Donations In Kind is the program whereby Rotarians and Rotary Clubs source surplus goods and products within Australia that have no further use here. These goods however, are valuable to those in needy countries. A central co-ordination committee stores, packs and dispatches the goods to those needy countries.

There are currently four DIK storage depots in the greater Melbourne Metropolitan area located at Essendon Airport, Footscray, Pakenham and Geelong. Separate facilities are located in Tasmania in Hobart and Launceston.

In the financial year 2010 -11 Donations in Kind Southern Region was a $6.2 million enterprise.
This is a hidden gem of Rotary.

Goods were valued at $5.4 million.
Volunteer labour was valued at $520,000.00

Rotary has been donated the use of some storage facilities at Essendon Airport to store, sort and pack donated goods.

The program offers two distinct services: -

1. • It acts as a collection agent for goods to be offered to hospitals, missions, and schools, through a Rotary Club in a developing country for distribution.
2. • It arranges transport of goods donated to a specific location – this includes all customs formalities.

DIK works best on a Rotary Club to Rotary Club basis to minimise costs.
The recipient Club or organisation sends us a “Wish List”, which we then try and fulfil.

With regard to the goods to be collected, there are three specific areas of need, namely,
[1] educational books and resources
[2] health services and consumables, and
[3] office equipment and tools.

CATEGORIES OF GOODS

1 EDUCATION
Books of all types can be sent. However, it is the primary school area where the greatest need exists. This applies in particular to reading material.

2 HEALTH
All health equipment is useful providing it is complete and functioning. Availability of spare parts is essential. (Hospital beds, linen trolleys, X-ray viewing cabinets through to X-ray machines to cardiac catheter labs). Also, health consumable items are very useful (bandages, scissors, rubber gloves).

3 OFFICE EQUIPMENT AND TOOLS
Good serviceable equipment is always required. This can be from desks, chairs, lockers to garden tools and carpentry equipment. Good, recent model computers.

There are currently four DIK storage depots in the greater Melbourne Metropolitan area located at Essendon Airport, Footscray, Pakenham and Geelong. We work cooperatively with sourcing goods and share in shipping goods from the diiferent depots.

COSTS

Transport costs are a real problem for us. Shipping a container can cost between $3000 and $12,000 – dependent on the destination point. Freight costs include delivering a container to our store, picking it up again when packed, delivering it to the wharf for loading on board the ship, documentation and wharfage charges and then shipping charges overseas. At the destination point there are further charges and any overland delivery costs to the final destination. All these costs must be factored in when looking for funds. Consider joining another Club in a joint project.

We are able to facilitate these expenses at the best rates with our contacts.

Your Club can help by putting aside some funds each year to help send containers overseas. Remember, DIK in Victoria is a $5 million enterprise and you can help.

Packing a container for Kijabi Hospital Kenya	Hospital beds for Sri Lanka
Rotary Container	Unloading in Fiji

VOLUNTEERS

We are always looking for volunteers to help sort and pack the goods. We have some volunteers who work on Thursday mornings each week at the Essendon Store. Extra volunteers may be required to help pack a container on a Saturday morning. Why not make this a Club project and come and help. So whether you can work once a week or once a month, or even when we call upon you on an as required basis, we appreciate your help.

Extra volunteers may be required to help pack a container on a Saturday morning. Why not make this a Club project and come and help.

Packing computers for Sri Lanka	Team packing a cather lab for Sri Lanka
Melbourne University medical students helping sort medical goods	Members of the Rotary Club of Strathmore helping pack a container

Your Club can help “Donations in Kind” by putting aside some funds each year to help send containers overseas.

I am prepared to visit any Club in District 9790 to talk about DIK. I have a Powerpoint presentation on CD which is the best way of informing Clubs of this valuable program of Rotary.  

The Rotary name and logo are the exclusive property of Rotary International
and are used here under Rotary International Internet Policy Guidelines.

Special thanks to Tord Elfwendahl of the Stockholm Strand Rotaryklub (Sweden) for
his incredible Rotary graphic images which we have used throughout this web site.

Material on this site is Copyright
Rotary International; Rotary International District 9790 Inc; Tony Ladgrove, Phil MacDonald and Robin Chapple
and may not be reproduced without permission