Untitled design

Rotary Basketball Tournament 2020

Despite the cancellation of the annual Rotary basketball tournament, sponsors' donations still allowed us to give $13,886 to help Special Olympics athletes in the Ozarks.   The three-night tournament at Drury University's O'Reilly Event Center was canceled in March because of restrictions on large gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robin Anderson, development director for Special Olympics Missouri's southwest region, accepted the check from Rotary Club representatives on June 17.

The tournament is more than 30 years old.    All the clubs in Springfield, including the Springfield Rotaract Club, plus the Ozark Rotary Club, spend hours and create buckets of sweat getting their teams ready for the tournament.  Southeast Rotary Club usually has about 20 players and sometimes fields two teams.   In the early years of the tournament, clubs in Branson, Lebanon, Bolivar and other cities participated, and some games were held in other cities.

Most of the revenue for the tournament  is from sponsors and club donations.   We're grateful to all the sponsors for their support even though we were not able to play.

Marc Mayer (second from left) chairs the Springfield Southeast Rotary Club Basketball Committee.

2020 Community Grants

Thanks to the hard work of our Community Grants Committee, our club paid $5,000 to local non-profit groups for our Spring Cycle grants. The selected grant recipients are:
  • Dynamic Strides - $1,000
  • Good Dads - $1,000
  • The Victim Center - $1,000
  • NAMI SWMO Hope Center - $1,000
  • CASA - $1,000

In addition, after the All-City Meeting on May 13 was canceled, all the Springfield Rotary Clubs decided to redirect budgeted funds for this event toward a District Flex Grant for The Discovery Center to help fund its childcare program for healthcare workers during the pandemic.  The Flex Grant provided matching funds and allowed the clubs to make a total donation of $8,400. 

Community Grants criteria

The community grants committee of the Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast is charged with the responsibility of recommending to the board of directors those charitable contributions made in the club’s name for the Rotary year. (Rotary years begin July 1 and end June 30.) The funds for the year are generated from the service fund assessment.

Organizations are welcome to apply for a community grant; however, all applicants must meet the following minimum criteria:

CHARITABLE. Grants must be used for a charitable purpose by a 501(c)3 organization.

LOCAL. Grants must used within southwest Missouri.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT. Proposals must specify a community benefit. Requests for funds for general operating expenses are discouraged.

RECOGNITION. Proposals must specify how the contribution will be acknowledged in a way that promotes community awareness of the Rotary Club of Springfield Southeast.

Springfield Southeast wishes to utilize community grants to achieve the greatest possible impact across a broad range of projects each year. To do this, we award grants ranging from $500 to $1,000+.

Every year, Springfield Southeast determines its scope of grant interest based on Rotary International’s goals and club goals. Usually, grants are focused on literacy, hunger, and health; however, occasionally, other areas are considered.

Community Grants application process

Applications for grants are reviewed by our community grants committee. Requests for funds come from Southeast member suggestions, mail solicitations, personal solicitations from community organizations, and ideas generated by committee members.

There are two grant cycles every Rotary year, and organizations are encouraged to submit their proposals any time throughout the year to be considered for the next review cycle on the calendar.

The grant process includes two steps:
1) A review of the proposal by the committee
2) An in-person presentation (approximately 10 minutes) by the applying organization to the committee.

After presentations, the committee reviews the proposals and makes a recommendation to the board of directors. After the board of directors approves the grants, the committee notifies applicants.

SUBMISSIONS
Submit your proposal by email as an attachment, as well as proof of your 501(c)3 status, to info@springfieldsoutheastrotary.org.

Community Grants proposal form

PDF

Download "SER-Grant-Proposal-Form.pdf"