Campaign aims to grow endowment

Operating with a US$6 million endowment, the Kiwanis International Foundation awarded US$1.8 million to Kiwanis clubs and districts in the 2004-05 administrative year. The money assisted a number of worthy local projects, such as clothing 2,325 disadvantaged children, restoring a used ambulance as a mobile injury-prevention classroom, and delivering medicine and vitamins to more than 3,000 orphans.

Imagine the difference $37 million will make.

At the 91st Annual Kiwanis International Convention in Montréal, Québec, Foundation President Stan L. Storey announced a $37 endowment-building campaign, titled “You Can Make a Difference—The Campaign for Ensuring the Future of Kiwanis Through the Kiwanis International Foundation.” This past January, Bridgeton, Missouri, Kiwanian Elmer H. Austermann Jr. and his wife, Bernyce, helped get the campaign started with a $1 million contribution. The campaign runs through December 31, 2008.

“Kiwanis has big dreams,” says President Stan. “We are building toward 1 million members by the year 2015. We envision more than 250,000 students worldwide catching the spirit of Kiwanis’ service-leadership philosophy through the Key Leader program. We see a future when the names Kiwanis and Kiwanis International Foundation are synonymous with serving the children of the world. When fully funded, this endowment will help Kiwanis achieve those dreams, generating about $1.75 million each and every year to underwrite an array of priorities that are based on Kiwanis International’s strategic plan.”

Plans for the allocation of campaign funds include:

• $13 million for youth leadership programs, such as Key Club, Circle K, Key Leader, and worldwide education projects.
• $16.75 million for future grants, supporting club and district projects, responding to disasters, and sustaining the gains made in the fight against iodine deficiency disorders, the world’s leading preventable cause of mental retardation.
• $5.25 million for future Kiwanis-family initiatives.
• $2 million for construction of the General Robert G. Moorhead International Auditorium at the Kiwanis International Office in Indianapolis.

For more details about the campaign, click here. To inquire about participating in the endowment campaign, phone 317-875-8755, ext. 236.