Rotary District 5440
Grants Committee and Resources
District and Global Grants
General Information
 
 
All grant applications requesting District 5440 DDF must be done online through the website www.matchinggrants.org
  • For district grants and Rotaract/Interact grants, the complete application is done on www.matchinggrants.org
  • For global grants, the proposal to request DDF funds from the district is done on www.matchinggrants.org  The Rotary International grant application is done on the Rotary Foundation Grant Center site.
 
Deadlines
JUN 1, 2026:  PEs MUST COMPLETE Club Qualification Steps
 
JUN 16, 2026:  "DISTRICT" GRANT matchinggrant.org applications must be ENTERED and OK’d as being complete by Randy Looper
NOTE: “Global” Grants can be submitted to matchinggrants.org at any time
 
NO EXCEPTIONS TO THE ABOVE DEADLINES: any "DISTRICT" grant on matchinggrants that has not been ok’d as complete or whose club has not been qualified will be removed on Jun 16th
 
June 16, 2026 – grants must be submitted to matchinggrants.org & ok’d by Randy Looper
- District grants can be either a local community or an international grant
- Must be humanitarian in nature in an RI area of focus and have Rotary member involvement
- DDF match of 2:1 up to the club’s eligibility amount per the district grant policy
 
If funds were not fully spent in June there will be a second round, grants must be submitted in matchinggrants.org by Dec. 6, 2026
- The DDF match will be set based on the amount of money left after the first round of grants
- Clubs that have not received any grants that year will get priority. Once those grants have been approved the remaining monies will be split among the rest of the grant requests
 
  • June 6, 2025  District Grant Applications due on matchinggrants.org
  • If funds are still available, a second round of applications for District Grants will be accepted.  The deadline for second round District Grants is December 6, 2025
  • There is no deadline for Global Grants, they can be entered at anytime.
 
District Grants Policy
To be eligible for District Grants:
  • Clubs must complete the Club Qualification on the District 5440 website
  • Clubs must have per capita Foundation giving of at least $50.
  • Clubs must not have any overdue grant reports
  • Clubs must not have any open grants older than two years from issuance of DDF funds.
To provide a more equitable distribution of available funds, there are three tiers of Rotary Club eligibility for District Grants as follows:
  • Tier 1 – Clubs who contribute $200 or more per capita to the Rotary Foundation Annual Fund will be eligible for $6,000. 
  • Tier 2 – Clubs who contribute between $100 and $199 per capita to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund will be eligible for $5,000.
  • Tier 3 – Clubs who contribute between $50 and $99 per capita to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund will be eligible for $3,500.
  • Tier 4 - Clubs who contribute less than $50 per capita to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund will not be eligible for district grants.
Per capita level will be based on the past year club per capita or the YTD per capita when the grant is submitted, whichever is highest.
 
D5440 club contributions to a grant will be matched at 2:1 with D5440 DDF up to the applicable tier above.  Note that tiers will not apply for 2nd round grants. Any remaining DDF will be divided equitably.
 
District Scholarship Grants:  District Grants can be used for an undergraduate scholarship for a student who has demonstrated interest in one of Rotary’s seven areas of focus or for RYLA scholarships. $1500 max including the 2:1 DDF match
 
Rotaract/Interact Grants:  Rotaract and Interact Clubs can apply for a Rotaract/Interact grant limited to $300 per grant.  The District will match club funds 2 for 1 up to this limit.
 
All grant applications are to be submitted on www.matchinggrants.org in the name of the sponsoring Rotary Club.  The type of grant requested should be noted in the Project Description.
 
See District 5440 District Grant Guidelines for the specific steps that must be followed to request matching DDF
 
Global Grants Policy
  • Clubs must complete the Club Qualification on the District 5440 website
  • The primary and secondary contacts on the grant must complete the Global Grants Qualification Steps (note: primary and secondary contacts who have successfully completed past global grants do not have to complete these steps)
  • To be eligible for $5,000 in global grant DDF, a club must have contributed at least $50/capita to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund.  Per capita level will be based on the past year club per capita or the YTD per capita when the grant is submitted, whichever is highest.
  • To be eligible for the maximum amount of DDF (as indicated below), a club must have contributed at least $100/capita to The Rotary Foundation Annual Fund.  Per capita amount will be based on the Rotary.org  Monthly Contribution Report for the month in which the grant is submitted for approval.
  • The maximum 2:1 DDF match for a D5440 sponsored global grant is $10,000. 
  • The maximum 2:1 DDF match for a global grant sponsored by another district is $5,000.  
  • Each year, there is also $16,667 DDF available for a $30,000 Global Grant Scholarship. All clubs are eligible to submit applicants to the Grants Committee per the Rotary Global Grant Scholarship Process.  There will be a maximum of 1 grant per year and the candidate will be chosen on a first come, first serve basis.   If multiple applicants are submitted before Apr 1st of each year (to meet the submission deadline of May 1 per RI guidelines), the grant committee with screen the applicants and make the final selection.  
  • Except for Scholarship Grants, Global Grant applications may be submitted at any time
  • See How to submit a global grant for Rotary Grant Center application details.
  • See D5440 Global Grants Process for the specific steps that must be followed to request matching DDF.  
 
Please check the links below for grant training prior to applying for a grant.
 
Help with applications