CONTENTS
The Rotary Foundation
Endowment investments
Endowment spending
Investment governance
Unless otherwise specified, the numbers in this report are as of 30 June 2023 and are unaudited. All figures in this report are in U.S. dollars.
The Rotary Foundation's mission helps Rotary members to advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace by improving health, providing quality education, improving the environment, and alleviating poverty. More than 100 years ago, Rotarians took bold action to empower generations to come — they established The Rotary Foundation to secure a better future.
Today still, The Rotary Foundation transforms gifts into projects that change lives close to home and around the world. As the charitable arm of Rotary, the Foundation benefits from a global network of Rotary members who invest their time and expertise to ensure that projects are high-impact and sustainable and meet the most pressing needs of the communities they serve. Strong financial oversight and a stellar charity rating mean that Rotary makes the very most of your contributions.
Investment objective
The Rotary Foundation invests the Endowment assets to provide funding for today’s programs and to grow the portfolio to support Foundation programs in the future. The investment strategy seeks to generate an annual investment return over time at least equal to the rate of inflation plus the average distribution or spending rate. The following asset allocation strategy has been implemented to achieve this goal.
Investment management
The Trustees of The Rotary Foundation are responsible for setting the investment policy, including the investment objectives and asset allocation strategy.
The Investment Committee is responsible for overseeing Rotary’s investments, the implementation of the investment policy, reviewing and monitoring investment results, and recommending changes to the investment policy and asset allocation strategy.
The office of investment is responsible for the daily management of the Endowment, the implementation of and compliance with the statement of investment policy and guidelines, and decisions on how to allocate capitol to the various investment strategies and investment managers.
External professional investment managers are selected by the office of investment to invest the assets of the fund on behalf of The Rotary Foundation.
Investment performance
The Endowment’s investment return for Rotary year 2022-23 was +8.1%. The investment returns net of fees for each fiscal year since Rotary year 2013-14 are shown below. The average annual rate of return during this period is +6.6%.
Spending policy
The Rotary Foundation Trustees set spending rates for the Endowment each year. Spending from each named endowed fund is determined by comparing its market value as of 31 December with the principal amount contributed (the gift value).
Any named fund with a market value of at least 90% of the total contributions to the fund will provide spendable earnings for the fund’s designated programs. If a fund’s market value is less than 90% of the total gift value, distributions will be deferred to increase the value of the fund. This policy allows the Foundation to maximize support for programs today while letting the Endowment grow so it can also support programs in the future.
Spendable earnings
The Endowment makes an annual distribution for programs and operating expenses. For Rotary year 2022-23, spendable earnings totaled $25.8 million, of which $20.1 million was used for program awards, $0.6 million for operations, $2.4 million for fund development, and $2.6 million for general administration expenses.
The Rotary Foundation 2022-23 Board of Trustees
Chair
Ian H.S. Riseley, Australia
Chair-elect
Barry Rassin, Bahamas
Vice Chair
Larry Lunsford, United States
Trustees
Jorge Aufranc, Guatemala
Marcelo Demétrio Haick, Brazil
Martha Peak Helman, United States
Holger Knaack, Germany
Hsiu-Ming Lin, Taiwan
Mark Daniel Maloney, United States
Geeta Manek, Kenya
Aziz Memon, Pakistan
Akira Miki, Japan
Bharat S. Pandya, India
Greg Podd, United States
Dean Rohrs, Canada
General Secretary
John Hewko, Ukraine
The Rotary Foundation 2022-23 Investment committee
Chair
Greg Podd, United States
Vice chair
Larry Lunsford, United States
Members
Thomas P. Deinet, England
Jake Duffy, United States
Garth Friesen, USA
Robert A. Kelly, USA
Benjamin Linford, USA