Rotary International is a worldwide organization consisting of the more than 33,700 autonomous Rotary clubs that are organized and designed to serve their local communities.

The members of each Rotary club are the business, professional and community leaders that volunteer their time and talent to provide humanitarian service and to encourage high ethical standards in their vocations. Members of Rotary clubs work actively through their Rotary clubs to help build goodwill and peace in their local communities and throughout the world -- and in the process, develop extraordinary levels of friendships with other Rotarians in their local clubs, districts and nations as well as globally.

On 31 July, 2009, there were 33,700 autonomous local Rotary Clubs in 217 independent nations and geographic territories throughout the world. The actual members of Rotary are its clubs, and the 1.24 million members of Rotary clubs are known as Rotarians. In addition, Rotary clubs sponsored more than 6,000 Service Corps affiliates, nearly 8,000 young adult Rotaract clubs, and over 12,000 secondary school Interact clubs, encumpassing another 600,000+ participants.

Rotarians provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations,

As signified by the motto "Service Above Self", Rotary’s main objective is service — in the community, in the workplace, and globally.

Rotary is not a secret society, and the organisation is open to any person regardless of any ethnic, racial or religious beliefs or national identity. Rotary clubs are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and membership in Rotary clubs is open to all people of all cultures, races, and creeds. Membership is limited to those invited by existing members of clubs and approved by the entire membership of any given club.

Weekly local Rotary club meetings are open to all invitees and guests.

Whilst the overwhelming majority of Rotary service projects -- prabably more than 90% -- are designed to aid the less fortunate or to improve the quality of life in their own local communities, Rotarians commit to thousands of international service projects each year as well.

nonprofit corporation that promotes world understanding through humanitarian service and educational and cultural exchanges.

* Polio
Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all Rotarians are united in a global campaign to eradicate polio.

Once a charter has been granted, the local Rotary club is autonomous so long as it adheres to the principles of Rotary and live up to the Constitution and By-laws prescribed for all clubs by Rotary International. Whilst most of the Rotary structure is standardised, clubs exercise wide latitude in emphasis, focus and personality, and there are no two clubs that operate exactly alike. Since attendance criteria apply, members are encouraged to "make up" absences from their home club at any other club. This has led to innumerable interclub relationships and friendships, exchanges and joint community service projects, and has enriched host clubs with ideas and opportunities to share fellowship.
do not violate the
organised and operated as voluntary social groups.

Historically, all Rotary clubs have met weekly, although there are a few pilot clubs that have alternative meeting times. More recently "e-clubs" have been formed in many Rotary districts to offer online Rotarian involvement, and these clubs have their own online attendance requirements.

The members of Rotary Clubs are known as Rotarians and are business and professional leaders who develop strong local bonds of friendship and fellowship. This leads them to combine their individual skills and resources and leverage their talents and experience to provide effective humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace throughout the world.

Rotary's motto is "Service above Self" .

Rotary meetings generally meet to share fellowship at either breakfast-, lunch- or supper-time. More recently, new twilight clubs have emerged. Rotarians customarily exchange business and community information -- and plan, support and carry out charitable works in their community or plan partnering efforts for international service projects with clubs in host countries.

Clubs differ in their approach to service: their members may favor direct, hands-on, deep involvement in all aspects of a project. Or they may restrict themselves to raising money for their own or for other organisations locally or globally. Most clubs seek to have a mix of service projects.

