects. More than six years later, and with over $460 million invested in almost 7,000 projects across the globe, Rotary is ready to augment these critical investments with a new grant type. Beginning January 2020, The Rotary Foundation is introducing a highly selective, competitive grant model that empowers Rotarians to implement large-scale, high impact projects with experienced partners.

In support of Rotary’s Action Plan, The Rotary Foundation’s programs of scale grants will award $2 million to one approved project each year that responds to a community-identified need. These projects will benefit a large number of people in a significant geographic area using a sustainable, evidence-based intervention with measurable outcomes and impact. Each grant will support, for three to five years, activities that align with one or more of Rotary’s areas of focus.

This is an exciting opportunity to complement the international service Rotarians already undertake with a larger grant investment over a longer time frame. Time and resources that will be dedicated to help deliver service in communities that will live on beyond project implementation. And by focusing on documenting the metrics of our good works, we get a clearer picture of results, and the good Rotary does around the world.

To find out more about this ambitious opportunity, visit rotary.org/grants.

Remigia Dominiguez is the head of a weaving cooperative in El Cacao, Honduras, that uses microloans from the Adelante Foundation to expand its business. The Adelante Foundation’s microcredit program, which offers women loans and business training aimed at increasing their household incomes, is supported by a Rotary global grant.