Visit the Grants and Scholarships tab to view the 2023-2024 District Grant Documents which are downloadable.
2023 Grant Management Seminars (GMS):
18 Wednesday Jan 2023
Category Archives: Rotary Grants
2019 District Grant Outlook
16 Thursday May 2019
Posted in Rotary 7600 Foundation News, Rotary Grants
Tags
19 District Grant Applications, District Grants, District Rotary Foundation Committee, Stephen Beer
District Grant Applications Are In!
A total of 19 district grant applications have been submitted for consideration by the District Rotary Foundation Grants Committee. As in past years the timely submission issues centered around the needed club signatures and submissions of the club MOUs. Mother’s Day weekend was fraught with urgent text messages, phone calls, and emails.
Only five of the grant applications were from single clubs. Forty clubs participated in the grant applications. The total requested District Designated Funds (DDF) was $170,020.
Areas of Focus:
The grant applications catagorized their requests in 5 of the 6 areas of focus:
- Disease Prevention & Treatment – 5
- Maternal & Child Health -6
- Economic & Community Development – 6
- Basic Education & Literacy – 1
- Peace & Conflict Resoluton 1
- Water & Sanitation – 0
Our esteemed District Rotary Foundation Chairs, present and past, need to be consulted, but this may be the first time we have had a Peace & Conflict Resolution district grant submission.
Next Steps:
First, relax for a day or two. Do a little fishing, golfing, cooking, reading, whatever. Put your fee up and have your favorite beverages. Give some quality time to your club as it wraps up its Rotary year. Be sure to donate to The Rotary Foundation by June 30.
While you are doing all of those things, the District Grants Committee will be evaluating your submissions, with heart, but objectively. When they have selected the recipients in the amounts deemed worthy, the 2019-22 District Rotary Foundation Chair Stephen Beer will submit the spending plan to The Rotary Foundation. Pending approval, the block grant should be received sometime in the July-August timeframe. At that time clubs will be notified of their application status
Good Luck!
World Water Day
22 Friday Mar 2019
Posted in Rotary 7600 Foundation News, Rotary Grants
Tags
AG Shel Douglas, Churchland Rotary, Ghana, PDG Bill Pollard, PDG Stephen Beer, Prince George County Rotary, Soap Chips, South Hill Rotary, World Water Day March 22
Water & Sanitation are core Rotary causes:
Assistant Governor Shel Douglas and Past District Governor Stephen Beer shared many of their photos and stories from their Water & Sanitation grant project in Ghana on all of our District 7600 channels. This extensive Global Grant allows individual clubs, even small ones to “invest” whatever they can afford finanically to the efforts to improve access to clean water, safe sanitation, education, and economic development in Ghana. In District 7600 the Rotary clubs of Prince George and South Hill took that opportunity and through their involvement, Ghanain communities will be benefitting from Rotarians’ concern and generosity.
Another such story is the story of the Soap Chips District Grant spearheaded by the Churchland club. This multi-club, multi-partner District Grant provides private, portable showers for the homeless in the greater Hampton Roads area. These are private showers with hot water, hygiene supplies, and fresh socks, provided on a regualr basis to those in need.
Both the Ghana grant and the Soap Chips grant have been featured in recent issues of the Spirit of 7600, our the District’s Facebook pages and in this blog. As recently as today (March 22), Past District Governor Bill Pollard and AG Shel Douglas have posted on Facebook, Bill specifically about the Soap Chips grant, and Shel, a meme she created to celebrate that today, March 22, is the UN’s World Water Day.
Enjoy.
GMS Registration Extended
08 Friday Mar 2019
Register please by March 9 (Saturday)
The Grant Management Seminar is on March 16 and any club wanting to receive a District Grant or be a participant in a Multi-Club District Grant must have at least one person (more are welcome) attend the GMS.
So be sure that your club is in the game! Go to dacdb.com calendar and register for Pete’s sake.
