The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions.
The foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International’s sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary “to do good in the world.” It has grown from an initial contribution of US $26.50 to more than US $1 billion. It has one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world.
Polio eradication
PolioPlus:[1][2] Rotarians have mobilized by the hundreds of thousands to ensure that children are immunized against this crippling disease and that surveillance is strong despite the poor infrastructure, extreme poverty, and civil strife in many countries. The Polio Plus program was promoted by Sergio Mulitsch di Palmenberg, President and founder of Rotary Club Treviglio e Pianura Bergamasca in Rome, during the June 1979 3H Promotion Convention. Mulitsch, thanks to the 204 District Governo VALMIGI, began the fundraising and, thanks to their professional packaging technology, solved the temperature shipping issue, starting the first immunization campaign in the Philippines in 1980. Since the PolioPlus program’s inception in 1985, more than two billion children have received the oral polio vaccine. To date, 209 countries, territories, and areas around the world are polio-free. As of January 2012, India was declared polio-free for the first time in history, leaving just Pakistan, Nigeria, and Afghanistan with endemic polio.[3] As of June 2011, Rotary has committed more than US $850 million[4] to global polio eradication. Rotary has received $355 million in challenge grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: Rotary committed to raising $200 million by June 30, 2012, and met that goal by January 2012. This represents another $555 million toward polio eradication.[5]
PolioPlus Fund:[6] Grants supported out of the PolioPlus Fund that are primarily geared towards national level and supra-national efforts. For example, National PolioPlus Committee chairs or a major partner agency, such as the World Health Organization or UNICEF may apply for these funds.[7] Support is available for eradication efforts in polio-endemic, recently endemic, and high-risk countries, including National Immunization Days, poliovirus transmission monitoring, and other activities.[5]