Global Grant awarded!

 

The Rotary Club of Bonao will be the administrator of the project. The Sterling Heights club wrote the Global Grant application.  Several other clubs around the country committed to make supporting contributions.  Those contributions will be made now that the grant has finally been approved by the Foundation.  It takes quite awhile for an application to get through the Foundation's very rigorous process.  The Foundation's process is designed to provide assurances the project is sustainable with clear procedures in place to assure accountability by the administering club (Bonao).  We all wish to avoid  misuse of the funds anywhere along the way.  Ensuring proper checks and balances and the existence of appropriate management, monitoring, and follow-up  procedures are critical elements of the Foundation's approval process. This is one of the topics covered at the training session I attended in the Soo early last summer. 

 

Our club was one of the supporting clubs of the global grant.  These monies were budgeted during my term as president and have been earmarked, accordingly, after the budget was unanimously approved by the members.  Supporting RI projects through contribution to the Foundation is a pillar of what it means to be a Rotarian.  All members are encouraged to do this and a club, upon election by it's board, may also do this by either writing a grant or partnering in one, as we have done.  The appropriate documentation, along with our check, will soon be on it's way to the Foundation in Chicago.  The funds will be held there until the Bonao club sets up a local bank account at which, time the funds will transfer from the Foundation's bank to the Bonao bank in the Dominican Republic.  

 

We worked with our district to secure their approval to join in the global grant.  This approval was given many months ago and signed off on by our District Governor, Al Bonney.   Jane Millar and Chris Etienne provided me counseling and encouraging support.  Jill explained who these ladies are and their current roles in Rotary.  Both have visited our club in the past while serving as our District Governor and also on other occasions as guest speakers in their current capacities.  In addition to meeting the requirements of our district, our club is fortunate in that Antrim County is one of the counties of the five county area which benefits from Traverse City Rotary Charities' program of Club Challenge grants.  Our grant qualified for a T.C. Rotary Charities Club Challenge match.  I was informally informed of this many months ago and it was reaffirmed just a few days ago.  The match has not been paid yet.  It will be paid to the Foundation, with the donation annotated to enter the funds into the Global grant account, and held there along with all the other donations, as I outlined above.  The timing of the match will be in accordance with Rotary Charity's internal procedures and after they verify the supporting documentation which we are providing.  This documentation will be on it's way to Rotary Charities shortly after Ron Lynch writes the check and attaches the required forms and documents, all which I put in the mail to Ron yesterday.