Lincoln South Rotary Club heard from Eric Thompson of The Rotary Foundation (TRF) on October 18, 2024. Eric is a TRF Liaison - Major Gifts Officer at The Rotary Foundation.
Eric explained that he is one of 24 officers serving in this position. His territory is rather large geographically and he apologizes for not being able to see us more often. He relies on our zone and district leadership to share the information.
He pointed out that his presentation is very data heavy so it was decided to share his power point (click here). He also stated that everything is available online. All of the financial information for The Rotary Foundation is transparent. Here are some links:
Financial Reports - includes annual reports, financial reports, rotary investments, tax returns, senior staff expenses, etc.
Mission: The Rotary Foundation helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty.
When Paul Harris, the founder of Rotary, passed away, donations started - in honor or Paul Harris. He expressed " . . . hope that instead of funeral flowers, money might be sent to [the] Foundation for furthering international understanding.”
Rotary and the clubs are 501(c)4 managed by the Board of Directors of Rotary International. Money is not tax deductible. Expenses of Rotary and the Clubs include services and activities of the organization. Revenue sources are dues, investment income and fundraising.
The Rotary Foundation is established as a 501(c)3 organization managed by the Board of Trustees. Funding is from contributions and investment income. There are expenses for program awards / recognition and operations as well as fund development administration.
In 2023 expenditures of The Rotary Foundation totaled $343.5m. Programs took up 81% of those funds; Program awards and Operations total was 88%. $157m went to Polio Plus, $55m to Global Grants, $26m to District Grants, $15m to Disaster Response Grants, $20 to other grants, $5m to Rotary Peace Centers, $2m to Programs of Scale, $22m to Program Operations. Fund Development took up $26m and General Administration was $17m.
Eric shared more about the income and expenses on additional slides with graphs. He included information showing that the unaudited figures for 2023-24 show total outright contributions of $351.7m. Those funds are allocated to:
$142.2m - Annual Fund
$39.5m - Endowment Fund
$123.0m - Polio Plus Fund
$47.0m - other
Though the majority of the funds come from individual contributions (77.5%), Rotary Organizations/Clubs also contribute 14.7% and companies, charities and governments add 7.8%.
Eric stated that it is not just the money. The time and talent that Rotary volunteers provide saves the communities and estimated $850m in service costs. This points out the tremendous leverage that Rotary's clubs achieve through their organized volunteer efforts. Volunteer time is spent in a variety of areas. According to Eric's presentation, volunteer time is spent on:
23.8% Social Services
17.5% Health Care
13.3% Education
13.1% Culture & Arts
4.3% Community & Economic Development
3% Environment
2.2% International Cooperation
1.3% Emergency Assistance
1.1% Advocacy
None of this can be done with members. Though Eric's focus area is not Membership he pointed out that nothing happens without members. The primary reason people join Rotary is for service - not business networking or social. And, a survey indicated that many appreciate their membership because it provides friendships, personal growth, and opportunities to make connections.
He stated that members can set up endowed funds - designating the use of their funds. He included details about what members care about based on their Foundation Endowment designations. The new endowments (299) in 2023-24:
214 – to SHARE – those are the Annual Funds – 5% of that goes to overhead. 48.5% goes to Word Fund and 48.5% comes back to the District for items like District Grant Projects.
52 Global Grants
19 Rotary Peace Centers
14 World Fund
Eric pointed out that The Rotary International Foundation is one of the highest rated charities by Charity Navigator. We have received a 4-star rating for 16 years. There is no other charity that allows a person to designate the use of their funds. And, there is no other charity with the low operations costs of The Rotary Foundation.
As Eric was closing he shared a quote from Arch Klumph, who proposed the formation of an endowment for Rotary International: "Rotary’s tomorrow depends on what we do today".
BIO:
Eric Thompson joined the Rotary Foundation philanthropy team in September 2018 as the new major gifts officer for Zones 26/27. A native Coloradan and Westerner, he is very happy to be serving Big West Rotarians achieve their charitable dreams.
Eric is based at the Rotary Foundation in Evanston, but he travels regularly to districts and clubs in Zones 26/27. For Eric, Rotarians’ leadership in the drive to eradicate polio is one of the most inspiring stories in modern philanthropy, particularly since he had seen first-hand the impact of polio on members of his family.
Eric comes to RI with twenty years of comprehensive fundraising experience, primarily in higher education. In all his previous roles he partnered with alumni, volunteers, and senior leadership in developing vibrant relationships with individual philanthropists, corporations and foundations, and other organizational partners in completing multi-million and billion-dollar comprehensive capital campaigns. These campaigns were with Illinois Institute of Technology, Purdue University/Calumet, Ragdale Foundation, and the University of Colorado Foundation.
Eric has also conceptualized, designed and led many subject matter presentations for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), Engineering Development Forum (EDF), the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), and the Center for Nonprofit Success. He also served as a subject matter expert/question formulator on the Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) testing committee, and held the CFRE certification 2006-2013. Eric holds degrees from the University of Illinois/Chicago in marketing, entrepreneurship, and human resource management (MBA); The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (MFA); and the University of Colorado/Boulder (BFA).