 Mike is chair of both the club's RI Foundation and Adrian Rotary Foundation (ARF). The ARF is the largest funding program that goes to support just our club. It is a membership organization meaning that if you are a member of this club, you are also a member of the ARF who elect the ARF board of directors who oversee investments and appropriate the assets. Today is the annual meeting but since we need one half of the membership plus one, we could not conduct business today because of the less-than-required turnout. The board consists of: Mike as chair, Kevin Marti, Allen Slater, Kevin Keller, Rod Pender, Rhonda Gage, Brent Mercer, and Chip Moore. The ARF is allowed to have between 1 and 12 trustees in total and have about that now. Should anyone have an interest in serving, please let Mike know. However, Mike did share some financial information. In terms of assets, Mike said, we have the following accounts: An investment account at Old National amounting to $214,273; a specific Scholarship Fund with $42, 029 in it currently; and a Gleaner Annuity amounting to about $139,000. A number of years ago the ARF board passed a resolution saying that we would allocate 60% of assets to the Old National account and 40% to the Gleaner account which pays 3 1/2% interest annually. The ARFR has a formal distribution policy which provides a distribution to the club of 5% of total reserves calculated on December 31 of each year and distributed to the new incoming administration each July 1. So, in Carrie's year which starts on July 1, 2023, Mike said she will receive 5% of whatever the total reserves are in the ARF account. Any monies not used during a new year are given back to the foundation, Mike said, in order to grow future distribution amounts. There are different recognition levels within the ARF. There were at one time referred to as the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels but were changed to be named in honor of specific club members who made commitments to donating to the ARF. For instance, a $1,000 contribution places a donor in the ARF Fellow category; a gift of $2,500 qualifies a member to be a Ken Roof Fellow (Ken was a long-time member and club treasurer prior to his passing); and a $5,000 donation qualifies the donor as a Frank & Shirley Dick Fellow. Mike announced that former member Frank Dick left the club $15,777 upon his demise which has been placed in the scholarship holdings which now have 3 that we award each year to a deserving student(s). Mary Murray and her committee, Mike said, screen those candidates and award those scholarships each year. Mike mentioned that the life insurance policy Frank had with the club, he outlived but had given substantial donations in the past to start the scholarship fund. Rod Pender mentioned that if any member wanted to designate an amount from their trust, will, IRA or life insurance policy, it is an easy thing to do by filling out a simple form with a designation that a specific amount go to the club upon a member's death. It's also simple to reverse in the event a member changes their mind. Mikie did say that there is more participation in giving to the RI Foundation than the ARF. Rotary International does require clubs who want to qualify for district grants to meet a minimum of $100 per member each year. In our club's case, that figure would be about $4,700. We want to encourage members to also give to the ARF and that can be done through the semi-annual club dues billing. Or, you can simply write a check to "The Adrian Rotary Foundation" and send to Brent Mercer or mail to the club's PO Box number which is 111-, Adrian, Michigan. |
Guest today were:
.png)
