In 2002, the Rotary International launched a Polio Eradication Fundraising Campaign with a fundraising target of $80 million to eradicate polio. The campaign, netted $135 million, eclipsing their goal.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contributed $1 million with its Gates Award for Global Health, its first gift to Rotary’s efforts to end polio. Since 1979, Rotary had vaccinated more than 2.5 billion children.