You can take a look at and download the training documents that will be used at d7600foundation.org. https://d7600foundation.org/grants-scholarships-2/
Two of the documents are the Memorandum of Understanding or MOU and the Top Ten Tips for applying for a grant.
The stuff of which dreams are made … #GMS
15 Friday Feb 2019
Register on dacdb calendar
Incoming District Rotary Foundation Chair, Stephen Beer, promised that registration for the Grant Management Seminar to be held on March 16 would be open by February 15th. By golly, it is open! In fact, Rotarians from the Western Henrico, Chester, and Prince George Rotary clubs have already registered.
A bit of nitty-gritty
For a club to be eligible to apply for and receive a Rotary grant, it must have had at least one member attend a Grant Management Seminar (GMS) for that grant year. It is recommended that a club have more than one club member attend because:
- that one person might win the lottery and decamp for the islands
- that one person might have napped off during GMS and missed something really important
- carpooling is a way to share ideas on the ride home
You might note there will be a GMS Webinar on April 20th. More details will follow about it. Attendance at either the March 16 Seminar or the April 20th Webinar will qualify the club to apply for a Rotary Grant. Registration for the Webinar will be open at a later date.
GMS details
Peace … one well at a time
01 Friday Feb 2019
Tags
AG Shel Douglas, bore holes, Ghana, micro-flush toilets, PDG Stephen Beer, Peace, Rotary Global Grant, school library, Schools, solar panel kits
Peace & Conflict Resolution
Rotary is serious about waging peace: “Through our service projects, peace fellowships, and scholarships, our members are taking action to address the underlying causes of conflict, including poverty, inequality, ethnic tension, lack of access to education and unequal distribution of resources.”
February is Rotary’s Peace and Conflict Resolution Month. Clubs, through their district and global grants, are often getting at the underlying causes of conflict, one ‘starfish’ at a time.
Consider Our Ghana Global Grant
District 7600, the South Hill Rotary and the Prince George Rotary have joined many other districts and clubs in the US and other countries in a series of global grant projects in Ghana to supply borehole wells, micro-flush toilets, schools and school libraries to outlying communities. There are other components as well, such as solar collector power units, and disease prevention supplies.
Shel Douglas with school-age children in Ghana. 
One of the two suitcase solar panel kits installed in Ghana. 
PDG Stephen Beer conferring with village leaders in Ghana.
Past District Governor, Stephen Beer, and Assistant Governor (Area 6), Shel Douglas, are on the ground now in Ghana, representing this district and our clubs in this complex series of grants.
Access to potable water, proper sanitation, education, access to electricity and other facilities, do so much to raise the quality of life, provide access to economic development, and resources for the future of the young.
Rotarians are waging peace, being the inspiration, and connecting the world.
D7600 & Global Water Grants
14 Friday Dec 2018
Posted in Rotary 7600 Foundation News, Rotary Grants
Tags
Colleen Bonadonna, District 7600 Foundation Committee, Fighting Disease, Ghana, Ghana Global Water Grants, PDG Chuck Arnason, PDG Stephen Beer, Prince George Rotary, Providing Clean Water, Schools, Shel Douglas, Walter Hughes, Water & Sanitation
Clean water, toilets, & schools, oh my …
Rotary District 7600, clubs in the district, as well as districts and clubs throughout the US and in Ghana, have committed funds and volunteers to a series of water and sanitation global grant projects in Ghana.
These grants, spearheaded by Walter Hughes of District 7570 and greatly aided by grant writer, Shel Douglas, Past President of the Prince George Club and Assistant Governor of Area 6, will also include basic school buildings complete with libraries filled with books. There will be volunteer work trips, one of which is coming up in late January and three of the volunteers on that trip will be Walter, Shel, and Past District Governor Stephen Beer.
