Cadre Connection

Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Message from the Chair
Are you familiar with the Cadre?

The Rotary Foundation Cadre of Technical Advisers is a group of Rotary members who volunteer to provide technical expertise and advice to other members who are planning and carrying out Rotary grant projects around the world.

We often hear Rotary members, including some leaders, aren’t familiar with the Cadre and don’t know how to ask these advisers for support to ensure that their projects meet Foundation requirements and achieve their goals.

The Cadre: Your project-planning resource for community assessments
A recent survey of Rotary members about the value of Rotary’s programs and online offerings for members found that the most desired service skill was “assessing community needs to identify project opportunities.”

If you want guidance on community assessments, the Cadre can assist. Helping Rotary members plan projects is part of the Cadre’s mission, and the Cadre has more than 500 advisers with project-planning expertise.  

Contact your Cadre leaders to get connected with an adviser today.
 
Grant model evaluation year 3 report
Rotary’s Research and Evaluation staff has completed the third year of its evaluation of our current grant model, which is required by The Rotary Foundation Code of Policies. The year 3 report includes new information about global participation, district resources, data collection and usage, scholarships, and grant sustainability.  Some of the highlights:
  • 29% of the grant sponsors who responded indicated that they used the Cadre as a resource while working on their global grant projects. Of those who consulted the Cadre, 59% did so while designing the project and 37% did so during implementation.
  • Most of the data that grant sponsors collect about global grants reflects the output. That is, short-term changes, such as the number of people trained during a project. Some Rotary members, however, work with experts from the Cadre, local universities, or others to gather more data to monitor the progress of their projects and measure longer-term outcomes. They can then use this information to influence long-term change, for example, through institutional policies.
  • Cadre members completed 17 site visits during the 2022 calendar year in order to evaluate the sustainability of global grant projects that provided medical equipment. Generally, project outcomes were sustained when the objective was limited to providing medical equipment. When a project’s objective was to improve health outcomes, not enough data was collected to evaluate whether the projects achieved this.
Read the full report. If you have any questions, write to ri_research@rotary.org
The Cadre assists with 2022-23 Programs of Scale competition
Twenty-three members of the Cadre of Technical Advisers, representing all of our areas of focus and 16 countries, reviewed concept notes for the 2022-23 Programs of Scale competition. More than 200 Rotary and Rotaract clubs and Rotary districts worked together to submit 38 concept notes. The call for concept notes is the first step of the application process. In the second step, several groups that have the highest-rated applications are invited to submit a full proposal.

We encourage clubs and districts that are interested in applying for next year’s $2 million award to begin preparing early. Learn how to qualify and apply for this grant.

Cadre in ActionwNscP67RsRlpwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==

Cadre member and financial auditor Bobbe Barnes, of the Rotary Club of Fair Oaks Ranch, Texas, USA, visited a project in Northbrook, Illinois: a coffee shop that offers vocational training for community members with intellectual and developmental disabilities. People with developmental and intellectual disabilities are employed at a significantly lower rate than the labor force as a whole. At Café Voca, participants become more comfortable in a social setting and learn the skills they’ll need for other jobs.

Read more about the Café Voca job training program.

Cadre member spotlight: Bill StumbaughwOjVCX2WrI3ewAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==

William Stumbaugh joined Rotary nearly 35 years ago as a member of the Rotary Club of Santee-Lakeside, California, USA, and is currently a member of the Rotary Club of Bahía de Caráquez, Manabí, Ecuador. Bill joined the Cadre in 2011 and served as technical coordinator for basic education and literacy from 2015 to 2018. He is also involved in the Basic Education and Literacy Rotary Action Group as well as the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Rotary Action Group.

Bill has 35 years of service in five California communities as an educator and administrator. He has been a public-school teacher, bilingual teacher, school principal, and district director for special education, educational improvement projects, and school personnel. He has also been a district superintendent. He has a master’s degree in educational administration and a PhD in educational leadership.

Bill says that being a Cadre member has allowed him to meet new people, including project collaborators, and help Rotary members meet their goals. Through his contact with Rotary projects as part of the Cadre, Bill has seen members’ amazing creativity and dedication to humanitarian service. He also enjoys living cross-culturally and learning new ideas from others.