The Rotary Foundation's Beginning

Some magnificent projects grow from very small seeds. The Rotary Foundation had that sort of modest beginning.

In 1917, RI President Arch Klumph told the delegates to the Atlanta convention that "it seems eminently proper that we should accept endowments for the purpose of doing good in the world." The response was polite and favorable, but the fund was slow to materialize. A year later, the Rotary Endowment Fund, as it was originally labeled, received its first contribution of $26.50 from the Rotary Club of Kansas City, Missouri, which was the balance of the Kansas City convention account following the 1918 annual meeting. Additional small amounts were contributed each year, but after six years the endowment had reached only $700. A decade later, The Rotary Foundation was formally established at the 1938 Minneapolis convention. In the next four years, the Foundation fund grew to $50K. In 1954 $500K was contributed; in 1965 $1M was received and in 2004-2005 almost $118M was contributed.