Mark Murray, Chair of the Adrian Rotary Foundation, polled members about their knowledge of the ARF. Here’s what we learned: There is a difference between the ARF and the RI Foundation. Contributions to the ARF stay local and support activities of our club while donations to the RIF go to fund projects worldwide yet some money does come back to District 6400 and then back to our club. The expectation of our club in support of the two foundations is that all members support both to the best of their ability.
 
The members of the ARF are actually all members of this club. The ARF has a board of directors made up of 9 club members who meet 3-4 times each year and oversee the work of the foundation. The primary responsibilities of the ARF board are (1) to set the policies as to how the monies are to be spent while helping to support local club efforts (2) to be good stewards of the money within the foundation and (3) grow the corpus. Members were reminded that when they receive their dues billing every 6 months, there is a place to indicate the amount they wish to donate directly to the ARF. On many occasions a portion of the proceeds from various club fund-raising events have gone directly into the ARF fund to help it grow.
 
The local foundation has been in existence for some 58 years! The RI Foundation will be celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2017! Every year on December 31st, 5% of the ARF holdings come back to the club to be allocated by the incoming president and their board the following July 1.
 
ARF Treasurer, Brent Mercer, told members that there are two accounts in which money is invested. One is a general account whose monies are split between an annuity at Gleaners and the other with stocks we own and are held at Old National.  Those combined investments as of June 30th amounted to $342,000. There is also a separate scholarship fund held at Old National as well totaling $33,000 of which $1,000 is awarded annually to a student at Siena Heights University. A “Sustaining Member” of the ARF is the title given to anyone who makes a donation to the ARF and are encouraged to give at the $100 level as soon as they can. An “Adrian Rotary Fellow”, on the other hand, is anyone who has achieved $1,000 in contributions to the ARF. There are also two other levels: $2,500 and $5,000 (Frank Dick Fellowship level). Thanks, Mark, for educating us about this important, successful and long-standing club foundation.