Walter visited the Rotary Club of Prince George County on December 12 and provided the club with information about the water & hygiene grants in particular, but also about the Rotary Water & Hygiene Area of Focus (or Cause, if you will). On hand were PDG Stephen, PDG & current District Rotary Foundation Chair, Chuck Arnason, District Polio Plus Chair, Colleen Bonadonna, and non-Rotarian visitors and guests interested in health, education, clean water, and sanitation.
The presentation is provided here as a video and runs about 20 minutes. Watch it if you can, but if not, know that the gist of Walter’s message is that access to sustainable potable water, hygienic sanitation, education, and maintenance training, not only fights disease but also provides economic development opportunities for isolated areas. These opportunities build the ability of communities to continue improving their own facilities, resources, and futures.
The 2018-19 Rotary Year has begun
03 Tuesday Jul 2018
Tags
#JointheStars, #STARS, Change of Leadership July 14, dacdb.com, District Awards July 14, Grant Application Notifications, Join the S.T.A.R.S, Online Giving Portal, Spirit of 7600
We are off to a rollicking start: Tally Ho!
What has happened so far?
The Spirit of 7600 July 2018 issue has been published and sent to every Rotarian in District 7600. Our District Governor Susan and Spirit Editor JoAnn Meaker braved swollen streams and database outages to get the Spirit published on time with some gentle assist from, now, Past District Governor John and the District Rotary Foundation Chair Chuck.
If you don’t see the Spirit from Susan, look in your spam folder. If it is there, label it is “not spam” and it should come to your email account thereafter. If you want to see your club’s name in lights, get your articles and pictures to JoAnn by around the 20th of each month. You may send Foundation related articles to Carol Woodward, but all submitted articles will be considered for the Spirit.
The Rotary International database has returned after a few days of R and R. Between the 15th & 20th of July we should have a very close accounting of our district’s giving history for the 2017-18 year.
Dacdb.com took Saturday and Sunday off for some rollover maintenance functions, but it has returned just in time to satisfy all of your unquenchable needs for district information.
What is going to happen?
District Rotary Foundation Chair Chuck and his grants team are in the process of notifying clubs as to the status of their grant applications. Good luck everybody!
The District Awards and Change of Leadership will be on July 14 at Colonial Heritage Country Club in Williamsburg and you have a few more days to register on dacdb.com calendar.
Your club should #JointheStars or the Sensational Trio of August Rotary Seminars on August 4th. Click on the link for the Join the STARS Flyer. Register through July 28th for this stellar training opportunity. Go to dacdb.com calendar and register for one of the three topical seminars … Foundation, Public Image, or Membership. Yes, you choose only one topic. Maybe you could get some of your club colleagues to register for the other seminars. More details will follow, but just think great breakfast, great topics, and door prizes, door prizes, door prizes.
What is new & improved?
The giving portal on rotary.org has been streamlined and it is so, so easy to give online now. Go to myrotary.org/donate and “voila” you are in the donation portal. To complete your donation you will need to log on by entering your username (usually your rotary email address) and your password.
See you on the 14th in Williamsburg!
2018 – 19 District Grant Status
21 Thursday Jun 2018
Posted in Rotary 7600 Foundation News, Rotary Grants
Tags
$144 thousand available, District Grant Applications, DRFC Chuck Arnason, Growing Local Economies, Supporting Education, Toronto
More grant applications, more $ requested:
The District Rotary Foundation Chair (DRFC), Chuck Arnason, and his crew of grant reviewers will really have their work cut out for them. In these notes sent to the writer, a clear image of the task ahead emerges.
DRFC Chuck reports that 49 clubs applied for 23 District Grants totaling $237,863.38. Unfortunately, the funds available for District 7600 Grants is only $144,000.00. Some grants may be fully funded and others may be awarded, but at somewhat reduced amounts.
Of the 23 grants, 12 are multi-club projects involving 38 clubs. There are 11 single club applications.
