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Greetings: The purpose of this message is to advise all club members of our plan to establish and approve a foundation budget for fiscal year (FY) beginning July 1, 2018. The challenge is that we need to make commitments for funding projects with district matching grants already in May, we don’t know exactly what we have to spend until sometime after the golf outing in June and the new board must approve the budget in July. As a result, the final funding picture is uncertain at June 30 each year, but we will apply for the district matching grants and we will develop budget alternatives based on district decisions and final fund raising tallies. We plan to approve a 2018-19 foundation budget at our regularly scheduled board meeting on July 17, 2018. Everything starts with what we have available to spend on projects. The formula for revenues available for spending in FY 2018-19 includes the transfers from our Schwab account, including our annual transfer of nearly $12,000 and $1,000 toward the Meister Scholarship. We then add the proceeds from the prior year’s fund raising activity, which is shown on the FY 2017-18 foundation P&L statement. This includes the proceeds from our weekly raffle and happy/sad bucks. Your participation really helps! The biggest wild card is the amount raised from the golf outing (estimated range of $15-20,000 net after expenses). We expect that the foundation budget to fund projects will be in the range from a low of $43,500 to a high of $46,500 (last year’s budget). Our foundation budget for 2017-18 was allocated equally between the Community, International and Vocational Avenues of Service. This allocation has been in place for a number of years and ensures that we treat each avenue fairly. We established an initial budget for FY 2017-18 projects, but it was not static. We began the year with some undesignated funds in Community. We moved monies from Community to Vocational to meet expanded needs at Jefferson MS. Later, we approved funds to support Growing Knee High Naturalists and we still have some funds remaining. Now, we are asking for any unanticipated funding requests to close out 2017-18. We have identified approximately $3,400 in available funds and we will make final decisions at the May board meeting, which has been rescheduled to May 29. We are in the process of building a foundation budget for FY 2018-19. The board has been reaching out to club members and committee members to assemble all of the requests for project support. These include existing projects, new projects and projects from outside the club. Jack Ferreri has been actively seeking any and all applications for project support including any that could qualify for a district matching grant. Make sure you have any requests into Jack by noon on Friday, May 11. District 6250 grant applications are due by May 25, 2018, so the first step is our avenue of service director’s review and recommendation. Then, our board will review, consider and vote on any applications for district matching grants via email in advance of the May board meeting. By approving an application for a district matching grant, our club is making a commitment to fund each project at a certain level. Because of the 2 for 1 impact, our club has traditionally made these projects a high priority and our club has had a solid “win rate”, so we assume those funds are committed. If the district does not approve a matching grant, our club may choose not to fund the project. All requests for project support should be given to Jack Ferreri, who shares them with the full board. The projects are distributed to the various avenues of service directors, who will review the application to ensure it meets our club criteria. They may seek clarification from the applicant. The avenues of service directors will be asked to provide the board with their prioritized lists of projects for the 2018-19 funding year at the board meeting June 19, 2018. The board will review those lists at the meeting and may have follow up for the avenues of service directors. The incoming president, Matt Loch, will work with the president-elect, secretary, treasurer and others to craft a foundation budget for FY 2018-19. The team will determine the amount available to spend, confirm the status of district matching grant applications, review the avenues of service director recommendations, assess the need to fund unanticipated requests and ensure that the budget reflects club priorities. Matt will present a foundation budget for review, consideration and approval at the July 17, 2018 board of directors meeting. The expectation is that the foundation budget will be approved on that day and all applicants will be notified of the board’s funding decisions no later than the end of July. Despite our wishes and best efforts, our foundation budget is limited and the need always outweighs the resources available. We will do our best to ensure that the projects we support reflect the need of our community and the priority of our club. We are a group of volunteers who do our best to do good in our community and the world. Board meetings are open for any and all to attend, but we have no plans to have applicants present to the board. Instead, we expect applicants to work with the avenues of service chairs (see below).
If a project is not selected for funding or is not funded fully, there is no need to despair. Our 2018-19 foundation budget will likely have funds available to meet unmet or unanticipated needs throughout the year. Further, the district normally has money available a fund a second round of district matching grants and that was the case last year. So get ready to meet the December deadline for filing. Please understand that we take this responsibility seriously and we appreciate your interest, enthusiasm and support. We strive to ensure transparency and good communication of the work we are doing. The Rotary Club of Madison West Towne-Middleton has done great work and the best is yet to come. We look forward to working toward a FY 2018-19 foundation budget that will make us all very proud. Your support is greatly appreciated | |
