Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announce new fundraising agreement with Rotary
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2013
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announces a new fundraising agreement between Rotary International and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, advises that if the new agreement is fully realized, the value of the new partnership with Rotary is more than US$500 million."
An announcement at the Rotary International Convention in Lisbon, Portugal, set the stage for a bold new chapter in the partnership between Rotary and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in the campaign for polio eradication.
"Going forward, the Gates Foundation will match two-to-one, up to US$35 million per year, every dollar Rotary commits to reduce the funding shortfall for polio eradication through 2018," said Jeff Raikes, the foundation's chief executive officer, in a prerecorded video address shown during the convention's plenary session on June 25th.
The joint effort, called End Polio Now-Make History Today, comes during a critical phase for the Global Eradication Initiative. The estimated cost of the initiative's 2013-2018 Polio Eradication and Endgame Strategic Plan is US$5.5 billion. Funding commitments, announced at the Global Vaccine Summit in April, total US$4 billion. Unless the US$1.5 billion funding gap is met, immunization levels in polio-affected countries will decrease. And if polio is allowed to rebound, within a decade, more than 200,000 children worldwide could be paralyzed every year.
Rotary and the Gates Foundation are determined not to let polio make a comeback.
"We will combine the strength of Rotary's network with our resources, and together with the other partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), we will not just end a disease but change the face of public health forever," said Raikes.
In 2007, the Gates Foundation gave The Rotary Foundation a US$100 million challenge grant for polio eradication, and in 2009, increased it to US$355 million. Rotary agreed to raise US$200 million in matching funds by June 30, 2012, but Rotarians in fact raised US$228.7 million toward the challenge.
"Now is the time for us all to take action: Talk to your government leaders, share your polio story with your social networks, and encourage others to join you in supporting this historic effort," Raikes added. "When Rotarians combine the passion for service along with the power of a global network, you are unstoppable, and the Gates Foundation is proud to partner with you. Let's make history and End Polio Now."