TRF Grant Management & Stewardship Seminar

Last March 28th, three members of our club participated in the mandatory annual TRF Grant Management and Stewardship Seminar, which was held at the Casino Español de Manila, and hosted by the Rotary Club of Manila South. Long before the all-day meeting was scheduled to start at nine am, the room was crowded with more than five hundred Rotarians from throughout the district. You might ask, "Why so many people and why are three of our colleagues taking an entire Saturday for training on this subject?" The answer is at once simple yet complex. Simple because we "put service above self" and complex because the subject matter of "Grant Management and Stewardship" is far more detailed than merely assuring transparency. Let's see why:

The mission of TRF - The Rotary Foundation - is to enable Rotarians to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. The Rotary Foundation helps fund our humanitarian activities, from thoughtfully planned out and sustainable local service projects to global initiatives such as Polio Plus. Clubs or districts can apply for grants from the Foundation to invest in projects and provide scholarships. Rotarians and friends of Rotary support the Foundation's work through voluntary contributions which must be responsibly and transparently managed, an ethic called stewardship.

Grant funds help us to support both local projects and global initiatives, and are regulated both by US and international laws, and by policy requirements of the Rotary Foundation. To participate in any grant activity, every club and every district must be qualified every year. Qualification is the process that ensures that the necessary financial and stewardship controls are place to manage grant funds. To become qualified, every district must agree to a standard Rotary Foundation District Memorandum of Understanding, which details district level requirements, responsibilities, qualifications, sanctions (including suspensions). The District MOU also outlines District Officer Responsibilities, Club Qualification requirements, Financial Management Plans required, , Annual Financial Assessments, Bank Account Requirements, Reporting on Use of Grant Funds, Document Retention requirements, and the Method for Reporting and Resolving Misuse of Grant Funds. Once a district is qualified, every club within the district that wishes to participate in any grant activity must also be qualified in a parallel manner to the district.

Our district normally requires that every club president, president-elect and Foundation Committee chairperson must successfully complete the seminar each year. Presidents who participated as presidents-elect may be excused by the DG. This year, your club was represented by AS Addie Topacio, Dir Alvin Lacambacal, and yours truly, PVP Lance Masters (as Foundation Grants Chair designate). President Frank was excused because he participated last year, and PE Ebot Tan was traveling out of the country and the DGE may permit alternative means for assuring his familiarity with Rotary's specific requirements. ICOS/ADG/IPP Rudy Bediones was also present, and DGE Obet presented the certificate of completion.

The seminar, with a global standard curriculum provided by TRF and augmented by the District, included updates on TRF, PolioPlus, TRF's Six Areas of Focus (all grants must qualify in one or more of the six areas), foundation funding and the mechanism by which global funds are shared with districts, and the fundamentals of applying for and implementing a grant. A key element was a substantial presentation on and discussion of oversight, reporting and grant stewardship. This writer also attended last year's seminar, and the topic of stewardship and specific funds management was greatly expanded from previous year's coverage. The reason why is clear.

As you are probably aware, our district has been under grant suspension for the last several months due to an unusual situation that arose during the transition from the old model of grant funding to the new "Future Vision" model. TRF established the new model for grants to simplify grants consideration and awarding. It incorporated only three kinds of grants: "Global Grants" (formerly called "Matching Grants"), District Grants, and "Packaged Grants" (which were subsequently discontinued). During the first year of the new program, only a few districts worldwide were included in the experimental rollout, and one of these was our own District 3810. And, one of the handful of "Packaged Grants" was awarded to a brand new start up club in our district.

To make a long story short, it seems that the grant monies of just less than USD $47,000 were disbursed directly to the club, and apparently the charter club president and his associate absconded with the funds and disappeared. The infant club never paid its dues and was terminated by Rotary International. District efforts to recover the missing funds have not been successful to date. Consequently, the assembled group was briefed on exactly what happened, how it happened, and the district's plan of action and on-going negotiations with TRF for final resolution and reinstatement of grant privileges. Our revised and expanded district policy and procedures should assure that no such incident could arise again, and likewise the Rotary Foundation assures that it will notify districts in advance of any pending disbursements, which then must be confirmed as duly documented and authorized.

Our club has an exceptionally honorable legacy of grant-funded project accomplishments. We been both initiator and lead-club, and have also served as the local partner with some of the top clubs from around the world in numerous achievements. Our club in particular must be an exemplar of all that is good in Rotary, and if there's one thing Rotary should be known for, it is the achievement of TRF's mission: to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty. Please join me in making a donation to Rotary's annual fund, to becoming a Paul Harris Fellow, and to actively participating in mission-related activities. Thank you.