Half of the grant applications are “Supporting Education” in some form or another. Another 25% of the applications address “Growing Local Economies.”
Chuck hopes to announce the awardees by June 21 (TODAY!), 2018, and then he plans to escape to Toronto on the 22nd.
May 15 … District Grant apps due
29 Sunday Apr 2018
Posted in Rotary Grants, The Rotary Foundation
Please don’t wait to work on your district grant applications:
The District Grant applications are due via the Grants Module on dacdb.com by May 15th. All portions of the application must be submitted to that location. If you have questions, please ask them. District Rotary Foundation Chair Chuck Arnason and SuAnne Bryant are eager to be of assistance.
Fifty-six of our sixty-two clubs qualified to file for district grants. This means that there should be a lot of competition for the grant funds available this year. The exact amount the district will have is not yet known, but soon will be.
The MOU is on the ‘Grants and Scholarships’ page on d7600foundation.org. There is also a checklist to assist in your effort. The slides from the March 24th Grant Management Seminar are also on this page and may answer some questions you may have.
Good luck on your grant application.
Redundancy is a good thing
26 Monday Feb 2018
Posted in Rotary Grants
Push back is also a good thing!
In our last blog, we wrote about a disappointed club which had to wait until Round 2 to get their district grant approved because the grant writer had not submitted the club’s MOU as part of the initial grant application. The Parable was supposed to highlight that, though the club had three attendees at the Grant Management Seminar (GMS), the grant writer had not been one of them and just assumed that somehow the MOU had already been dealt with. However, our gentle readers mistook our article to be critical of the grant writer when what was intended was the criticism of the club’s GMS attendees who didn’t advise or assist with the club’s grant application.
So let’s be clear … the teaching point to clubs is … send attendees to the GMS who commit to being engaged in the club’s grant application process.
Another sad story is actually a rather common one. The club has only one member attendee at the GMS. The club is now eligible to apply for a Rotary grant. However, that one attendee passes away, moves away, becomes ill, or leaves the club. This situation leaves the club in a similar situation as the story above.
So another teaching point to clubs … send at least two of your members who will be committed to engaging in the grant application process.
Not only does this provide some redundancy, but having more than one attendee at the GMS will help be sure that what one person doesn’t hear or understand, the other one might.
Enough teaching points for today. We don’t want to be accused of being pedantic.
All Rotarians are welcome to register and attend either the March 24, in-person GMS in Williamsburg or the April 21 GMS Webinar. Both with meet the club’s attendance requirement and both will deal with both district and global grants. Registration is available now for March 24 on dacdb.com calendar. The Webinar registration will be available around between March 5th and March 15. Please see the March24 Flyer.
GMS Registration now live!
10 Saturday Feb 2018
Posted in Rotary Grants, The Rotary Foundation
A little news you can use!
SuAnne Hardee Bryant (R) Grants Chair
Clubs, have the members you assigned to work on your 2018-19 district or global grant application register for the Grant Management Seminar (GMS) which will be held on March 24, 2018, Registration is at the dacdb.calendar by scrolling down to the March 24th date. It will again be held at the Colonial Heritage Club in Williamsburg, Virginia. It will be from 8:30 until Noon and the price of $25 includes a Full Southern Breakfast.
It is important that a club send at least a couple of grant assigned people so that if one person moves, gets sick, or goes off on a honeymoon, there is another club member who knows the drill.
Last year a very well known club was declined on the first pass. Why? Because the grant writer had not submitted the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding). Why? Because the grant writer was not one of the three people from the club who attended the GMS. Happy ending though, the club received its grant on the second pass.
Remember that the grant application process is totally online. No FEDEX, no faxes, no personal hand deliveries to the Grants Grants Chair. If you want money for that special project, accept all the training and suggestions you can get.
A GMS webinar will be held in April but it is still in the planning stages and the registration is notyet available for it.
It’s a little red hen thing … be prepared!
