Apply For Grants
ROTARY GRANTS
The Rotary Foundation offers grants that support a wide variety of projects, scholarships, and training that Rotarians are doing around the world. Explore the grant types and find one that’s right for your project.
DISTRICT GRANTS
District grants fund small-scale, short-term activities that address needs in your community and communities abroad. Each district chooses which activities it will fund with these grants.
WHAT THEY SUPPORT
You can use district grants to fund a variety of district and club projects and activities, including:
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Humanitarian projects, including service travel and disaster recovery efforts
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Scholarships for any level, length of time, location, or area of study
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Vocational training teams, which are groups of professionals who travel abroad either to teach local professionals about a particular field or to learn more about their own
HOW TO USE THEM
You have a lot of freedom to customize your service projects. There aren’t many restrictions, as long as your district grant supports the mission of The Rotary Foundation. Districts must be qualified before they can administer district grants.
HOW THEY’RE FUNDED
Districts may use up to 50 percent of their District Designated Fund to receive one district grant annually. This percentage is calculated based on the amount of DDF generated from a district’s Annual Fund giving three years prior, including Endowment Fund earnings. You aren’t required to request the full amount available.
You’ll receive this funding as a lump sum and then distribute it to your clubs.
HOW CLUBS REQUEST FUNDS
Clubs work directly with their district to get funding. Your district governor or Rotary Foundation chair should be able to tell you when to submit a request and whether you’ll need to meet additional district requirements, such as reporting or training.
GLOBAL GRANTS
Global grants support large international activities with sustainable, measurable outcomes in Rotary’s areas of focus. Grant sponsors form international partnerships that respond to real community needs.
WHAT THEY SUPPORT
Global grants can fund these activities:
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Humanitarian projects
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Scholarships for graduate-level academic studies
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Vocational training teams, which are groups of professionals who travel abroad either to teach local professionals about a particular field or to learn more about their own
HOW TO USE THEM
A key feature of global grants is partnership, between the district or club where the activity is carried out and a district or club in another country. Both sponsors must be qualified before they can submit an application.
To be successful, your application must:
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Be sustainable and include plans for long-term success after the global grant funds have been spent
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Include measurable goals
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Align with one of our areas of focus
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Respond to real community needs
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Actively involve Rotarians and community members
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Meet the eligibility requirements in the grants terms and conditions
Applications are accepted throughout the year and reviewed as they are received.
HOW THEY’RE FUNDED
The minimum budget for a global grant activity is $30,000. The Foundation’s World Fund provides a minimum of $15,000 and maximum of $200,000. Clubs and districts contribute District Designated Funds (DDF) and/or cash contributions that the World Fund matches. DDF is matched at 100% and cash is matched at 50%.
GRANT ACTIVITIES
HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS
Humanitarian projects address community needs by providing sustainable, measurable outcomes in the benefiting community. If you’re developing a global grant project, choose an area of focus. Find support, suggestions, and guidelines for developing a project.
SCHOLARSHIPS
Clubs and districts can create their own scholarships and fund them with district grants for any form of studies or with global grants for graduate studies in an area of focus.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING TEAMS
Vocational training teams are groups of professionals who travel abroad either to teach local professionals about a particular field or to learn more about their own.
Teams can be funded by district grants and global grants. Teams with global grant funding target their training to an area of focus.