Action toolkit
Explore our Action Toolkit, a resource about ShelterBox Canada for Rotary Clubs and Districts.
ShelterBox met with Mark Sia, President of Rotary Club Masbate, during a team deployment to the Philippines in response to Typhoon Bualoi (Opong).
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Rotary and ShelterBox
How does ShelterBox work with Rotary International?
Watch this message from Rotary International President-elect for 2026-2027 and ShelterBox UK Trustee, Yinka Babalola, to learn more about what we do, how we work together, and why it’s important.
Together in partnership
ShelterBox is project partners with Rotary International, a global community of 1.4 million neighbours, friends, leaders and problem-solvers.
Their aim, like ours, is to create positive, lasting change in communities at home and all over the world.
Rotary members and Clubs across the world support ShelterBox in a variety of ways, from raising awareness and funds to providing practical assistance on the ground during a response to a disaster. This enables ShelterBox to work more effectively and reach more communities around the world.
By working together with Rotary, we are able to collaborate and combine resources to ensure that we can support more communities in desperate need of shelter after disaster.
Read Our 2025 ReportProject partners
ShelterBox began in 2000 as a Rotary Club’s millennium project in Cornwall, UK. With the support of Rotary members and Clubs around the world, ShelterBox grew to become an internationally recognized, independent disaster relief organization. Since 2012, ShelterBox and Rotary have been official Project Partners in disaster relief.
Each year, Rotary helps us to go further, support more people and access areas that would otherwise be impossible to reach. Read about our impact in 2025 in our latest Rotary Impact report.
The partnership between Rotary and ShelterBox has provided a place of refuge to people facing some of the most difficult and uncertain moments in their lives.
– John Hewko, General Secretary of Rotary International
Ways Rotary members can engage with disaster responses
Sharing local expertise
Rotary members may be a subject matter expert in a particular field or may offer insights that help shape projects within specific contexts or locations. They can provide advice and guidance at any stage of a response, in an advisory capacity to support a response.
Volunteering with the project team
Sometimes Rotary members volunteer for a specific part of the project cycle, supporting activities such as translation, feedback and complaints mechanisms, content gathering, needs assessments, or distributions. The contribution of Rotary members helps teams work more efficiently. As a local volunteer, they also bring valuable cultural insight.
With a Rotary Club or District
Club-level activities involve self-managed Rotary groups working with the ShelterBox project team, taking on defined roles in project delivery. These may include project design, assessing community needs, warehouse packing and supporting logistics and distributions.
Rotary members helping pack ShelterBox aid in Morocco after the 2023 earthquake.
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On the Ground
Responding after disaster
When ShelterBox and Rotary work together after disaster, the combination of ShelterBox’s technical expertise and Rotary’s connections and practical assistance mean that we can get our support to those who need it most. Rotary members might have a role to play in any one of the various stages of a response, from sharing valuable contacts on the ground, to facilitating logistics and providing warehousing space. This vital support means that we can reach more communities when disaster strikes.
On the day the 2023 Morocco earthquake struck, ShelterBox and Rotary members – in Morocco and around the world – started communicating about the response. By collaborating with Rotary members on logistics and permissions, and through practical support in our warehouse, ShelterBox was able to get emergency aid to the communities who had been affected before freezing winter temperatures arrived. Thanks to our partners in District 9010 and The Grand Atlas Foundation, we supported thousands of people in 22 mountain villages to survive and recover.
ShelterBox Action Toolkit
Are you a Rotary member or Club leader? Visit our Action Toolkit, a resource centre for Rotary members looking to support ShelterBox. You’ll find a wealth of information and resources, to keep your club informed and inspire your wider community.
Visit the toolkitWorking Together
Rotaract and ShelterBox in Ethiopia
ShelterBox is working in the Afar region of Ethiopia to support internally displaced people
As part of our long-term Rotary engagement plan in Ethiopia, ShelterBox and Rotary conducted a pilot project with our partner, IOM. Seven Rotaractors were identified to join the distributions in Afar alongside the ShelterBox team. The volunteers assisted our distribution of aid items to support people there in various ways, including delivering aid to households with persons with a disability.
ShelterBox Canada Hero Awards
Disasters and conflict are inevitable and frequent, and the need is continuous.
A ShelterBox Canada Hero is a Rotary Club that has identified the continuing need to prepare for disasters and respond at a moment’s notice.
Clubs are recognized based on their total annual giving throughout the year. There are three ShelterBox Hero levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold.
Learn more about the program and check out the latest list of ShelterBox Hero Award winners
Hero AwardsAre you part of a Rotary Club?
Please get in touch. Ask us any questions and learn more about the ways you and your Club can get involved with everything ShelterBox!
