Rotary puts $2M up for grabs

There's $2 million dollars in the pot. It's earmarked for Educational Scholarships for frontline staff employed in the Not for Profit sector. Would you like to be able to support your favourite Not For Profit charity in a really meaningful way? Do you know an outstanding person whose leadership capabilities would be enhanced with further education and training?

The Australian Scholarships Foundation and the Rotary Club of Sydney have formed a collaborative partnership to launch a two year Pilot Program with a $2 million budget over two years. The aim is to identify and select appropriate candidates for the various scholarships on offer from leading educational institutions and corporations.

The Australian Scholarships Foundation was born when Rotarian Murray Wells (ex RC of Sydney) and investment banker Paul Murnane realised that many wonderful people in the Not for Profit (NFP) sector lacked access to on-going training and professional development : see www.scholarships.org.au

"Many NFPs simply don't have the financial resources to allocate to staff training and development" Murray said. "As a consequence, many of them battle to keep abreast of strategic management practices. When personnel lack the tools to enhance operational efficiency it is much harder to deliver optimal outcomes".

The Australian Scholarships Foundation (ASF) funds and facilitates training and education for people who work in the NFP sector. Its Mission is to increase the overall effectiveness of the sector which is responsible for a staggering $41 billion per year. $41 billion! At 5% of GDP it's a significant economic force.

There are Scholarships available for a range of management and finance training programs, postgraduate and undergraduate degrees, diplomas and certificate courses, short training programs and specialized mentoring services. Lincoln Hopper from Mission Australia who won a Scholarship to the prestigious Australian Institute of Company Director's course says the opportunity is "vitally important" to the sector.

These Scholarships are obviously hotly contested. Rotarians nationwide however, are being given a unique opportunity to submit names of potentially worthy candidates to Project Director Robert Funke - rfunke2@gmail.com at the Rotary Club of Sydney or Rotarian Liz Jeffrey - sharland@ozemail.com.au

Article written by Ann Burleigh, RC of Sydney, PR Chair D9750