District Grants, 2023-24

(Note: These are DISTRICT Grants, not GLOBAL grants: Global grants are for projects of larger scope, a minimum budget of $30,000, and an international partner. If you are interested in learning more please review the following and contact the District 7450 Rotary Foundation Committee Chair. See https://my.rotary.org/en/document/guide-global-grants.)

Introduction

District Grants help fund club-organized projects that benefit our local communities or the world community.  Each club is entitled to apply for funding if it has:

1. Completed the requirements of Grant Training for that year. (This is called “qualifying.”). District Grant Training was done at the November 2022 Foundation Seminar, and additional training sessions will be available via Zoom on March 29th or 30 (choose one);
2. Submitted its signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to the District as part of the application on DACdb.

Find more information about qualifying and the training sessions via the links available on the upper right corner of this page.

Application Deadline: May 31, 2023:
Applications for the 2023-24 Rotary year are due online via DACdb by this date.

Questions? Contacts.
The District Grants Subcommittee (of the District Rotary Foundation) is eager to help clubs successfully apply for grants. Contacts:

Warren Sell
Chair, District Grants Subcommittee
631 E Wiltshire Dr
Wallingford PA 19086
Cell: 484-557-5442
Email: warren631@msn.com

PDG Peter Mardinly
Chair, District Rotary Foundation
146 Willits Way
Glen Mills PA 19342
Cell: 610-574-2507
Email: dg74501920@outlook.com

Source of funds for District Grants (or, why contributing to the RI Annual Fund is important!)

• Rotary Districts (ours is #7450) receive funds for District Grants annually from The Rotary Foundation (TRF) of Rotary International.
• Annual Fund contributions are returned to a District for its use to fund District Grants as well as Global Grants. These are called “District Designated Funds,” or the “DDF.”
• The amount available for District Grants is no more than one-half of the DDF.  The other half of the DDF is available to D7450 for Global Grants (matched by the World Fund which is the other half of the Annual Fund donations), and for other uses (e.g. Polio) authorized by the TRF, and the District 7450 Rotary Foundation Committee
• The amount a District receives in DDF for its grants depends entirely on the exact amount a District has contributed three years prior; the more funds contributed by the District to the Annual Fund that year, the more the District receives in return three years later.
• Therefore, the specific amount a District has to distribute for District Grants varies each year (the District knows three years in advance how much that will be).
• That’s why maximizing individual and therefore District contributions to the Annual Fund every year is important!

The more those of us in this District give to the Annual Fund,
the more the District receives in return to fund our club’s District Grant projects.

Timeline 

November 2022 – In person grant training was held at Bucks County Community College.

January, 2023 – Updated information and new dates are made available online.

March 29th & 30^th, 2023 – 7 pm  – District Grant Training via Zoom

• Choose one of those two opportunities to attend (same content each night)
• Attendance by at least one member of a club, preferably two, preferably the President-Elect for the 2023-24 year, is required for a club to be “qualified” to apply for a district grant.  As many members of a club who wish to attend are welcome.

May 31, 2023 – Application deadline for Matching District Grants

• Guidelines for District Grants should be followed.  Familiarity with the granting Timeline will be helpful as well.
• Applications entered online via DACdb are accepted through May 31, 2023 and welcomed earlier.
• Extensive instructions and explanations for the DACdb application process are available via links on the upper right-hand side of this page and elsewhere on the website.
• Applications should be complete with all signatures and all attachments: e.g., the club Memorandum of Understanding form; a letter of participation from each club involved on a project; a letter of commitment from any cooperating organization; budget cost confirmations as needed.
• Final Reports from all previous District Grant projects should be submitted through DACdb before a club’s new project is considered. If a current project is not yet completed by May 31, 2023, an Interim Report (reporting expenditures thus far and future plans) may be accepted at the discretion of the District Grants Subcommittee

June, 2023 – Applications reviewed by the District 7450 Grants Subcommittee

• Members of the District Grants Subcommittee review all applications for completeness and appropriateness.
• Clubs whose members have contributed to the Annual Fund will receive priority.
• Contacts listed on the application are notified of the District’s decision to put forward a club’s project for funding to The Rotary Foundation.
• Projects may not begin (no money spent), however, until TRF has given its explicit approval, sometime after July 1, 2023
• Clubs will be notified when they can begin their projects.

June, 2023

• The District Grants Subcommittee will write and submit a Spending Plan to The Rotary Foundation (TRF) for its consideration.
• All the grant applications approved by the District are combined into the one Spending Plan (a “block grant”) which is sent to (TRF) for approval.

July, 2023

• When TRF approves the District Grant Spending Plan, it will notify the District Grants Subcommittee of approval.
• The District Grant Subcommittee will then notify clubs of their TRF approval so that projects can begin then (and not until then).
• When TRF deposits the Block Grant Money into the District account, the District will contact the clubs again to make arrangements for awarding grant money in person or by mail.

•  If the club representatives whose signatures are on the grant application become no longer able to be responsible for seeing the project through, they should be replaced and the District Grant Committee notified of the changes.

At District Grant Projects’ Completion

• District Grant projects are typically expected to be completed within the Rotary year for which the funding was received.
• Final Reports for a District Grant are due  withing two (2) months following the completion of a project.
• Final Reports must be submitted online via the form on DACdb.
• The person(s) responsible for overseeing the club’s project must be sure to have retained receipts for all expenditures and submit them with the report on DACdb.
• A TRF mandated review by the Stewardship committee and report to the District will then be forthcoming.
• For more information please review the TRF Terms and Conditions for District Grants:
  https://my-cms.rotary.org/en/document/terms-and-conditions-rotary-foundation-district-grants