September 6, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Rotary Club of Prior Lake Announces their Dollars @ Work
Local Donations and Projects Account for the Majority
Prior Lake, Minn. – On Monday, September 6, 2021, the Rotary Club of Prior Lake released their charitable giving for the Rotary year 2020-2021, which runs from July 1-June 30. The funds raised at Prior Lake Rotary’s Lakefront Music Fest, the Club’s largest fundraiser, go to the Prior Lake Rotary Foundation. Those funds are then used to do good in the community and throughout the world. The good is through projects the Club participates in and/or funds, and worthy non-profit organizations the Club contributes to. In total, the charitable giving for the year was $129,297. This is despite the fact we were unable to hold the 2020 Music Fest due to COVID. The chart below breaks down the giving by category.
The Prior Lake Rotary Foundation was started following the inaugural year of Lakefront Jazz and Blues Festival in 2010. Rather than using a 501c3 as a passthrough and pay a fee, the Club wanted to create our own 501c3 so all the money raised through our fundraiser stayed in our coffer.
Besides the monetary giving, Club members donate countless hours to projects such as being mentors for the S.T.R.I.V.E. program at Bridges Area Learning Center, facilitating an ethics program for high school students. performing cleanup and maintenance in City parks and roadways, participating in a Harvest Pack food packing event for non-profit organizations including the CAP Agency and ROCK, and serving some of the county’s neediest families through the holiday gift box initiative. Volunteer hours for the 2020-2021 Rotary year was estimated at 608 hours.
Beyond the Club, members are extremely generous giving to Rotary International’s programs. For the 8th year in a row, the Rotary Club of Prior Lake was #1 in the 5960 Rotary District for contributing to PolioPlus, Rotary International’s initiative to end polio. In total the Club and its members gave $15,761. And the Club and its members are perennially #1 in the District in total and per capita giving on an individual basis to The Rotary Foundation, the body that is the engine for all the good done worldwide. The total in 2019-2020 was $52,215, and most all Club members contributed to the number. The members know it is not the money given, but the difference those monies make with positively impacting our community and communities across the world.