Two basic principles set Rotary apart from other civic organisations. The first is its unique system of classifying members by their vocation or profession [by what they do, and not by who they are or their professional title] , There always has been limitation of how many persons of any given "classification may be in the same Rotary club. Originally and for many decades, Rotary clubs were limited to a single person with the same classification, which could -- and did -- result in a very highly selective membership. In looking back on these years, it has been noted that Paul Harris himself "conceived of a group of business men banded together socially; then he thought there would be an especial advantage in each member's having exclusive representation of this particular trade of profession. The members would be mutually helpful. He resolved to organize such a club." Source

The second of these principles is even more crucial to understanding Rotary, for Rotary and Rotarians -- from almost the inception of the organisation -- have been known for having and promoting ethical standards of behavior and principles that go beyond self interest. The Rotary Motto of "Service Above Self" originated as "Service, Not Self" in 1911, and Rotarians are expected to be the type of citizens who care about helping others. The "Object of Rotary" which was promulgated later, "is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and in particular, to encourage and foster:
1. The developemnt of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
2. High ethical standards in business and professions; the worthiness of alll useful professions; and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his/her occupation to serve society;
3. The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his/her personal, business and community life;
4. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of business and professiona; Rotarians united in the ideal of service"

The " Object of Rotary " and the "Rotary Four-Way Test of the Things We Think, Say and Do " are ethical constructs from which Rotary can honorably stand before all the peoples of the world without regard to personal gain. And the Rotary emblem has come to be identified as representing the people who help people." Early Philadelphia Rotary leaders Glenn Mead and Guy Gundaker and others campaigned relentlessly to elevate Rotary's "objects and purposes" and gradually became successful fin leading Rotary to become the unselfish and respected institution that has led to its present enviable status worldwide. Both of these men served as Rotary International President, in 1912-13 and 1923-24, respectfully. Source

Insurance broker George Bahlke was the founder and Charter President of the Richmond, VA [#69] club in 1913. He moved to Baltimore the following year and immediately sought out the Rotary Club of Baltimore. But his "classification" was not held by another member, and so for six years he had to await the opening of his claxxification. Once he became a member, be immediately began establishing other clubs throughout Maryland, some fifteen in all. Three years later, as a Past Club President, he was chosen to become District Governor, during which time he accelerated new club development.

Only five years later did the Rotary Club of Baltimore finally make him their president. Since he left the club, the Rotary Club of Baltimore went almost seventy years without sponsoring a new club. What a difference George Bahlke made, and how poor would be the Rotary heritage in Maryland without him.

Rotary is the first service-oriented organisation club to establish a permanent and significant presence throughout the world. The first Rotary Club was founded on February 23, 1905 in Chicago by attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen.

Rotary remained a local Chicago institution until 1908. In that year Manuel Munoz, a friend of Paul Harris, went to San Francisco on business, where he encountered a young newsman-turned-lawyer Homer Wood.

It was a meeting that would change the concept of Rotary forever.

Within very short time, Homer Wood had organised the San Francisco #2 club. More importantly, he saw the value of extending Rotary to other communities, with the Oakland Club #3 actually was being formed as San Francisco held its charter celebration on November 9, 1908. Wood followed that success by promoting new clubs in Seattle (#4) and Los Angeles (#5) by the following Spring, and then sparked the formation of New York #6 in August of 1909.

The first club outside the United States was in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, in 1910, and clubs were formed in Belfast and Dublin in Ireland, and in Manchester, England, all within a few months of each other in 1911. The London club #50 was not formed until August, 1912. Club numbering was an imprecise art at best in early years. One classic example of this was the confusion over Baltimore and Washington, which emerged in the same district and have remained so to the present. Baltimore was organised and fully operational on January 3, 1912, having been sponsored by Philadelphia #19, but for some never-explained reason the Chicago office either was not notified or else mislaid the application. In any event, Paul Harris, in assisting the formation of the Washington DC club, assigned it #46, even though it was not organised and chartered until July of 1912. Somehow, Baltimore ended up being assigned #48. To this day Baltimore has felt slighted.

This confusion persisted for some time, as evidenced by Rotary's inability to determine just who the first 100 clubs are. #101 Scranton PA, [#101], organized 3 May 1912 and Evansville IN [#102] organized 9 December 1913, clearly precede Springfield OH, [#98] Organized 14 January 1914 and Phoenix AZ, [#100], organized 10 January 1914, and most probably Little Rock AR, #99, which has no date of organisation recorded but which was chartered by Chicago with the others on 1 March 1914.

