The
Australian Lions Foundation or ALF as it is known, was set up in 1981 by
the District Governors of the Day and was formalised at the Multiple
District Convention at Mt Gambier in 1983.
ALF was set up with three trust deeds.
Deed 1 States
“ to provide help and assistance in all
forms, for public relief, emergency aid and community welfare for
persons in
necessitous
circumstances in Australia”.
Deed 2 is almost the same but
extends assistance to projects world wide to foster a spirit of
understanding and cooperation throughout the world.
Deed 3 does the same thing but
specifically mentions developing countries.
The fact is though; almost all funds go to assisting
Australian Lions Clubs in providing help with funds to accomplish their
own local projects here in Australia.
These projects are wide and varied in their nature. For
example, Armidale Duval requested and obtained a cash grant to help fund
the purchase and supply of a trailer for the Duval Bush Fire Brigade.
Kootingal was granted $2,000 towards the cost of a shower bed for
patients at the Moonbi Nursing home. South Tamworth Lions Club were
recently granted $5,000 to assist them in providing toilet facilities in
their local Lions Park and Nambucca heads received $3,000 for a similar
project. ALF has provided
funds
to help clubs provide wheel chairs, special computers and a host of
other things for Lions projects.
There are limitations on the issuing of grants and
basically they are :
The maximum grant is $15,000. ALF only assists to a
maximum of half the cost of the project. Grants are limited to the
availability of funds divided by the number of calls on those funds. If
the funds available are say $100,000 at a distribution meeting and there
are 20 Lions Clubs who have requested assistance then there will only be
a maximum allotted to each Club of $5,000
assuming that each Club has applied for more than $5,000. Otherwise it
is distributed in proportion to the funds requested.
How does ALF raise their fund to help the Lions Clubs
with their projects or to issue funds for emergency grants?
Lions Clubs are encouraged to make regular donations of
$1 per member on their second semi Annual Dues A/c.
By Lions or clubs making voluntary
donations, or by encouraging Lions to make bequests to ALF in their
wills.
If a Club makes a donation of $250 or more, then they
receive a beaut banner patch that can go on their banner and be shown at
every dinner or when the banner is displayed at convention.
The main way that ALF obtains funds is when a Lions Club
honours a Lion or a person or an organisation with one of the three ALF
awards. The most popular award is the J.D. Richardson award for $500 or
there is the Ian Stockdale award for $1,000 or the William R. Tresise
award for $2,000. These are prestigious awards, similar to the Melvin
Jones Fellowship except that the funds to purchase these awards stay in
Australia to assist Australian Lions Clubs.
An important matter to be aware of is that moneys donated
to ALF are invested and only the interest earned is used to provide
grants and administer the funds.
ALF has provided many emergency grants in times of
disasters. It could be floods or fires or other natural disasters such
as earthquakes and cyclones and things like that. Last year $176,000
was provided for emergency relief all over Australia, including $25,000
to help the people of Nundle following those disastrous floods last
year. $10,000 each was provided to the Lions Clubs of Winton, Longreach,
Carnarvon and Childers for emergencies including Floods Fires and
Cyclones.
As you can see, ALF does a mighty job with the limited
funds available.
We are trying to encourage the Presidents of every Club
in our district to honour at least one Lion or non Lion this year with a
JD Richardson Award for $500. If funds are available perhaps the
Presidents will also consider one of the other ALF Awards.
At present there are 48 JD
Richardson’s, 5 William R.Tresise Awardees and one Ian Stockdale
fellowship in this District. I am hoping for a lot more by the time this
Lions Year is finished.
I do have a limited supply of Grant application with the
criteria and details of the different ALF awards and a printout that you
might find of interest as well.
If you do have any more questions or if you would like to
get in touch with me when a problem does arise please feel free to do
so.
Lion Peter
McKellar
