Barbara Tischart from Stillwater Sunrise Rotary spoke to the club from her perspective as a member of the District 5960 Foundation Development team. Her first Foundation example was to point to World Polio Day and the major impact Rotary and its partners have had. The maps she shared showed how polio went from endemic in 1988 to isolated in a few countries. Ms. Tischart reminded us that Rotary’s projects deal with maternal and child health, conflict prevention, water, sanitation and hygiene, education and literacy, community economic development, and the environment. And she noted the increased emphasis on sustainability.
Barbara’s talk illustrated how our Foundation dollars have both local and global impact. As part of that, she gave River Falls Rotary shoutout regarding our club’s literacy focus. She mentioned the Charity Navigator 4-star (highest) rating that the Foundation consistently earns. Here's the URL for an inspiring video about the Rotary Foundation that Barbara brought us but that we couldn't project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta02B3EKe4o
Her next subject was District Grant impact. As an example, she described how the New Richmond club has a relationship with a community in Panama that has led to projects in that country. New Richmond has a partner club in Panama that they work with as an essential component of their projects. Barbara shared the way that District Designated Fund (DDF) money supplemented what New Richmond and other clubs had contributed 3 years prior. She then moved to a Hudson Daybreak club example of a project with local impact. DDF support provided almost half of the about $20k cost of a food pantry improvement project.. Back to the international side, Barbara described a Roseville Rotary solar lighting project in Ethiopia somewhat similar to our club’s project in Jamaica; the cost of about $7000 was supplemented by DDFs. Barron County Rotary did a local inclusive playground that included DDFs. The Stillwater noon club did a large project in the Central African Republic to provide medical supplies for a hospital.
For our benefit, Barbara briefly reviewed the mechanics: the Annual Fund-Share is one of 3 places members (and others, by the way) can donate. Funds are invested for 3 years, then the money goes to 2 different areas: 47.5% goes to World Fund, with a fraction of that to Polio Plus. An equal 47.5% goes to the DDF “pool”, where it is deployed as District Grant matches, Global Grant Matches, Polio Plus. Barbara emphasized that the way the Rotary Foundation works makes it a very efficient way to get money to projects directly.
Barbara also showed an example of a project in Nicaragua that provides eggs to local kids. Then she talked about LIFT as District 5960's only district-wide project (f/k/a Fast for Hope). Access to good water is a primary focus, and Barbara emphasized that the project needed to address long-term management and sustainability issues. The project total is $109,000 from 31 clubs, other donors, DDF funds from D5960, Rotary's World Fund, and another district that contributes.
More about Barbara: Ms. Tischart was a member of the recent Water Project in El Corozo, Nicaragua; although you might know her as the Volunteer Coordinator for "Bridge the Valley Bike Rally,” which is Stillwater Sunrise’s annual fundraiser. She is retired and lives in Stillwater.