ROTARY FUNDS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17228, 7 April 1930, Page 2

ROTARY FUNDS

PROPOSED ENDOWMENT THE SCHEME EXPLAINED (Par Press Association.) THE CHATEAU, last night. Explaining the Rotary foundation endowment fund at the conference on Saturday, Mr. Charles Rhodes said the object was to provide an insurance against emergency or calamity that might seriously endanger the growth and usefulness of Rotary in the field of service to all society, particularly as the sixth object, which is of international importance, might be retarded. Rotary International obtained its current income chiefly from a capitation tax and fees, and both these sources were believed to be as high now as it was advisable to put them. Rotary s field of endeavor was world wide, and becoming every day Increasingly important, and no should ho run of any interruption of its forward march and general progress. The permanence and stability of Rotary International could not bo left to chance or exposed to the danger of weakened finance. The endowment fund was not to ho a compulsory liability of any Rotarian. nor really of any club, but it was hoped that no club president would ignore the propagation of the idea and the merits of the foundation fund. The objective was £2,000.000, which sounded ambitious, but such a sum would yield at best only £IOO,OOO a ve;ir, which in times of stress would be quickly swallowed up. How was the fund to he created? There was no desire to make a systematic levy on ail hands. That was entirely contrary to the Rotary ideal. There would .be thousands of Rotarians who would drop membership as age pi other reasons deprived them of their classification and who would still feel' desirous of continuing to prornote Rotary’s ideals, and the gift of a sum that would yield even £l per annum would bri a permanent reminder of their Rotary connection and interest. The bulk of the funds must coriie from memhers, and he thought that the most tangible and popular method would bo through life insurance On the endowment plan, wheieunder a club took out a- 10 years’ policy on some member’s life and paid the premium till death or maturity. The District Governor, Mr. C. J. Ronaldson, said that most of them were business men, with business instincts, and knew the value of a- reserve fund. He suggested that the particular's given by Mi 1 . Rhodes Should be discussed by clubs, so that presidents and secretaries who would attend the district assembly in August next corild submit some scheme that would commend itself to the whole of the 53rd district. This was agreed to. Short addresses were given by the remaining overseas Rotarians, Dr. Otto Monson and Mr. Elgin Stoddard. Both acknowledged the wonderful reception they had received in New Zealand and Australia. Dr. Monson, commenting on the statement that the United States was the home of Rotary, said that it was Britain that drew Rotarv across the border line and made it international. The majority of the delegates and their wives left for their homes this afternoon.