Grant Program for Rotary Scholars
For more than half a century, The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International has operated one of the largest scholarship programs in the world. Originally called the Ambassadorial Scholarship program, under the belief that scholars make the best ambassadors, The Rotary Foundation funded short-term and long-term scholarships for study around the world. In the past two years, The Rotary Foundation embarked on a program to streamline its operations and focus all its programs on longer term, sustainable impacts. It created and launched its “Future Vision Pilot”, to test its ideas about achieving these goals and doing greater good in the world, in keeping with its mission.
In the Future Vision Pilot, scholar activities moved into the Humanitarian Grants program and were re-defined, in accordance with the grants program. There are now two types of scholars – District Grant Scholars and Global Grant Scholars. The requirements and attributes for each are quite different.
In general, in District Grant Scholarships, the duration of the scholarship is shorter – no more than one year. The study may take place in the US or abroad and at any college level of study. There are no geographic limitations and each district has a great deal of flexibility in determining the eligibility of a project or scholar.
Conversely, Global Grants have a number of restrictions and requirements, including:
1. The scholarship must be for graduate level study.
2. The term of the scholarship may be no less than one and no more than four years.
3. The scholar must submit a proposal and application, including a detailed budget of at least $30,000
4. The scholar’s area of study and professional goals must be in one of the Future Vision’s six areas of focus:
Peace and Conflict Resolution
Disease Prevention and Treatment
Water and Sanitation
Maternal and Child Health
Basic Education and Literacy
Economic and Community Development
HOW DO I APPLY:
Global Grant Scholarships:
Rotary International has designed a new Global Scholar form which we hope will be available online in mid January. The application is markedly different and it will need to be filled out by the sponsoring club online. Those Global scholar applications will be due to the District Scholarship Committee by March 1, 2013.
District Grant Scholarships:
District Scholar Grants will use an updated version of the old DG form. We are designing a new fillable format that the applicants can fill out online and submit to their local club for sponsorship. Those applications will be available in June 2013, with the window closing in October 31, 2013. New this year is the opportunity for community college students to apply. Funds can be used for tuition, books, supplies, and other educational needs.
QUESTIONS ABOUT APPLYING:
Contact:
Marie Sikora, District 5170 Scholar Chair
MLSikora@earthlink.net
(831) 336-8853
You may also find resources at http://www.rotary.org/en/members/runningadistrict/futurevisionpilotprogram/pages/fv_global_grants.aspx