Even more egregious an oversight is Birmingham, England [RI#108], which was organized November 25 1913, ahead of all of those above save Scranton. It would seem that Scranton should be the 98th club organised, followed by Birmingham as #99 and Evansville #100, and Chatanooga #101. Macon, GA and South Bend IN both organised 7 Jan 1914 and could flip a coin over #102 and #103, while Phoenix would drop to #104 and Springfield to #105. Little Rock would be no higher than #106, and the two clubs admitted after March first would be #107 and #108, respectfully. By March of 1914 there were more than 100 clubs in the US, Canada and Great Britain and Ireland. The first non-English-speaking club was formed in Havana, Cuba in 1916. Rotary since then has spread to over 170 other countries. As of 30 June, 2009, there were 1,234,527 Rotarians in 33,790 clubs in those 171 countries and almost fifty additional geographical areas that are not independent nations. The name Rotary was chosen since meetings originally were rotated to the different business sites of its members. Members of each club meet weekly, usually hearing a speaker on a topic of local interest, as well as serving as a time to report on current service projects in their community or to gather interest for organising new projects. Most clubs have a "serious" social and fellowship component to their meetings as well.

Rotary is a non-partisan, non-sectarian organisation. Its membership tends towards the middle-aged and well-to-do, although Rotary clubs are open to adult business and professional leaders of all professions and vocations. Whilst wealth is not a membership criterion, ethical reputation , social standing, economic stability and local cultural mores will influence the club members' preferences for membership. most major cities had Rotary clubs comprised of the most influential men of their communities.

Rotary continued to grow. Rapidly By 1920 there were

But in 1978, the club charter of the Rotary Club of Duarte, California, USA was rescinded by Rotary International for openly accepting three women as members the previous year. The Duarte club sued RI to have its charter restored and, after nearly a decade of litigation , on 4 May, 1987, the US Supreme Court ruled that a club, while autonomous, did not have the right to exclude a person from membership based upon sex. While some clubs embraced the ruling and immediately admitted women to membership, many clubs in the US as well as most clubs in most other countries were very slow to accept women. In some countries, all-woman clubs were established. Amongst the first of these was in the Philippines, where hotel administrator Marcelina Aurelio was Charter President of the Rotary Club of Sampaguita-Grace Park. In 1996 Lina became the first female Rotary International Officer from outside the United States as Governor of District 3800.

It was not until July, 2008, that the first woman took office as a Rotary International Director. Seeing as there are only 8 or 9 RI Directors chosen annually, and a third of them come from the United States, it is rather astonishing that the first women RI Director is a Paris physician and not from the United States. This is despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of female District Governors are from the US This has been the case annually since women first began serving as RI Officers in 1995 with the first seven all from the USA.

Women were admitted in 1987, and now make up 24% of all Rotarians in the United States and are some 13% world-wide of of the membership. Previously, the wives and daughters of Rotarians were able to join a Rotary auxiliary that originated in Great Britain, known as "Inner Wheel."

Other Rotary sponsored organisations include:
Rotaract -- a service club for young men and women ages 18 to 30 with an estimated 178,000 members in 7,741 clubs in 155 countries;
Interact -- a service club consisting of more than 278,000 young people ages 14-18 in nearly 12,100 clubs in 117 countries; and
Rotary Community Corps (RCC) -- a volunteer organisation with an estimated 154,000 non-Rotarian men and women in 6,725 communities in 68 countries.

Rotary Membership is by invitation from a current Rotarian, to professionals working in diverse vocations and professions. The goal of each club is have a diverse professional membership to better promote service to the communities in which they live and work, as well as to the wider world. Many projects are organised for the local community by a single club, but some are organised globally or are specific cooperative projects organised by clubs in different parts of the world. Probably ninety percent of all projects are designed and conducted by local Rotarians for the benefit of their own communities. It is estimated that in any given year some 350,000 to 500,000 such projects are generated and supported by Rotarians for the benefit of the less fortunate or for the general public welfare throughout the world.

