Your legacy and the sustainability of Rotary’s service

The organizations that render service like Rotary, foresees that its Rotary Foundation have access to resources, coming from either companies or people in general that maintain it operative through punctual contributions, periodic contributions or legacies.

The mobilization of these resources is only possible through social authenticity conquered by our Rotary Foundation. As an entity that collect these resources from our society, it needs to turn them back in the form of services to noble causes and to satisfy the needs of the community in which it is inserted to obtain this authenticity.

Legacy is a manner not often used in some countries, like for instance in Brazil, to recognize this process of restitution of investments in services and utilize this model to leave properties or values at the disposal of our organization for them to produce the effects that by granting the economical sustainability of the Rotary Foundation trough its Endowment Fund, allows the lasting of Rotary’s service. By leaving a legacy, having the Rotary Foundation as beneficiary, we are guaranteeing the perennial service of Rotary to exert the philanthropy.

Philanthropy must be understood here as meaning “the love to humanity”. It can equally be expressed as the antithesis to selfishness.

On the wise words of Gandhi, in his apostolic thesis of non violence he expressed that “For violence not to exist, it is necessary that selfishness cease to exist”. It is then licit to conclude that in the majority of cases it is selfishness that impedes that by leaving a legacy performs philanthropy in its greatest expression of an act of love.

Rotarians pledge in their principles Ethics and through its disseminated practice, helping in the construction of an ethical society. It is trough the example of conscientious unselfishness that we can provoke through the use of our private properties to public social use, that we can motivate others to do the same.

This attitude of benefaction so well understood by Rotarians is more and more necessary to provide continuity in the assistance to areas forgotten by Governments in a growing pace throughout the world. For every action of neglecting by a Government in supplying the growing needs of a vulnerable population, occurs a reaction of the society, organizing nongovernmental institutions like Rotary that by its pioneer activity polarizes the society resources and the efforts of conscientious citizens and companies of their social responsibility to minimize or mitigate these detected vulnerabilities.

The economic sustainability of actions of rendering services granted by the Rotarians through our Foundation will only be effective, if we could understand that we should give some of our properties and values as a legacy to allow their perennial effects.

And Rotary will continue to be seen as an exemplary entity because Rotarians will continue to leave their legacy to the Rotary Foundation and that by doing that will guarantee that the rendering of services that we promote be continuous in doing good in the world.