Establishment of the Southern African Foundation of Rotary Clubs, The Ann's in Action, and the first Quiz Challenge against Hermanus....

 From the Pen of our President...

Dear fellow Rotarians and friends,

 I do hope you are all well and keeping a low profile?!

 Rotary life is taking off after the break and we have a flurry of meetings coming up. Please make a plan to be part of a Committee, attend the monthly meeting and be part of the projects we run.

 On Saturday morning you can relax at home and log in to the District Mid-year assembly – hear what other clubs are doing and how things are being handled across the district.

 Look out for ways to get involved, look for new ideas to introduce to the club.

 Keep in touch and hope to see you online!

 Yours,

 Ann

Last Friday....

PDG Greg Stathacopoulos (apologies for misspelling his name in last week's Ramble) was invited to give the Club some insights into District and Global Grants and  the formation of The Foundation of Southern  African  Rotary Clubs (https://fsarc.co.za/).

To understand the mechanics of the application and granting of District and Global Grants is by no means simple, and I am therefore taking the liberty to simplify Greg's presentation. 

Let's start at the very beginning:

1) Club Dues:

Every Rotarian pays an annual amount to their designated Club which covers

* Running cost

* District Dues

* RI Dues

* Rotary Africa Magazine

2) Funds raised from the public may not be used for running costs but will be used to fund Club projects.

Funds are raised by various fund raising efforts such as the annual Arts Festival, quiz evenings etc

Examples of Club projects would be:

* The annual senior youth leadership course, which is a three day weekend away with +/- 65 participants

* The College of Orientation and Mobility - White Cane Project, which is a division of the Guide Dog Association

* The Palliative Care Counselling Unit for patients at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital

3) District Grants:

Monies that District has available to fund District Grants come from RI and clubs apply for these grants. Assume that this year District will be receiving $23 000 from RI which becomes available on the 1st of July 2021. 

This amount is generated from funds that we as District, from all clubs, have sent across to RI (as our donations) which was then invested for 3 years, and comes back to District as a percentage of the returns achieved. 

An example of a District project was the refurbishment of the container for the Palliative Care Unit at Baragwanath.  This entailed:

* Completion of a Grant Application with a detailed budget as to the costs

* A Memorandum of Understanding

* A District Grants Report Form on completion of the project.

This was a huge project and funding came from various sources.

4) Global Grants: 

* Unless the project costs $30 000 or more you would not apply for a Global Grant.

*The project must be within the six (soon to be 7) areas of focus.

* We would approach an international club, who would donate $15 000 or more (that is what Greg mentioned as the possible participation of 18 German Districts who are willing to support projects in Africa)

* RI would then match that  donation Dollar for Dollar

* Funds that we have raised at Club level are not matched.

5) The Establishment of the Foundation of the Southern African Rotary Clubs (FSARC)

Most companies in South Africa and also beyond its borders  (Zimbabwe and Zambia) donate towards Corporate Social Investment (CSI), but in return they would need a Section 18A Certificate for this donation to be tax-deductible. This Section 18A Certificate can only be issued by a Public Benefit Organization (PBO) or a Non Profit Company (NPC).

The FSARC has therefore been registered as a PBO and NPC  and donations received from corporate entities can be issued the requisite Section 18A Certificate  and the funds can now legitimately be made available for approved club projects. 

 Quiz Challenges are back....

Our first quiz challenge of the year was against the Rotary Club of Hermanus. As the hosts they had to nominate the quiz master, and boy oh boy Quizmaster Mark certainly did not make it easy.

questions like:

What does a Blue Moon signify?  (Answer: When there are two full moons in the space of a month)

What wood is a cricket bat made of? (Answer: Willow)

What do Agrophobics fear? (Answer: pain)

What country has the Birr as its national currency? (Answer: Ethiopia)

What is the capital of Uzbekistan? (Answer: Tashkent)

What is a gudgon pin? (Answer: I have not got a clue!!!)

....stumped many a participant, and Team Rosebank was convinced that Hermanus had thumped us good and proper, but no!! We scraped through with a narrow win of 20.66 points against their 20.50.

So we are happy to announce that we have retained the Corona Cup.

Please join us for entertaining fellowship. Tomorrow we take on Benoni and Sonja Hood is our capable Quizmaster.

This Friday....

A business meeting.