Rotary’s crowdfunding platform emphasizes partnerships over dollars

Because the funding just wasn’t there, Suzette Ramdanie-Linton was almost ready to give up on a local clean water project that her Rotary Club of Montego Bay Sunrise had initiated in St. James, Jamaica. Then, her district governor, Paul Brown, encouraged her to promote the project on Rotary Ideas.

Two weeks after she put a project description and photos on Rotary’s crowdsourcing platform, she received an email from Naude Dreyer, a member of the Rotary Club of Central Cayman Islands. Dreyer was looking specifically for water projects in Jamaica. “It was a perfect find for us,” he says. “Rotary Ideas is a really cool site and a great way to fundraise.”

Rotary Ideas helps clubs seeking volunteers, partnerships, in-kind donations, funding, and connections with one another. More than 1,220 projects have been posted on the platform since it launched in August 2013. Rotary Ideas emphasizes partnerships over dollars. The two Caribbean clubs are now collaborating on another project, to provide dictionaries to third graders in St. James.

Enhance your Rotary experience through a Rotary Fellowship

There are more than 70 Rotary Fellowships, international, independently organized groups of Rotarians, family members, program participants, and alumni who share a common passion. The RI Board of Directors recently recognized four new fellowships:

• The Whisk(e)y Drinking Rotarians and Members (DRAM) offers opportunities to learn about whiskey and its geographically distinct counterpart, whisky, along with food pairings and other topics related to the appreciation of all whiskeys produced worldwide. Visit the fellowship’s website or contact chair Terry Moore. 
• The International Fellowship of Draughts Playing Rotarians fosters friendship among those who enjoy playing the game of draughts (checkers). The group plans to organize individual matches and team tournaments. It also encourages Rotaractors and Interactors to join, so they can develop skills that can also be useful in academic pursuits. Contact chair Bola Oyebade.
• The Ethics Fellowship of Rotarians connects members interested in ethics, and promotes ethics not only in personal and professional interactions, but also in future generations. Join the fellowship’s group on Facebook or contact chair Sergio Levy.
• The Table Tennis Fellowship of Rotarians welcomes those interested in the sport. Follow the fellowship’s Facebook page or contact chair Saadet Garan.

Come to the Atlanta Convention early to celebrate our commitment to peace

The Presidential Peace Conference will take place 9-10 June at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, USA. We’ll celebrate our work to reduce the underlying causes of conflict, and our success in making peace a priority. We’ll also look ahead toward opportunities to continue our commitment.

This special event is open to the public and all preconvention and convention attendees, including Rotary members, Peace Fellows, alumni, youths, and friends of Rotary. Read about the conference and registration details. The Rotary International Convention runs 10-14 June.

Subscribe to the Rotary service blog

 The Rotary Connections blog helps our members and supporters plan service projects. Subscribe to the blog for tips, resources, and inspirational stories to boost your projects. You can motivate others, too, by adding your own experiences with success stories to the blog. We love hearing from you — send us your stories! Check out our contributor guidelines and read recent posts.

Resources & reference

Rotary Ideas
Rotary Showcase

Rotary's Area of Focus guide
Rotary's Areas of Focus presentations
Communities in Action
Community Assessment Tools

Rotary Service offers resources and news to help you plan effective service projects.

Send questions and story ideas to rotary.service@rotary.org.

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