Around the world – The Rotary Foundation

The Rotary Foundation is Rotary’s own charity which funds projects throughout the world. We carry out a range of international programmes and activities, designed to help our members to reach out to the people in need worldwide.

We use our skills and links to clubs in other countries to alleviate some of the main causes of death, illness, and deprivation.



Rotary has been at the forefront of the eradication of polio worldwide. Since 1985, this has been its key humanitarian priority. Rotary spearheaded the campaign at a time when there were over 1,000 polio cases a day in 125 countries, paralysing and even killing children. Today, the number of cases is down by 99.9%. Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Pangbourne Rotary Club is one of Rotary’s leading donor in the UK thanks to the efforts of

Richard Anderson’s fees from after-dinner speaking over the past seven years. His donations are topped up by the Club and then this sum is increased by 200% by The Gates Foundation. In this way we have contributed £120,000 to the campaign.

Likewise, Saerah Hopley donated an award from her employer of £5,000, which was magically transformed into £20,100  by the above process.

Our main areas of focus as a worldwide organisation include:

•    Disease prevention and treatment
•    Water and sanitation
•    Economic and community development

We have an active International Team who contribute funds to disaster relief and water /health improvement schemes. We liaise with local Rotary organisations to ensure relief gets to the right place in the optimum way.

Economic and Community Development



We worked in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Butembo Semuliki (Democratic Republic of Congo) to instal a water tank in a school where there had been an outbreak of Ebola. The provision of hand washing facilities was needed as an aid to prevent the spread of this disease. The washing facilities have since then been useful for the prevention of the spread of Coronavirus as well.