Rotary Foundation
What is the Rotary Foundation?
The Rotary Foundation (TRF) supports Rotarians in achieving sustainable projects for communities locally and around the world, in any of our seven areas of focus. These seven key areas meet the world’s most critical humanitarian needs.
The seven areas of focus are:
- Peacebuilding and conflict prevention
- Disease prevention and treatment
- Water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Maternal and child health
- Basic education and literacy
- Community economic development
- Environment
The brief video alongside describes the work of the Rotary Foundation.
All Rotarians are encouraged to donate annually to the Foundation – these donations, fundraising and donations from other sources enable Rotary clubs around the world to work singly and separately on projects at home and abroad, through grants from the Rotary Foundation funds.
The Rotary Foundation’s most enduring success is in the fight against polio – End Polio Now. Two members of Winchester Rotary are polio survivors and several members have taken part in vaccination days in India. In the video, Professor Kordo Saeed and Gill Russell describe the disease and its effects. In Great Britain and Ireland, Rotary clubs have planted purple crocuses as a reminder of the campaign – purple is the colour used to mark the little finger of vaccinated children on national immunisation days. Only two countries still have cases – Afghanistan and Pakistan – we are so close….
“What we need to know about AMR” – fundraising event for End Polio Now
Our fundraiser for End Polio Now on 5 June at Winchester Science Centre was well-attended – and both informative and entertaining. Our local MP, Dr Danny Chambers (a veterinary surgeon) and our own Professor Kordo Saeed (Consultant Microbiologist at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust) discussed anti-microbial resistance (AMR). After a welcome from President Mark […]
“What we need to know now about AMR ” -fundraising event for End Polio Now
Click here to view press release Click here to read on Hampshire Chronicle website
End Polio funding and club fundraiser
All Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland (RotaryGBI) have recently received an email from RotaryGBI detailing their response to the UK Government’s decision to withdraw, after 2026, direct funding to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). To say that this is disappointing is something of an understatement – GPEI and its partners (of which Rotary […]
End Polio crocuses flowering around King Alfred
Once again, the iconic statue of King Alfred in the city centre is surrounded by purple crocuses. Planted on World Polio Day in October (with Winchester’s MP Dr Danny Chambers joining us), they flowered on World Polio Day in February – and haven’t quite finished yet! They have been spotted and commented on by visitors […]
Crocus planting for World Polio Day
With thanks to Winchester City Council, we have again been planting purple crocuses for World Polio Day in the centre of our city. This year we were delighted to receive enquiries from passers-by about the project and Rotary in general. The King Alfred statue will, we hope, be surrounded by crocuses in the spring. The […]
Mayors for Peace (Hiroshima Memorial Day) 2025
On Wednesday 6 August 2025, the annual commemoration of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, took place at Abbey House, the official residence of the Mayor of Winchester. This year marks the 80th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In his address of welcome, […]
Purple4Polio crocuses flowering
Last October, on World Polio Day, we planted more crocuses around the base of the King Alfred statue, to add to those first planted in 2020. We are delighted to see that they are flowering well – and this time a much brighter purple! We now have a number of sites around the city – […]
Crocus planting for End Polio Now
Following World Polio Day on 24 October, on Saturday 26 October a group of members and friends (including members of Winchester Rotaract), were joined by the Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith, in planting more purple crocuses around the statue of King Alfred in the Broadway. This will augment those planted in 2020 – and […]
Mayors for Peace – Winchester
The Mayors for Peace event was hosted by the Mayor of Winchester, Cllr Russell Gordon-Smith, to commemorate the 79th anniversary of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on 6th and 9th of August, 1945, and also to advocate for world peace and nuclear disarmament. The mayor welcomed to Abbey House representatives from many organisations […]
“Walk a Mile to End Polio” 29 October 2023
Big journeys start with a single step. There has been no bigger journey for Rotary than our mission to End Polio. Thanks to Rotary’s efforts, 20 million people have been saved from paralysis and are able to walk today. This fundraising activity reminds us of the life-changing difference eradicating polio is having. Walk a Mile to […]
First Rotary Peace Pole arrives in Winchester
The first Peace Pole of its kind in the UK, that has a Rotary Wheel on it, arrived in Winchester on Monday 9 October. The Peace Pole project started in Japan in 1955 and there are now believed to be about 250,000 Peace Poles around the globe, though not that many in the UK. A […]