A strong Rotary year 2025/2026 for the District 1990 Foundation

Dear Rotarians,Dear Rotaractors, The Rotary Foundation is building strong momentum across District 1990. More grants, a significant increase in giving and clearly defined Rotary priorities demonstrate what we can achieve when we act together. These encouraging results should inspire us to continu ... Dear Rotarians,Dear Rotaractors, The Rotary Foundation is building strong momentum across District 1990. More grants, a significant increase in giving and clearly defined Rotary priorities demonstrate what we can achieve when we act together. These encouraging results should inspire us to continue on this path, engage even more clubs and make fuller use of the opportunities offered by our Foundation. The District 1990 Rotary Foundation Committee can look back on a particularly successful Rotary year 2025/2026. Under the leadership of DRFCC Hanspeter von Flüe, the Foundation’s impact across our District has grown visibly, while laying solid foundations for further sustainable projects. The results speak for themselves: 10 Global Grants supported a wide range of international projects, particularly in water, health, eye care and prevention. 9 District Grants supported important local and international initiatives benefiting children, education, medical training and humanitarian assistance. 7 international scholarship recipients are being supported by clubs in our District as sponsors as they begin their study programmes in Switzerland. Giving to the Annual Fund increased by 42%, a particularly encouraging result. Overall giving increased by 27%, including contributions to the Annual Fund, PolioPlus, the Endowment Fund and direct contributions to Global Grants. This growth made it possible to turn numerous projects into reality. At the same time, the funds available for 2025/2026 were fully deployed and previous carryovers were reduced. These figures matter. But what matters even more is what lies behind them: clubs and Rotarians willing to take responsibility and turn our shared philanthropic commitment into tangible action. The increase in giving will enable our District to support even more Global Grants and District Grants in the years ahead. The potential is there. Our challenge now is to sustain this momentum and involve more actively those clubs that have so far made limited use of the Foundation’s opportunities, or have not yet contributed to it. In September, Rotary will highlight one of its key areas of focus: Basic Education & Literacy. This is an ideal opportunity for our clubs to develop educational initiatives, launch new projects and strengthen existing partnerships. We have created real momentum. Now we must build on it. The more our clubs actively support the Foundation, the more projects we can make possible, the more partnerships we can develop and the greater Rotary’s lasting impact will be, both in our communities and around the world. With Rotarian greetings,René LoretanGovernor 2026-2027