The Rotary Club of Avon-Canton Scholarship Fund (hereafter referred to as "the Scholarship Fund") is a separate account of the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton Community Fund {hereafter referred to as ''the Community Fund") for the purpose of helping to provide funding for scholarships in Avon and Canton.
The Scholarship Fund shall have an infinite investment time horizon and an expected net annual rate of return of 4%. Its goal shall be to grow in value while using distributions of income and/or appreciation to meet an annual commitment of $8,000 to scholarships in Avon and Canton. At the discretion of the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton's Board of Directors, additional funding for scholarships may be provided from the Community Fund's operating account. Periodic contributions may also be made from the Community Fund's operating account to the Scholarship Fund to enhance its growth. In order to preserve principal, no distributions shall be made from the Scholarship Fund if its value falls below $200,000. As the Scholarship Fund grows in value, the Board of Directors shall review whether the $8,000 annual commitment shall be increased.
The Scholarship Fund's investment allocation shall be as follows: 50% bonds, 30% large cap US stocks, 5% mid cap US stocks , 5% small cap US stocks and 10% non-US stocks. The primary investment vehicles shall be index mutual funds. The primary benchmark for investment performance shall be a composite consisting of the following: 50% Barclay's US Aggregate Bond Index, 40% Wilshire 5000 Total Stock Market Index and 10% MSCI EAFE Index.
The President of the Rotary Club of Avon-Canton shall appoint an Investment Committee Chair. The Chair shall assemble a committee of three additional members. One of the members shall be the Club Treasurer. The Investment Committee shall meet at least semi-annually - once in August after the close of the Club's previous fiscal year and once in February in the following calendar year, on mutually agreed upon dates. Three members of the Investment Committee shall constitute a quorum. At the semiannual Investment Committee meetings, the Scholarship Fund's investment allocation shall be rebalanced and its investment performance shall be reviewed. The Investment Committee shall also review this Investment Policy Statement to assure the continued relevance of its guidelines. The Investment Committee Chair shall make a presentation to the Board semiannually and submit any changes to this Investment Policy Statement for review and approval. The Investment Committee Chair shall also make a presentation to the Club as part of the Treasurer's annual report on Club finances.
The International Committee was rightly quite proud of its work. The committee sees the organizations that they contribute to as our partners. "Our funding priorities are for projects that provide clean water, basic healthcare, basic education or vocational training. We prefer to work with organizations th local, direct control over their projects and can provide feedback on our investments." We work with organizations that have a local presence and can come and tell the club what they are doing. This year we funded 6 projects. The committee had $12,500 to spend plus a carry over from last year of $1,219. They spent $13,420 and will have a carry over of $299. The projects we funded are:
Guiding Light Ophans, Inc.
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Medical equipment and supplies for Masindi District, Uganda
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$4,950
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Kateri Medical Services (Trinity Episcopal Church, Tariffville)
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Medical supplies for clinic near Kaduna, Nigeria
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$1,000
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Africa Education Partnership
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Bore hole for water and solar power in Nigeria
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$1,000
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Manchester Rotary Club/District 7890/Rotary Foundation
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Water/sanitation projects in Pamazul, Vista Hermosa & San Vicente, Guatemala
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$2,500
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St. Patrick's Haiti Ministry
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Computers
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$2,000
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Tanzania Nursing Scholarship Program
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Funding for 2 students for 1 year towards their Registered Nurse/Midwifery Cert.
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$1,970
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$13,420
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Len Dunstan reported on behalf of Phil Ferrari and the Membership Committee. It is clear, we are the best in the district. According to RI, we have 78 members. The next closes one is Glastonbury with 75 members. Membership in the district continues to be a concern as 10 clubs dissolved this year. Overall in our district we have lost 79 members. For those who may not be aware and it may have helped our growth is that it only requires 2 Rotary events a month to remain in good standing. We have added 9 new members in our club this year. The membership committee would like us to be involved in Rotaract this year which is geared towards college age. Nancy reminded everyone that it also takes energy from the longer term members to involve the newer members in club activities.
Phil Worley reminded Rotarians of the Lonely Rotarian Society which meets at LaSalle Market when club meetings are not held and the Rotary Pub Night, which is held monthly at various happy hours around the community.
Salin Low reported on the time commitment from the Newsletter Editors group as it takes many hours each week to publish the bulletin. She thanked Arnie Goldman, Gary Miller, and Larry Haber who along with Salin share the chore. Phil Worley was also noted as our photographer whose work graces each bulletin.
Joanne Santiago spoke as chair of the Paul Harris Committee. Our all time giving to the Rotary Foundation is $286,562.47. In our club we have 50 PH of whom 34 are multiple PH. We also have 129 PH that include community members and past members of our club. We have 3 major donors and 2 Benefactors of the foundation in the club. RI recommends at least a $100 donation and we make it easy to give by check (cash) at a meeting, to honor your birthday, or on line.
Bruce Sayward reported on the efforts to launch a Rotary Means Business Networking Group in our area. This group encourages Rotarians to support the success of other Rotarians by doing business with them and by referring to them. Next meeting is July 18th at Rockledge Grille in West Hartford
Tom Voorhees spoke about our efforts with Amber Alert. We did 6 events this year and registered 136 kids. Since we started we have registered 4,532 kids.