The Rotary Club "Dragon’s Den" Initiative

The Middleton Rotary Club's 2011 successful Dragon's Den applicants

Local charities and other worthy causes are invited to bid for cash donations of up to £2,000 from the Rotary Club of Middleton. The Club is set to hand out the proceeds from its annual fundraising to local community groups who apply to the Club's Dragon's Den initiative. The club is urging Middleton community groups and organisations to get in touch and apply for cash for their projects.

The Club raises around £11,000 a year through its various activities including, Christmas street collections with Santa and his sleigh and other fund gathering initiatives.

Much of the cash is distributed within the local community, to charities, groups and individuals seeking financial support for a broad range of causes.

"But there must be many needy causes within the local community of which Rotary is not aware, and there must also be many people battling to raise funds for worthy causes who have never thought of approaching their local Rotary club for backing," explained John Brooker, organiser of the Middleton Club's initiative.

"So we decided to invite people into the Dragon's Den to put forward their case for receiving funding from the Club up to a maximum of £2,000."

"The Rotary Club already backs many charities, groups and individuals within the local community and clearly we can't support them all, as much as we'd like to, so it is competitive," said John.

The route to securing the support of the Rotary Club of Middleton starts with the completion of a short, simple application form which has to be submitted by 9 November, 2012 and shortlisted bidders will be invited to make a brief presentation to an assessment panel during December.

Cheques will be presented to successful applicants at their activity centre providing a photo opportunity and some well-deserved publicity.

Dragons Den Applications are available here

The Rotary Club of Middleton is always looking for men and woman who are interested in supporting and getting involved in their local community.

We meet and have dinner on a Monday evening at 6:45pm at the Norton Grange Hotel, Manchester Road, Castleton, Rochdale, OL11 2XZ

If you are interested in finding out more about Rotary and would like to attend please contact Stuart Sawle at Stuart.Sawle@sysop.co.uk