Newlands Rotary funds many projects and causes, those requiring greater budget going through a particularly long and rigorous evaluation and oversight process. We thus ensure that benefit funds are appropriately used and not applied to frivolous expenditure.

However, the drawback of this system is that it can be intimidating for members to champion their cause to the Social Services Committee.   This results in bolder members initiating and running most projects and, at the end of each Rotary year, in the club being left with excess funds.

AG Sue Longley-Taylor brought to our attention an idea run by Claremont Rotary and, with some modification, Newlands President, Garth Johnson, issued the Newlands Rotary “President’s Challenge”.

Each Newlands Rotarian is encouraged to find a project or worthy cause to benefit by funding of

R 5,000.  A fellow Rotarian is required to sign the motivation before it is passed on to the Social Services Director for his final approval.  Funding is then made available to the project and handed over to the beneficiary by the Rotarian.  Rotarians are asked to report back to the club on how the funds were applied and what benefit accrues through the donation.

The greater majority of Newlands Rotary members have applied their allocated funding and, as a result, we have implemented many more small grant projects than in previous years.  The challenge also provides better awareness of direct needs in the community and the application of benefit funds, a contrast to our Rotarian’s normal experience of continual fundraising exposure.