Rotary Australia World Community Service Limited Chairman’s Report for 2012 / 2013 Rotary Australia World Community Service Limited (RAWCS) has for the past 49 years been providing humanitarian aid throughout the world. Australian Rotarians and Rotary Clubs can be extremely proud of this achievement. This year we have also achieved the right to be able to provide benevolent support to people in Australia – charity really does begin at home. RAWCS now has two primary arms: • The Rotary Australia Overseas Aid Fund – for work in developing countries; and • The Rotary Australia Benevolent Society – for benevolent work in Australia. Both of these funds are fully tax deductible for individuals, public corporations, charities and Private Ancillary Funds. RAWCS is run by a Board of Directors, through five Regions across Australia and involves thousands of Rotarians who give countless hours of their time in all sorts of ways to make a difference in the lives of people they will likely never meet. RAWCS engages with more Rotarians than any other Rotary organisation in Australia. This huge body of people spread across the immense diversity of our great land, have in the last twelve months collected and spent in excess of $23.7 million on humanitarian aid in over 26 different countries. They have in addition donated in excess of $11 m in donated goods through Donations in Kind and Project Volunteers. Local volunteers have spent well over 30,000 hours sorting and packing goods to send overseas and RAWCS has sent 154 teams consisting of 1,067 volunteers to overseas projects. In the last three years Rotarians Against Malaria have distributed in excess of 3.5 million long life insecticide treated bed nets in Papua and New Guinea alone. This is Rotary in Action. This is RAWCS. The Board of Directors of RAWCS for 2012 / 2013 were: ChairmanJohn McLaren SecretaryMichael Perkins TreasurerMichael Whitehouse Immediate Past ChairmanLou Johnson Northern Region ChairAilsa Hay Eastern region ChairHarry Durey Southern Region ChairMani Seneviratne Central Region Chair Roberta Waterman Western region Chair Ron Geary District Governor’s Rep 12 / 13David Mason District Governor Elect’s Rep 12 / 13Hank De Smit The Board of RAWCS has taken a strategic approach to planning for the continuing growth in our activities and the increasing participation of Rotarians in RAWCS projects. Our administrative systems have been upgraded and much need assistance to our key volunteer base is being provided through our part-time secretarial support Belinda Griffen operating out of RDU in Parramatta. The sheer size of RAWCS activities is pushing our very willing volunteers into what is fast becoming a full-time commitment. The Board recognizes that this is unsustainable, particularly in light of our continuing growth, and we are progressively providing part-time support to ensure we stay on top of the administrative workload. The levy on non-Rotary donations is in part used to cover these costs. The Board have significantly upgraded our Web presence and are continuing to enhance our on-line capabilities. Systems for the Rotary Australia Benevolent Society are designed to operate entirely on-line, from project registration to an on-line donations facility. We are a large and leading Australian Rotary organisation and we take the governance responsibilities for this organisation very seriously. The Board believe that where possible we should be working with other Rotary organisations. To that end, we have aligned RAWCS activities with The Rotary Foundation’s areas of focus and we are continuing to see where we can work together with other organisations. Next year we celebrate 50 years of RAWCS – come to the Convention in Sydney in 2014 and see our display. Please take the time to contact your Regional RAWCS committee as they put on information days across the country and always have great stories for your Club bulletin or local paper. On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank the army of volunteers who give their time, talent and funds to support the great work of Rotary through RAWCS. I also personally take this opportunity to thank the Directors, Activity Chairs and Management Team for their work and support throughout the last twelve months – it is a pleasure to work with such dedicated people. John McLaren Chairman Rotary Australia World Community Service Limited
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 12:01:12 +0000
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