The RI Foundation: A Glimpse at Our Past (Part 1)

Even though the official beginning of the Rotary Foundation was 1917, it was not embraced by all Rotary members. There were many skeptics about the need for a Foundation, and for the first eight years, it was basically the pet project of Arch Klumph. But Klumph was relentless, and finally, in 1927 at the RI Convention in Belgium, there was a unanimous vote to amend the constitution to provide for acceptance of contributions to the Endowment Fund (soon to be known as the Foundation).

A board of five trustees was appointed to oversee the Foundation, and Arch C. Klumph became the first chair of the board. The Trustees stood firm on one issue: The Rotary Foundation should be built up only by voluntary donations, not from a tax on the members.

There wasn’t a rush of members contributing to the Foundation. Our country was involved in the Great Depression and a World War during the 30’s and 40’s, and people did not have an abundance of discretionary funds. Because of this, the Trustees asked members to take out life insurance policies for $1000 naming the RI Foundation as beneficiary. This was the main source of funds in those years.

Arch Klumph knew if the Foundation was going to succeed, things would have to change...