Rotary Foundation sets up disaster fund for Japan
In response to the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on 11 March, The Rotary Foundation has established the Rotary Japan and Pacific Islands Disaster Fund, which will support long-term recovery projects in affected areas.
Rotarians and non-Rotarians can donate online. The TRF Canada web site is now set up for online donations.
NOTE: Contributions designated to the fund are not eligible for Paul Harris Fellow recognition but will count toward club and district total contribution goals. However, contributions will not count toward club and district Annual Programs Fund goals.
Request project funding
The fund will be available for Rotary clubs and districts carrying out projects in the affected area. The Trustees will administer the fund through Rotary Foundation Matching Grants. Projects carried out in Future Vision pilot districts will be administered through Rotary Foundation Global Grants. Applications and proposals will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
Apply for a Matching Grant
To access funds, Rotary clubs and or districts must complete a Matching Grant application, requesting that the DDF and cash contributions pledged by project sponsors be matched by the Rotary Japan Disaster Recovery Fund. Ensure that your project meets all grant guidelines and eligibility criteria, including restrictions regarding construction and renovation, with the following exceptions:
The application deadline has been extended to 30 April. The Matching Grant policy regarding a significant portion of funding coming from outside the project country has been waived for grants taking place in Japan utilizing disaster recovery funding.
All Matching Grant applications using these funds will require a Rotary club or district in at least two countries (a host partner within Japan and an international partner outside of Japan).
The first Matching Grant project to receive support from the fund was approved a week after the disaster. Clubs in districts 3350 (Cambodia and Thailand) and 2820 (Japan) are using a total of $65,650 to help provide food and drinking water for 15,000 people at an evacuation center in Ibaraki. Other responses have included:
Three Rotary districts in Japan are using district funds to help. District 2610 (Ishikawa and Toyama) has developed an emergency relief project to support people evacuated from the disaster areas. District 2840 (Gunma) shortened its presidents-elect training seminars from two days to half a day and donated the remaining funds earmarked for the seminars to relief efforts.
And District 2680 (Hyogo) set up a contribution box during its district conference, raising about $7,500 for recovery efforts. The Rotaract Club of Tokyo launched the Cheer Tohoku project to rally the support of Rotaractors around the world, asking them to use Twitter to send messages of support to survivors in northeast Japan. The club is also using Twitter to post photos of Rotaractors holding up short messages they've written. "We thought we could make use of the worldwide Rotaract network to show people in the stricken area that we care," says club president Ai Takahashi.
The Rotary Club of Akashi, Hyogo, sent a private airplane carrying a load of medical supplies to the Rotary Club of Sukagawa, Fukushima, which delivered them to a hospital near Fukushima Airport.
The governor of District 2640 (Wakayama and parts of Osaka) and six Rotarians also brought 1,000 blankets to Rotarians in the Fukushima region
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