District Rotary Foundation Committee
2024 – 25

This issue aims at helping Rotary Clubs of District 3450 to sail through their District Grant application process in this Rotary Year.
What is a District Grant?
District Grant funds small-scale, short-term activities that address needs in your community and communities abroad including humanitarian projects based on the Rotary area of focus, scholarships, youth programs including Rotary Youth Exchange, Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA), Rotaract and Interact program; and vocational training teams, i.e. groups of professionals traveling abroad either to teach local professionals or to learn more about the profession overseas. Each district can choose which activates it will fund with the District Grant as long as they align with Rotary’s mission.
The vision of a “District Grant Project” is an indication of excellence of service. On a broader sense, District Grants is set up to help Rotarians to contribute to world understanding, goodwill and peace by improving people’s health, supporting education and alleviating poverty. It also serves to allocate resources to fund high quality service projects that address needs in communities, local and abroad.
How to apply for District Grants?
Timeframe
Time dates listed below are very important and cannot be missed if your Club wishes to apply for District Grant in this Rotary Year 2024-25.
Deadlines (23:59 hours) | Action |
31 August 2024 (Sunday) | Deadline to submit District Grant application together with the financial budget (remember to use the template) |
On or before 1 October 2024 (Tuesday) | Notification of results of approved grants by the District Grants Sub-committee |
31 October 2024 (Thursday) | Minimum contribution to EREY |
30 April 2024 (Wednesday) | Deadline to submit District Grant Individual Project Report |
The Pre-requisites
Please be reminded again that the application deadline is 31 August 2024 (Saturday).
In order to apply for District Grants, a club must be:
- qualified by the Stewardship Committee;
- it must complete online District Grant application form carefully and correctly (emails will be sent by Rotary Information Centre to Club Presidents calling for District Grant applications, all applications must be made via the JotForm link on the email and clubs must fill in the budget section using the template attached to the email. Be sure that you receive a “THANK YOU” email with your application’s unique identification number.);
- it should be an EREY Club (Every Rotarian Every Year) on or before 31 October 2024 (Thursday) with a confirmation of contribution to The Rotary Foundation; and
- the project submitted to apply for District Grant must meet the District Grant scoring criteria.
The Process – who can apply?
Only Rotary Clubs can apply, Rotaract and Interact Clubs are encouraged to partner with their mother clubs. Please note that each Rotary Club may submit one (1) District Grant application and the maximum amount of fund applied for an individual District Grant Project is US$3,500.
For larger scale projects of over US$7,000, two (2) Rotary Clubs may apply jointly, each at US$3,500 and the maximum number of Clubs that can jointly apply for funding one project is two (2).
The Process – eligibility
The following projects are NOT eligible to apply for District Grant funding.
- Projects already undertaken and in progress;
- Existing projects;
- Activities primarily sponsored by another organisation(s); and
- Projects that are already completed.
The Process – ineligible activities and expenditure
The following items of expenditure are not eligible to be claimed under District Grant funding (these are extracts from the Terms and Conditions for TRF District Grant, January 2024).
- Public relations initiatives unless they are essential to completing the project.
- Project signages costing more than US$1,000.
- Unrestricted cash donations to a person(s) or co-operating organisation(s).
- Expenses that are incurred, or activities that are in progress or already completed before the grant is conditionally approved.
The Process – priority of allowing the application
In assessing the application, priority will be given to clubs that:
- Have contributed to the Rotary Foundation
- Can demonstrate active participation by considerable number of Rotarians
- Engage multiple parties within the Rotary family, e.g. Rotaract, Interact Clubs
- The project is meaningful showing long-term impact on beneficiaries in communities locally or abroad.
Important dates
In addition to District Grant application, please watch this space and mark your calendar of other DRFC activities! End Polio Walk will be held on 20 October 2024 (Sunday) in Macao and 14 December 2024 (Saturday) at the Peak, Hong Kong. It will be a scenic walk fit for all ages.
If your club wants to be qualified to apply for global and district grants in the next Rotary year of 2025/26, make sure that your club sends at least one representative to attend the Grant Management Seminar & Foundation Seminar on 16 November 2024 (Saturday).
Good luck with the District Grant applications and we are there to help. Do not hesitate to contact any of our team if you have any questions.
Note: *According to the Area of Focus Policy Statements since July 2021, the Rotary area of focus are: (1) peacebuilding and conflict prevention, (2) disease prevention and treatment, (3) water, sanitation and hygiene, (4) maternal and child health, (5) basic education and literacy, (6) community economic development and (7) environment.