22 Monday Jan 2018
Posted in Rotary 7600 Foundation News, Rotary Grants
How to plan for the Grant Management Seminar on March 24th …
Registration on dacdb.com during 1st week of February.
The Grant Managment Seminar (GMS) is required for a club to be eligible for the award of a district 7600 grant or global grant. The Rotary Foundation requires that these GMSs be interactive and District 7600 will provide an in-person GMS on March 24th in Williamsburg at the Colonial Heritage Club and will also provide a webinar on April 21 which may be attended in person in Hampton or via webinar. Registration for the March 24th GMS will be available the first week of February on dacdb.com
Preparing for the GMS:
No, you don’t have to do any homework for the GMS, but looking over some of the 2017-2018 grants in dacdb.com (yes, you have to log in) will give you an idea what kinds of information are required and/or permitted in your online application package.
After you log on to dacdb you will see an array of tabs going across the screen. Click on the ‘GRANTS’ tab and you will see a list of the grants approved for 2017-18.
This image is too hard to read on a laptop (if on a mobile device you may be able to pinch and expand) but you will see the line of tabs across the screen just under the blue and red DACdb logo. About 2/3rds across you can see that one tab is highlighted in blue. That is the grants tab.
When you click on the grants tab you will see beneath the Grants tab the 2017-18 grants. The first column lists the clubs involved in each grant. The second column is the name of the grant. You can click on each grant and it will pull up documents and pictures provided by the club(s) for the grants committee to consider in its deliberative process.
An example of the grant application documentation.
Again, we know this is hard to read unless you are looking at it on a mobile device. You should be able to pinch and expand for a bit more detail. Here we clicked on the South Hill Grant. This is an instance when the club provided some pictures to increase its chances of an approval by the grants committee. Just above the pictures is a section which includes the documents necessary for grant consideration. There is for sure … the grant application and the MOU and whatever other documents required such as a budget, any agreements with participating partners, and so on.
So, what’s the point?
Well, here is the chance for your project/grant committee to look at how other clubs (remember, these were all approved grants) have put together their grant submissions. There is also contact information for the leads on each project. It is a chance for your grant committee to learn some of the ropes from those who have already been successful. It may also help your grant committee hone in on questions to ask at the GMS in March.
It will help the club so much in its efforts if it asks at least two members to attend who will actually be involved in the grant application, submission, execution, and closing of grant documentation. It will save so much confusion.
Prepare for the upcoming grants year!
14 Sunday Jan 2018
Tags
District Grant Application Deadline May 15, Grant Management Seminar March 24, SuAnne Hardee Bryant
Dates have been released to help with completing and submitting those grant applications … district & global:
SuAnne Hardee Bryant
The application deadline for district grants is May 15. To help clubs submit successful grant applications SuAnne Hardee Bryant and the grants team will be providing an in-person Grant Management Seminar (GMS) on March 24 at the Colonial Heritage Club in Williamsburg Virginia, which will cover both district and global grants. It will be followed on April 21st by a Webinar devoted to Global Grants. Attendees may attend remotely or in person at the Peninsula Workforce Development, TNCC, Hampton, Virginia.
More information will follow about registration information and seminar materials but do get these dates added to your calendar now.
A few points about the district GMS:
- attendance is required each grant year for a club to be eligible to submit a grant application
- The Rotary Foundation requires that the GMS be interactive, therefore watching a video is not acceptable to meet the requirements for eligibility purposes; however, watching the video of the webinar is acceptable to refresh one’s memory of the information provided and to share with other members of the club or project team.
- the grant application process is totally online through the grants module of the district and club database (dacdb.com)
- the grants team is available to assist with human kindness, provided the request is not “a last minute”, urgent request.
Other 2018 Dates are on the Events page:
Watch this site for updated grant materials as they are developed and released.
