The Rotary Foundation

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The mission of The Rotary Foundation is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.

July 2010

Message from the chair -- Using Future Vision as a window to the future

Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar
Foundation Trustee Chair

The Future Vision Plan pilot starts 1 July. The Rotary Foundation has
invested great care and considerable background work into this plan.
Based on the findings of two consulting firms and the responses of
10,000 Rotarians to a comprehensive questionnaire, the Future Vision
Committee and Foundation Trustees have worked hard to move forward withthe Future Vision Plan.

The Rotary Foundation has been very successful over the years. Yet, as
the world changes, our Foundation needs to change with it. Cooperation
with other organizations is the future, and The Rotary Foundation must
not fail to get on board. We need to sharpen our vision and expand our
ambitions. Today people do not join organizations – they join
causes. We need to take advantage of what we have learned from our polio
eradication program: We need to think big.

When we received the substantial contributions from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, we could handle them easily because we had built up
the administration of PolioPlus over a period of more than 20 years. But
if we were to receive grants of a similar size for other programs, it is
not clear that clubs and districts would be prepared to effectively
manage and utilize the funding, or that the Foundation's
administration, as it stands today, could handle such gifts.

The Future Vision Plan will move more responsibility, control, and
flexibility to districts and clubs to allow them to monitor their own
funds. Never forget that The Rotary Foundation belongs to Rotarians.
When districts and clubs take advantage of this opportunity, staff at
our offices around the world will be freed to work on other issues that
will further enhance the future of the Foundation.

Carl-Wilhelm Stenhammar
Foundation Trustee Chair

Read the chair's biography .