message from RI president
November 2017
In many ways, Th e Rotary Foundation is an invisible presence
in our clubs. Most of what we do in our clubs and our districts,
on a weekly basis, we do without the active involvement of the
Foundation. But our Foundation is invisible in our clubs in the
same way the foundation of a building is invisible when you’re
in it: Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not holding
you up.
Th e Foundation that enabled Rotary to take on polio is, in many
ways, the foundation upon which our Rotary service is built.
For 100 years, since it came into existence with a fi rst donation
of $26.50, the Foundation has supported and strengthened
our service, enabled our ambitions, and allowed us to be the
organization that we are. Because of the Foundation, Rotarians
know that if we have the ambition and put in the work, very
little is truly beyond us.
It is an incredibly eff ective model that we have here in Rotary,
one that no other organization can match. We are completely
local and completely global: We have local skills, connections,
and knowledge in over 35,000 clubs, in nearly every country
of the world. We have a deserved reputation for transparency,
eff ectiveness, and good business practices, and because we are
highly skilled professionals as well as volunteers, we achieve
a level of effi ciency that very few oth er organizations can
approach.
IAN H.S. Risely
R.I. President
RY 2017-2018
Elected for the 2017-18
term, Ian H.S. Riseley is a
member of the Rotary Club
of Sandringham, Victoria,
Australia.
To put it simply, a dollar given to Th e Rotary Foundation has
a great deal more muscle than a dollar given to most charities.
If you want to spend a dollar on Doing Good in the World,
you can’t do better than to spend it with the Foundation. Th at
is not just me speaking out of pride; it is verifi ably true and is
refl ected in our rankings by independent organizations.
In the Foundation’s centennial year, Rotarians surpassed
our goal of raising $300 million. If you were part of that
achievement, you have been part of something tremendous.
Somewhere in the world, someplace you have probably never
been, people you may never meet will lead better lives because
of you. Ultimately, it is our Foundation that lets us make good
on our core beliefs: that we can make a diff erence, that we have
an obligation to do so, and that working together, as well and
as effi ciently as we can, is the only way to eff ect real and lasting
change.
Nov 03 & 06, 2017 | Vol 27 Issue No 08 | ANG ILONGGA |5