Promoting Local Economies
24 Friday Nov 2017
Posted in Rotary 7600 Foundation News, Rotary Grants
Tags
Blackstone Rotary, Bus Stop, Chester Rotary, Economic & Community Development, Improving Local Economies, Police K-9 Training Facility
We’ve done two articles on Community & Economic Development District Grants:
Today we look at another two of the District 7600 grants in this area of focus … framed as promoting local economies. This is a broad topic. Last week we featured work on the significant improvements to a deteriorated playground by the Area 7 clubs. The grant application emphasized that the park is really a regional resource and would benefit a larger number of citizen families, greatly improving quality of life, recreation and play resources for children, and forming a lasting, impactful partnership with the local government. Today we look at two more District 7600 grants which have designated Economic & Community Development as the primary or one of their primary areas of focus.
Blackstone Rotary’s Bus Stop Grant:
The Town of Blackstone currently has a bus service, however, there is only one covered bus stop shelter along its route. The Rotary Club of Blackstone wishes to partner with the Town to construct one covered bus stop shelter in a busy section of Town. The Town agrees to donate $1,000 towards the project. The Rotary Club will purchase a covered bus stop shelter and through coordination with the Town, survey, pour concrete and construct the bus stop shelter. We also hope to inspire other organizations to assist. (Picture and italicized text from the grant application.)
What could have been emphasized here was that this will probably serve a population which will use this bus stop to get to work, get to medical appointments, shop, and get to recreation facilities, thus there is an impact on more than one area of focus. Rotarians will be actively involved in the hands-on work, will build a lasting asset for the community, set an example for other organizations, and enhance an already existing strong relationship with the town government.
Support of Police K-9 Training Center by Chester Rotary:
Yep, Chester Rotary has gone to the dogs. This summary below of the club’s grant application best describes the grant.
The Rotary Club of Chester Virginia seeks to assist with the upgrade, maintenance, and repair of the Chesterfield County Police K-9 Training Center. The center continuously trains handlers and tracking and narcotics detection dogs (handlers and dogs are either training or working 8-hour days 20 days per month). Going forward, the county plans to increase the number of handlers and dogs as a component of its strategic community education and safety effort. This training center is bare-bones funded by Chesterfield County in the annual budget process and funding does not keep pace with need. The center, however, supports and is used by at least four smaller police departments and local Virginia State Police that offer no contributing resources or funds. Overuse of the center results in more rapid wear and tear of items and facilities reduces training time and can be a safety concern. Items to be purchased will increase the number of dogs and handlers that can train at the facility at the same time, expand the scenarios for training, and will protect dog and handler from injury. Maintenance and repair (M&R) labor support will be provided by members of the Chester Rotary Club; individual members of Chester’s local Boy Scout Troop and the Thomas Dale Interact Club will be able to earn credit towards merit badge and community service requirements. Our marketing strategy is to ensure club sponsorship: is listed on the club’s web page and is added to the marketing list of community projects supported by this Rotary club; is included in information announcements in area community newspapers; additionally, the K-9 handlers with dogs have agreed to exhibit at our major BBQ fundraisers to educate the community – this will also counter stereotypical images of police dogs frequently on display via Hollywood/television entertainment media. The K-9 department is currently seeking county approval for a Rotary emblem at the training facility entrance. In sum, our effort will assist the Chesterfield County Police in its effort to protect the citizens of this county and will help other departments across the greater Central Virginia region. and will have sustaining value year-over-year for the working life of the dog.
Besides partnering with the County Police Department, there will be support for an opportunity for engagement with the Boys Scouts of America and with one of the club’s Interact Clubs. What is mentioned elsewhere is that the facility will promote the training of Police K-9 for community safety, not just tracking duties, which will enhance the ability for the Police Department to provide services to the elderly and youth in the community.
The grant application did not include any pictures, but we figured you knew what a dog looks like. OK, can’t resist. These are not Police K-9s, but they will suffice for the moment.
Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.
D7600 Rotary Foundation News 