District Grant Overview 2025 - 26

Global Grants support large international projects with long-term, sustainable outcomes in one or more of Rotary’s areas of focus. While it is possible for it to be completed within a single Rotary year, typically a Global Grant spans over several years depending on the size and the scope. The World Fund will match up to $400,000 but your club as the lead club is responsible for garnering a minimum level of funding to access the Global Grant program. Bottom line, In the 2025-26 Rotary Year if you gather up a minimum $10,000 of seed money that will turn into a $41,500 to spend on your international project! Global Grants are administered by Rotary International. For more information on Global Grants and the process of application, please refer to the Global Grant section on the www.rotary5130.org/grants website.

District Grants, on the other hand, fund smaller-scale, short-term projects that address immediate needs in your community or abroad. These grants must be completed within a Rotary year and are easier to obtain than Global Grants with fewer restrictions and requirements. The District Grants typically range between $2,000 and $3,000 depending on the available District allocation for that year and are reimbursed on a 1:1 basis. District Grants are administered by the District Foundation Grant Committee. For more information on District Grants, proceed with this document.

In essence, it’s free money! It’s a 1:1 matching grant from District 5130 to fund a short term project or activity that your club wants to do within the time frame of a single Rotary year. While a Global Grant is more intensive in its requirements with higher funding amounts, a District Grant is a smaller funding amount and fairly easy to get!

In 2025-26, approximately $83,000 will be available to the district as a block grant to fund the District Grants program available to Clubs who complete the qualification process. This amount will be used for District Grants to match club contributions to their own small local and international projects on a 1:1 basis. If all clubs in the district were to apply for their equal share of the matching grant funds, the maximum available to each club would be about $1,800. In practice, however, on a historical basis not all clubs do apply, so the *maximum grant this year will be $2,300. In the event there are more eligible applications than funds available, all awards will be prorated to not exceed the available funds.

District Grant projects must be completed, and reimbursements requested no later than May 31, 2026.*

Every year, Rotarians throughout our District 5130 donate money to The Rotary Foundation (TRF). Three years after it is received, about half of the total amount contributed by our district in that year goes into TRF’s World Fund. An equal amount is held in a District 5130 account at TRF where it is to be distributed, subject to certain guidelines, by the district itself. Called District Designated Funds (DDF), these district-controlled monies can be used for either local or international projects.

District Grants fund short-term projects and activities that will be completed during a Rotary year. The projects are sponsored by Rotarians and relate to the mission of the Rotary Foundation - “to advance world understanding, good will, and peace through the improvement of health, the support of education, and the alleviation of poverty.” These grants are administered at the district level and can be used for both local and international projects, scholarships, vocational training teams and related travel. Unlike Global Grants, District Grants can fund activities in both Rotary and non-Rotary geographic areas.

Yes. At this time, clubs may apply for a maximum of two District Grants. The requested match for both grants may not exceed the per-club maximum established for the year. Clubs may also collaborate on a district grant project with another club(s), with one club taking the lead and agreeing to administer the funds. Each club’s contribution will be matched by DDF to the extent the per-club maximum allows. In addition, making a financial contribution to a joint application filed by another lead club does not count against the donor club’s two-grant limit. For example, a club could donate $500 to a joint international (or local) project and still apply for two small grants on its own to use up the rest of its DDF allocation.

Right. All projects funded by DDF must adhere to the Terms and Conditions for Rotary Foundation District Grants and Global Grants. Available at https://my.rotary.org/en/take-action/apply-grants/district-grants - this is a lengthy and complex set of rules, only some of which are applicable to the District Grant matching funds we are discussing here. To save time and effort, the most salient rules and restrictions that are applicable to these small district grants are set out in this overview document and tested on the Qualification Quiz. Rotary districts are also free to establish their own requirements for club-initiated district grant projects, and a longstanding 5130 policy strongly encourages clubs to use these small grants to fund new or expanded activity, not to replace a portion of their recurring annual budget. Exceptions can be made for projects that necessarily take more than a year to complete but are still one-time projects.

Grants cannot be used to unfairly discriminate against any group; promote a particular political or religious viewpoint; support purely religious functions; support activities that involve abortion or that are undertaken solely for sex determination; fund the purchase of arms or ammunition; or serve as a new contribution to the Foundation or another Rotary Foundation grant (ie seed money for a Global Grant) but a district grant MAY fund a community needs assessment for a proposed global grant.

