Global Grant Resources

April Meeting

  • Regional Global Grant Opportunities with Nora Beamish-Lannon

Resources from this meeting:

Nora Beamish-Lannon Bio:

Nora Beamish-Lannon is a Regional Grants Officer for The Rotary Foundation supporting clubs in Central and Eastern Europe, Southwest and Central Asia, and East Africa to develop and implement impactful humanitarian projects. Nora first worked for Rotary starting in 2015 when she oversaw the Rotary Coordinator program (now Membership Coordinators) as part of the Regional Leader Support Team. After close to seven years with Rotary International, she left to work for a local environmental non-profit dedicated to preserving and protecting the Great Lakes. Nora returned to Rotary in 2023 as part of the Grants team. She received her B.A. from Oberlin College and an M.S. in Public Service Management from DePaul University.

March Meeting

  • Basic Education & Literacy with Carolyn Johnson

Resources from this meeting:

Carolyn Johnson Bio:

A member of the Yarmouth (Maine) Rotary, Carolyn Johnson served as District Governor in 2013-14. She is the Chair of the Cadre of Technical Advisors and Chair Emeritus of BELRAG (Basic Education & Literacy Rotary Action Group).  Carolyn served an advisor to The Rotary Foundation’s WaSH in Schools model program, reviewer for The Rotary Foundation Projects of Scale, and serves on the TRF Grant Model Evaluation Committee. Carolyn served as Rotary Coordinator for Zone 32 from 2018-2021.

Carolyn is an educator with experience as a teacher, administrator and consultant.  She was selected as a Maine Distinguished Educator. Carolyn is the Founder of The Culture of Reading Program (CORP), the early literacy component of the Guatemala Literacy Project.  She is Immediate Past Chair of the Board for Safe Passage, an organization that provides education programs to support children and their families living in the neighborhood of the Guatemala City Dump.  Both programs have strong ties with Rotary and Rotarians.

Carolyn and her husband, PDG Peter Johnson, are active supporters of the Rotary Foundation. 

February Meeting

  • DISC Monthly Meeting with Elizabeth Davis, Regional Grants Officer

Resources from this meeting:

Elizabeth Davis Bio:

Elizabeth Davis is a Regional Grant Officer of The Rotary Foundation, overseeing a $3 million annual grant portfolio for Rotary districts throughout Europe and Africa. Elizabeth is based out of the Rotary World Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois in the United States, and has served in various capacities within The Rotary Foundation and Rotary Programs over the past 9 years. Elizabeth holds a graduate degree in International Public Service from the University of DePaul and has expertise in the fields of program sustainability and capacity building. 

January Meeting

  • Speakers: Sheila Hurst

Resources from this meeting:

 

Sheila Hurst, Ed.D. Biograhy  

Sheila Hurst is a member of the Rotary Club of Redding West in District 5160, Northern Central California. She served as Co-Chair of the Health Education and Wellness Rotary Action Group (HEWRAG) for six years and as District International Service Chair for 4 years.  She is currently a Director of HEWRAG and holds the position of District 5160 International Service Advisor.

A Doctor of Education and a California Real Estate Broker, Sheila has applied her professional experience to Rotary service. She was the leader of two Vocational Training Teams and an Ambassadorial Scholar Counselor. She has consulted on and written District and Global grants for health, education, and literacy projects in Kenya, China, Nigeria, and Zambia and made almost 40 trips to Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and South America in the past 20 years for Rotary projects and to learn about innovative and sustainable Rotary programs. 

She is an enthusiastic photographer whose photos have appeared in several issues of the Rotary magazine, in Rotary International Convention exhibits, and in the book The Rotary Foundation: 100 Years of Doing Good in the World. 

Sheila is a Major Donor to The Rotary Foundation, a member of the Bequest Society, the Paul Harris Society, and the Polio Plus Society. She is honored to be a recipient of the Rotary International Service Above Self Award, the Rotary International Citation of Public Image Achievement Award, and Club Rotarian of the Year Award.

December Meeting

  • Speakers: Steve Dudenhoffer, Ak' Tenamit (Guatemala)
  • Hector Ortiz, Rotary Club of Tehuacan Granadas (Mexico)

Resources from this meeting:

Summary of September 17th meeting with Guest Speaker, Cecelia Walter

The main presentation was delivered by Cecilia Walter, Regional Grants Officer, who provided an overview of Rotary Foundation grant types, focusing on global grants, disaster response grants, and programs of scale. The discussion covered key aspects of sustainable project implementation, including community assessments, measurable goals, and available resources on rotary.org/grants, with participants asking questions about application scoring and review processes.

Rotary Foundation Grant Overview

Cecilia Walter, the Regional Grants Officer since 2013, presented an overview of Rotary Foundation grant types, focusing on global grants, disaster response grants, and programs of scale. She explained the requirements, funding mechanisms, and unique aspects of each grant type, emphasizing the importance of international partnerships for global grants and the competitive nature of programs of scale.

Presentation Overview and PowerPoint »

Cecilia Walter's Bio

Cecelia Walter has been a Regional Grants Officer (RGO) in the Rotary Grants area of The Rotary Foundation since 2013. Cecelia began her career at Rotary International as a humanitarian grant coordinator, providing assistance with the successful close-out of the Matching Grant and District Simplified Grant program. She transitioned into her role as a Regional Grant Officer with the launch of the new Grant Model in July 2013.

In her position as an RGO, Cecelia reviews and processes grant applications taking place within Zones 26, 29, 30 and 31, parts of Zones 27, 28 and 33 in the USA, Zone 1a in Northern Japan, as well as Districts 3770, 3780, 3820, and 3850 in the Philippines (that’s 95 districts total!). Cecelia has trained countless groups of Rotary members on Rotary Grants both in the field and at home at One Rotary Center throughout her 10-year career as an RGO. She is proficient in the Japanese language.

Cecelia resides in the incredibly diverse Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois with her husband and son. Cecelia is a certified Les Mills SPRINT™, Les Mills CORE™, and Les Mills BODYPUMP™ fitness instructor. When she is not reviewing grants, you can find her in the gym teaching group fitness classes.