Acting Mayor of Tennant Creek PDG Greg Marlow became a member of the Arch Klumph Society in 2022, after contributing more than US$250,000 to The Rotary Foundation over his lifetime.
Greg’s Rotary journey began in February 1987, when his housemate invited him along to a Rotaract meeting in Kalgoorlie, WA. After moving to the Northern Territory in 1993, he joined the Rotary Club of Tennant Creek (now the E-Club of Outback Australia), where he has served six terms as president over his 30-year membership. He has also served as District Governor in 2018-19, as District Foundation Chair 2013-16, and will serve another term as District Governor in 2025-26.
Greg says that while polio eradication was his first passion within Rotary, he didn’t start contributing to The Rotary Foundation until 16 years after becoming a Rotarian, when he started contributing $100 a year for the Every Rotarian, Every Year campaign.
In 2019, he was approached by Mark Anderson from The Rotary Foundation during a Foundation training seminar, to which Greg signed a five-year pledge to contribute $125,000. A named Endowed Fund worth $100,000 was established, with the earnings going back to the district to be spent on global grants. He has now set up a second Endowment Fund of $100,000, which will fund an annual seminar at the University of Queensland Peace Centre.
Greg says what makes The Rotary Foundation unique is that it is one of the few charities where the money comes back to you to be spent on causes of your choosing.
“From a Rotarian’s point of view, contributing to The Rotary Foundation is a benefit to us. “
“From a Rotarian’s point of view, contributing to The Rotary Foundation is a benefit to us. The money comes back to us in three years’ time, after it’s been invested, and we get to choose what we spend it on.
“And because of Rotary’s areas of focus, we can target contributions to be spent on those causes, which makes it attractive to potential donors.
“If it’s education, or vaccinations, or they want to be hands-on and go build a dam, because we have the areas of focus, we can target the contributions to their interests.”
If you are talking to someone, you can say, ‘Well, what’s your passion in helping out the world?’ If it’s education, or vaccinations, or they want to be hands-on and go build a dam, because we have the areas of focus, we can target the contributions to their interests.”
Greg says one benefit of The Rotary Foundation’s recognition programs, like the Arch Klumph Society, is that you don’t need to make one lump sum contribution, it can be built up over a period of time.
“Like me, it’s taken 14 or 15 years in contributions to get to Arch Klumph Society level. And the other side of that is that it actually gets cheaper over time, with the rate of inflation and with our wages increasing. That amount of money won’t feel like that amount of money in the future.
“When Rotary established the Paul Harris Fellow recognition in 1957, with a contribution of US$1,000 to The Rotary Foundation, that was probably four- or five-month’s wage. It is still US$1,000, but $1,000 today can be less than one week’s wage.
“When I first joined Rotary I never dreamt of being a part of the Arch Klumph Society – it’s an achievement I’m really proud of – but there will be more and more of us in the future because it will actually be cheaper.”