President Kathy called the sixth meeting of the year to order at 7:30 a.m. on the dot with the ringing of the bell and read the statement concerning the indigenous people who lived on the land we occupy here.   

 

Helen Oloroso - read “Why We Are Rotarians,” followed by the thought for the day from Aretha Franklin: “Being the Queen is not all about singing and being a diva is not at all about singing. It has as much to do with your service to people and your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.”

 

 

Ann Weatherhead – Reported that 10 Rotarians went on a tour of the Margarita Inn and met the staff.  More tours will be scheduled soon.  She also reported that 66 percent of the residents are now in safe housing and 90 percent of the residents that are being helped are Evanston residents. 

 

Bill Glader – Taste of Evanston continues to be in full swing:

Ann Searles – The new member event hosted at the home of Myra Janus was a great success.  Thank you, Myra!

 

Albert Menard – reminded everyone about the Golf Road Cleanup scheduled for Saturday, August 11, at 8:30 a.m. in  the TJ Maxx parking lot. 

 

Kathy Tate-Bradish – asked those interested in brainstorming fundraising ideas to contact her by email.  Kate Collinson and Jose Lopez have volunteered to join. 

 

Keith Banks – announced he is applying for the 2^nd Ward alderman position.  Good job!

 

 

Bryant Wallace and Kathy Tate-Bradish – Boasted Keith Banks for applying for  the 2^nd Ward alderman vacancy.

 

Joan Borg – Boasted everyone who came to last week’s meeting and were so flexible when we found out our regular meeting space was not available and had to pivot quickly to the cafeteria. 

 

John Osterland - Boasted everyone who had worked so hard in past years on the Holiday Sale.  In particular, he pointed out Barry Lundberg and Chuck Reman for their work in starting this fundraiser. 

 

Helen Oloroso – Boasted Kelly Fidei for her work on the TofE silent auction.

 

 

 

Eric Schmelling, Rotary Foundation Chief Philanthropy Officer, started by taking a look at the macro level of philanthropy and what this does in the U.S and how large it is.  Charitable giving in the U.S. for 2021 was $484 billion, with 67 percent from individuals. Some 1.4 million organizations are receiving these funds. Some 27 percent of these organizations are religion-based, 14% education, with only 3% environmental/animals.

 

Harvey Newcomb, Director of Principle Gifts for the Rotary Foundation, said there are two ways for giving--the Rotary Foundation and the EVLRC Foundation.  They are two different foundations.  Our club has given $642,000 to the Rotary Foundation since our club’s inception.  Gifts to the Rotary Foundation really drive a lot of the international work of our Rotary club and the Rotary district.  Gifts to the Evanston Lighthouse Rotary Club Foundation taking out the proceeds from our sales since 2006 total just over $120,000 so as you can see there's a lot of generous support for our club's foundation, in addition to the Rotary foundation.

 

In addition, there are 48 members currently of our club recognized as Paul Harris fellows.  A Paul Harris fellowship is awarded to a member who is recognized for total contributions outright to the Rotary Foundation of $1,000 or more.

 

During a conversation with Kathy Tate-Bradish about a fundraising committee, John Osterlund put forth the idea of an individual giving committee.  He now chairs that committee that is comprised of club experts in philanthropic giving. 

 

He started his presentation by thanking everyone for our generosity over the years and we have been a stand-out club in our district in terms of individual participation and performance.   Our committee, the individual giving committee, is going to support Helen Oloroso’s work in achieving the goals that Kathy Tate-Bradish has set for us for the Rotary foundation specifically this year.  Those are to raise $20,000 for the annual fund, $5,000 for polio plus to obtain two new bequest society members and three benefactors. The committee members will be contacting all club members over the rest of the year to educate everyone about giving options, tax implications, and so on. 

 

Michael Merdinger, who is a club member and a professional financial planner with extensive experience in philanthropic giving, explained that the role of the committee is to help educate.  How do you go about making gifts?  How do you identify what you can give?  How do you identify the best way to make a gift so that you're leveraging your gifts to whatever and choose to lower your taxes along the way?  How do you get the maximum amount available from whatever you decide to do, whatever organization you decide to do it with, the Rotary foundation, and all of the club? There will be another presentation about giving from the donor's perspective at another time. 

 

Karena Bierman  noted that August is the Make-A- Will month.  Half of Americans do not have a will, she noted. The Rotary Foundation offers all members a free service, which is preparing a will at no cost.  And you can go to Freewill.com/theRotaryFoundation and either completely prepare a will , or you can prepare it and take it to your legal advisors for review.  As information for the future, the U.S. Congress is looking at passing legislation that will allow you to take money out of your IRA and give it to charity, with a tax-neutral effect.

 

 

 

Basil – Rotary Club of Humbleside, Yorkshire, UK

 

Scott Daniels – District 6440 Assistant Governor

 

 

 

Cristobal Lubinda – Interested in our Club

 

 

Gary Peterson, Aug 17

 

Jean Saunders, Aug 17

 

Dieneba Soma, Aug 20

 

Sue Bova, Aug 22

 

John Searles, Aug 22

 

 

Barb Miles, 6 years - Aug 16, 2016