The Rotary Foundation [TRF] is the organised charitable arm of Rotary. The programs of The Rotary Foundation. The most notable current global project of TRF is Polio-Plus. Begun in 1980 as a pilot project to immunise 500,000 children in the Philippines. the idea of attempting to undertake the effort to eliminate a disease from the face of the earth came from Washington DC pediatrician and oncologist Dr John Sever, who served as District Governor of Rotary District 762 in 1978-79. Dr. Sever had been asked by then RI President Clem Renouf of Australia "what project Rotary could undertake that would have a global impact?" In 1985 Rotary International and The Rotary Foundatin undertook the awesome task of committing all the vaccine necessary to immunise every child in the world! The organisation then set out to crate the cold chain and the evaluation facilities necessary to monitor and control progress. When Rotary began this effort, there were alone in its determination; within three years, all major health organizations in the world joined in. Inspired by Rotary's commitment: the World Health Organization(WHO), UNICEF, CDC -- and more recently the Gates Foundation -- resolved to create a global partnership with Rotary to eradicate polio from the the face of the earth.

Since beginning Polio Plus in 1985, Rotarians have contributed over US$700 million as well as untold millions of volunteer man- hours, leading to nearly three billion inoculations of the world's children. FROM OVER 130 COUNTRIES WITH ENDEMIC POLIO VIRUS IN 1985, TODAY JUST FOUR COUNTRIES HAVE WILD VIRUS SURVIVING, and even in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria polio has been reduced by over 99% and only small pockets of increasingly resistant virus remain.

As incredible as it may seem, Rotarians have turned out as many as 100,000 volunteers for a National Immunisation Day in India, who, along with local, state and national health agencies, the army, and with colossal media support, have immunised as many as 172 MILLION children in a single campaign -- and most of those in a SINGLE DAY!

I know! I've been there and participated in the largest NID ever in February, 2003. No wonder Rotary has permanent representatiion at the United Nations, and is honoured each year by UN officials at the New York headquarters with a "Rotary Day".

Nine Ongoing Permanent Programs Authorised by Rotary International and Administered by the Programs Division of the Secretariat:

There are four programs devoted to service support:

Four programs are youth oriented:

1. Rotaract

2. Interact

3. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards [RYLA]

4. Rotary Youth Exchange [RYE]

Four are service oriented:

1. Rotary Community Corps

2. World Community Service

3. Rotary Volunteers in Service

4. Rotary Action Groups of which 17 have been recognised by the RI Board - and some 66 Rotary Fellowships, which can be sub-categorised as Proefessional [ of which there are , Topical Interest, Recretational actually are social or specific interest-based associations The fifth is Rotary Friendship Exchange, which is much more closely aligned to the

Other of Rotary's most visible programs include:
Rotary Youth Exchange, a student exchange program. Since 1929 Rotary International's Youth Exchange Program has been a significant force in establishing goodwill and understanding between peoples of the world. With over 8,000 exchanges taking place each year, high school students are able to study first hand the cultural differences in lands other than their own. They act as ambassadors of good will, imparting an understanding of their home country's history, geography and culture.
The oldest program of the Rotary Foundation, Ambassadorial Scholarships, began in 1947; more than 30,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under the auspices of The Rotary Foundation. Today, it is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. In 2002-2003 grants totaling approximately US$26 million were used to award some 1,200 scholarships to recipients from 69 countries who studied in 64 nations.

For more information about Rotary, go to Rotary's Home Page or specifically to About Rotary.
If you would like to have someone contact you regarding Rotary membership, fill in the form and send it to on to Rotary. -- Or, you are welcome to contact me directly @ my eaddress.

This information has been edited and updated from a text taken from the FARLEX Free Dictionary A good resource!

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