In addition, district grants cannot fund these activities (among others):

•Purchase of land or buildings

•Fundraising activities

•Expenses related to Rotary events such as district conferences, conventions, institutes, anniversary celebrations, or entertainment activities

•Public relations initiatives, unless they are essential to project implementation

•Operating, administrative, or indirect program expenses of another organization.

•Unrestricted cash donations to a beneficiary or cooperating organization.

•Activities for which the expense has already been incurred

Yes and no. All TRF-funded grants, including District Grants, require the active involvement of Rotarians, so it is expected that representatives from all clubs involved in joint projects of a local nature will be actively involved in the project’s planning and/or implementation. You can certainly partner with other organizations but there has to be that Rotarian involvement in not only the project itself but also the planning, implementation, administration and reporting. Since you are able to use a district grant to help fund an international project or your Club wants to use District Grant give funds to a project by a local charity, you have to be able to demonstrate that you are involved in the planning and implementation of the project, but not necessarily be on site at the project.

No! Although planning activities should begin way before the August 1 application deadline, under the applicable restrictions, grants can “only fund activities that have been reviewed and approved before their implementation.” Thus clubs will need to wait for formal approval from the Grants Subcommittee before beginning to implement their local and international grant projects. The subcommittee will either approve the application or return it for necessary revisions before or near August 1.

The District Matching Grants are funded on a “reimbursement basis”. Additional stewardship responsibilities assumed by the District under the Rotary International grants system require it to maintain complete and accurate financial records for all grant expenditures and make those records available for audit at any time. So it is even more necessary to ensure that documentation is in place before grant funds are released. The reimbursement policy means that clubs involved in joint projects as well as individual club projects must make their own contributions and advance the amount of the requested DDF match for their share during the implementation phase of the project. You will be reimbursed for the advanced amount when the final report on the project has been submitted and accepted. For example, if you have been approved for a $2,300 matching grant, your club will need to provide proof of having spent $4,600 in order to receive the DDF reimbursement. Please remember to keep copies of all invoices and receipts. Any partner Rotary clubs assisting with financing as part of the District Grant will need to provide a copy of the check written from their club bank account for that club to receive their grant reimbursement. Those will be required to be submitted with your final report. The deadline for your final report is *May 31, 2026 OR 60 days after the completion of your project if earlier. The final report documents will be found on our District website www.rotary5130.org/grants.

Well you just completed Step 1 by reading this overview! Now you're ready to go onto STEP 2. But before you do, below is an overview of the timeline and the what happens with the remaining steps in the process!

STEP 2: Get Qualified! The 2025-26 President and the “primary contact” on the application will need to the pass District Grant Qualification Quiz and sign Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) found here or on the website. Passing score on the quiz is 5 out of 6 questions answered correctly. You can take the quiz more than once if needed. The links to the Quiz and the MOU are also located at the end of this document. This documentation is due no later than * June 30, 2025*. However, you are strongly encouraged to get this completed and submitted ASAP (ie: do it now)!

STEP 3: Complete the District Grant Application. Once both contacts have completed the Quiz and signed the MOU you're now ready for Step 3. *The grant application is due NO LATER than *, * July 30, 2025. There will be NO exceptions made to this date and, from one past club president to an incoming club president, I recommend that you do NOT wait until the last minute on this.

STEP 4: Once your application is approved (which should be by no later than early September, 2025), you are ready to implement your project! Remember, do not begin implementation of your project until you have received notification that your application has been approved by the District.

STEP 5: Once your project is complete, submit your Final Report to the District for approval and reimbursement funding. This report can be found here or on the District website www.rotary5130.org/grants . The Final Report is due within 60 days of completion of the project and no later than May 31, 2026

Click on this link to take the short District Certification Quiz! District Certification Quiz!*

Click on this link to view the District Grant Memorandum of Understanding that needs to be signed by the President and Club Primary Contact. MOU

Congratulations! You are now ready to start the process of obtaining your District Matching Grant. Click on the links below to take the District Grant Qualification Quiz and sign the MOU.
NOTE - all of the answers to the Quiz questions are found in this District Grant Overview document. Remember both the President and an additional Primary Contact from your Club will have to complete this documentation.

Questions? Contact Terry Dereniuk, the District Grant Subcommittee Chair at rotary5130grants@gmail.com or 707.337.2871.