Mesa West Rotary Club operates two separate legal entities.  Our Rotary Club is a 501(c)(4), which is not a tax-deductible charitable organization, but is exempt from income tax.  Our club operations income from dues, most happy bucks (unless otherwise designated), raffle income, etc. is used to pay for the cost of operating the club - our meal expense, supplies, education of our officers, etc.

 

The charitable work and giving that we do is funded through Mesa West Rotary Foundation.  It is a 501(c)(3) public charity.  It is the fundraising and funding vehicle for our charitable endeavors:  Donations to MWRF are tax deductible.

 

For the past several years, rather than have major public events to raise funds, we have quietly gone to our friends, family, current and past business associates, etc. and simply asked for sponsorship donations.  We have averaged about $50,000 each year in revenue from our sponsorship drive.  So our members will be better acquainted with those who are involved with the MWRF Board of Trustees, each of the five Trustees will be team leaders this year.  CLICK HERE to down load a list showing who is on each Trustee's team.  Traditional fundraising events are very time and effort intensive and rarely yield the kind of results this effort has produced.  The Sponsor Drive has allowed Mesa West Rotary Club members to focus their Rotary effort on service projects.  The other advantage is that our donors can be assured that their donation will go entirely to charity as there are no cost-of-fundraising expenses.  

 

Sometimes donors hesitate to give to a fundraising dinner where names of sponsors are published because they don't want others knocking on their door asking for more money.  There are probably many people we know who admire what we do that would like to be a part of it, but cannot afford the time to be involved.  More people would admire what we do if we bragged about it outside of Rotary more often.  You might be surprised that someone would offer to donate if you bragged about the fact that we don't waste our time and resources putting on lavish events. Some of those donors  may have the opportunity to have their gift matched by their employer.  

 

Have fun telling why you are proud to be a Rotarian, and get your "ask" in gear.

 

President Colleen mentioned that February 1 would have been her father's 101st birthday.  She then recited the Rotary International Vision Statemen, theme for the year,, and our Mesa West Rotary Club's North Star:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dick explained that the winner of the drawing would receive $30 and a chance to try to draw the Ace of Clubs which would entitle them to the larger, accumulating, pot which was up to $201.  He asked Penny May to draw the winning ticket, the stub of which was held by John Pennypacker.  After John verified the Ace of Clubs was in the deck, he shuffled the cards face-down and drew.  The card he drew was the Three of Clubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If this photo taken February 5 while MWRC President Colleen Coons was at the Ross Farnsworth East Valley Family YMCA during the 2024 Mesa Leadership Class tour of the facility looks familiar, it's because our club toured the facility May 11, 2023.  Our own member, Greg Bouslog, is the manager of the center and is shown in this photo making his presentation to the class.  Greg himself is a graduate of the Mesa Leadership Class of 2023.  In fact, the 2023 YMCA tour may have played a pivotal role in Colleen's decision to apply to be in this year's Leadership Class so she could better connect Mesa West Rotary to the community during her year of service as our Club President.  Greg asked Colleen to say "Hi!" to his fellow-Rotarians.

 

One of the take-aways from the 2024 tour for Colleen was that if individuals who have "Silver Sneakers," the Y gets paid by Medicare each time they swipe their membership cards at the Y.

 

 

 

As most of you know, Arizona has a very unique state tax credit program.  If you pay taxes to the state of Arizona, you can specify where your tax dollars go (state taxes only).  These instructions are for your reference only.  Please consult a tax prep professional with any specific questions about state tax credits.

There are many different nonprofit organizations that AZ recognizes as authorized recipients of these tax funds.  Mesa West sponsors the Interact Club at Westwood High School, and they are a qualified recipient of these tax credit funds in the Extra Curricular Activities (ECA) category.  Here's how you can donate up to $200 as an individual or $400 as a couple filing jointly and deduct that amount from your state tax burden.

Go to https://westwood.mpsaz.org/page/eca/ and click on the link to pay on the district's website. 

Or go straight to https://mpsaz.sites.thrillshare.com/o/mpsaz/page/pay-donate  in lower right, click on Pay Online

If you have children currently enrolled in Mesa Public Schools, you can use your existing login information.  Otherwise, it's easy to setup a guest account.

Once you are logged in, select 'Items At All Schools' under the 'Shop/Donate' list on the Home page.

On the next page select 'High Schools', then select 'Westwood High'

Select the link for 'ECA Tax Credit', and then 'Programs G-K' on the following page.

Interact - ECA is under code 8646.  Enter a dollar amount in the box, and click the Add button.  That dollar amount should then appear in your cart (highlighted in green at the top of the page).

You can then proceed to the Checkout process and pay with a credit card.  You will receive a receipt that you can print out and save for when you do your taxes.

Thank you for supporting Westwood Interact and all of our youth programs.

As Rotarians, we are regularly exposed to opportunities to support various causes with our time, talent and treasure.  Sometimes it is hard to sift through all the information and decide where we are going to use our available financial resources. 

 

It would be wonderful if every Arizona Rotarian would make the following BIG FOUR their Rotary charities of choice and support every one of them every year, we could make a bigger difference than we are making today.

The process isn't quite automated at this point in time, but we hope it soon will be.  For now, you can email our executive secretary who can help you work out a recurring donation plan should you wish to make that arrangement to support our own club's charitable activity.