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Rotary's $200 Million Challenge
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded $255 million to Rotary International in the global effort to eradicate polio, bringing the total committed by Rotary and the Gates Foundation to $555 million.
In response to the new $255 million Gates Foundation grant, Rotary will raise $100 million in matching funds. In November 2007, RI received a $100 million Gates Foundation grant, which Rotary committed to match by raising $100 million.
The two Gates Foundation challenge grants now total $355 million. Rotary International’s matching effort in response is called Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge, which must be completed by 30 June 2012.
The $255 million grant is one of the largest challenge grants ever given by the Gates Foundation and the largest received by Rotary in its 104-year history. Rotary will spend the grant in direct support of immunization activities carried out by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which is spearheaded by RI and its partners, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF. Rotary will distribute the funds through grants to WHO and UNICEF.
The participation of Rotary clubs and individual Rotarians in Rotary’s $200 Million Challenge remains crucial to its success. Rotary has raised over $90 million toward this amount.. Each club is being challenged to organize a public fund raiser annually for the next three years.
Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985, with more than $1.2 billion contributed to the effort. Gates praised Rotary for providing the volunteers, advocates, and donors who have helped bring about a 99 percent decline in the number of polio cases. “The world would not be where it is without Rotary, and it won’t get where it needs to go without Rotary,” he said.
"The final hurdle still is ahead," said RI President John Kenny.
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