Hamilton Community Foundation - Donors - Donor Stories

Donors

Donor Stories

Rotary Club First to Start Fund at HCF

The Rotary Club of Hamilton carries out a literacy program at north-end schools, where club members provide reading assistance to students throughout the school year.

Hamilton’s first and largest Rotary Club, with almost a century of putting the Rotary motto of “Service above Self” in practice, has created a way for the club’s good works to be supported in perpetuity.

Of the 12 local clubs, the Downtown Rotary Club has become the first to launch an endowment fund with Hamilton Community Foundation. There are two options for making a gift to the Rotary Forever Fund: as an immediate donation from a living donor, or as a bequest identified in a person’s will. All gifts are pooled and invested. The capital is left untouched and only the investment income is disbursed to support Rotary projects and initiatives, as decided by the club’s Board of Directors.

“With the creation of this fund at HCF, we’re giving people a unique opportunity to leave a legacy that supports the work of Rotary,” says Robert Beres, Club President for 2006-2007. “In our club alone we have members with decades of service to Rotary; we can now offer them a way to benefit the club’s projects forever.” In addition, the fund is “open,” meaning that Rotarians and non-Rotarians alike can contribute.

The Downtown Rotary Club still undertakes annual fundraising campaigns and events such as its Hallowe’en Haunted House, or Spring Uncorked, a food and wine tasting event. Monies raised from those and other initiatives help to fund literacy programs and other supports aimed at underprivileged youth.

“Our club has given out an average of $72,000 annually in charitable donations over the past five years, and our members provide hands-on service too, such as helping children at north-end schools learn to read and do math,” explains past president Keith McIntyre. “The endowment fund at HCF is a different vehicle for giving – it allows us to take the long view and build something permanent.”