How much should we donate?
Training a teacher costs around A$200 for a ten-day course, amounting to A$1,000 over three years. Such amounts can be donated directly to the Association. However, by sponsoring Rotary Foundation Global Grant projects, Rotary Clubs can achieve much more by attracting Foundation contributions. The Foundation matches every dollar of Club contributions with a further 50c.
The leverage can be increased even further by persuading your District to contribute from their District Designated Funds, as every such contribution is matched by the Foundation $ for $. The amount a District can contribute will depend on the funds it has available. Let us say it can match Club contributions at 50c. per $. That will lead to a total Foundation contribution of $1.50 per $1.00 of Club contribution.
In this case a Club contribution of $400 (paid as a lump sum or spread over three years) would yield $1,000, covering the training of a teacher over three years. That's so cheap, why not make it $1,333 per year over three years, yielding $10,000, thus covering the costs of training ten teachers? Even better, commit to $5,000 per year over three years. Just three Clubs contributing at this level would fund another Global Grant project, giving another 80 teachers 50 days training.
Others have done it
As the adjoining tables show, private donors and Rotary clubs have seen the benefits and have contributed generously. Please join them to extend our programs to ever more teachers in Nepal.
The project has four primary actual / potential sources of funding
Rotary International /
The Rotary Foundation
Our teacher training activities were initiated in 2011 with the help of a Rotary Foundation District Grant. Activities thereafter were funded from other sources until March 2017 when a new 3-year project commenced, funded by a Rotary Foundation Global Grant project.
Foundation Global Grants are awarded to closely defined projects not exceeding 3 years. Such projects are excellent for expanding the range of our training to new areas.
As they are not available for the development of LEARN, nor for the provision of on-going annual refresher training, we're also dependent upon funding from other sources.
Donors / Philanthropists
Our achievements to date have been predominantly due to generous supporters, including many on our Newsletter email list. If you would like to join this list, please email info@nepalaid.org.au.
Our greatest support has come from the estate of Andrew Jack (see next column). His legacy has allowed us to fulfill his wishes of advancing education in under-developed countries.
Please see 'Donate' under 'Contact us' to make your own contribution.
Income from Capital Fund
In 2016 we received a grant of $800,000 from the estate of former Rotarian Andrew Jack of the Rotary Club of Portland, Western Victoria (District 9780). This followed two previous grants which helped to sustain our operations in 2013 and 2014.
The funds have been invested and now provide a secure income stream.
This has been important in allowing us to assure LEARN of our ability to provide the funding needed to engage staff on indefinite employment contracts.
Accreditation with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Just 50 aid agencies in Australia are accredited with DFAT. Full accreditation yields $500,000 per annum over five years to be directed to international aid, while Base accreditation yields $150,000 pa for 5 years.
Accreditation is a long and arduous process, but we have set the goal of achieving Base accreditation, following the example of the Australian Himalayan Foundation which achieved it in 2012 for its similar work in the Solu Khumbu District of Eastern Nepal.