Rotary International is an association of more than 27,500 Rotary clubs in 154 countries around the world. Nearly 1.2 million business and professional men and women constitute the membership of these clubs. Through various programs, they share the purposes of providing humanitarian service, encouraging high ethical standards in all vocations, and building good will and peace in the world. They give life to the Rotary motto, Service Above Self.
HPhilosophy
Service Above Self
Classifications
Friendship/Inclusiveness
Object
of Rotary4-Way
Test
February 23, 1905. The airplane had yet to stay aloft more than a few minutes. The first motion picture theater had not yet opened. Norway and Sweden were peacefully terminating their union.
On this particular day, a Chicago lawyer, Paul P. Harris, called three friends to a meeting. What he had in mind was a club that would kindle fellowship among members of the business community. It was an idea that grew from his desire to find within the large city the kind of friendly spirit that he knew in the villages where he had grown up. The four businessmen didn't decide then and there to call themselves a Rotary club, but their get-together was, in fact, the first meeting of the world's first Rotary club. As they continued to meet, adding others to the group, they rotated their meetings among the members' places of business, hence the name. Soon after the club name was agreed upon, one of the new members suggested a wagon wheel design as the club emblem. It was the precursor of the familiar cogwheel emblem now worn by Rotarians around the world. By the end of 1905, the club had 30 members.
The second Rotary club was formed in 1908 half a continent away from Chicago in San Francisco, California. It was a much shorter leap across San Francisco Bay to Oakland, California, where the third club was formed. Others followed in Seattle, Washington, Los Angeles, California, and New York City, New York. Rotary became international in 1910 when a club was formed in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. By 1921 the organization was represented on every continent, and the name Rotary International was adopted in 1922.
What is now The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International grew from a small endowment fund started in 1917. It became the Rotary Foundation in 1928 but grew only modestly until 1947 when it received a number of gifts in memory of Paul Harris upon his death on Jan. 27 of that year. Accelerated growth in recent years has made it a major source of activities to provide humanitarian assistance, to enhance education and promote international understanding and peace. Since 1917, contributions to the foundation have totaled $824.3 million including $61.7 million in 1994-95.
A major source of the Foundation's recent growth, and of Rotary's increasing membership, has been the burgeoning of the Rotary movement in Asia. Also growing is the number of new Rotary clubs in countries formerly in the Communist-governed bloc of eastern Europe. Countries where there were no Rotary clubs in 1987 now have more than 220.
Among programs that Rotary has undertaken in recent years, the largest is PolioPlus, whose goal is the eradication of the disease polio throughout the world. To achieve that goal, Rotary is working in coalition with the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Task Force for Child Survival and Development, supplying funds for vaccine purchase and manpower for polio immunization campaigns in polio-endemic countries. If the disease is eradicated by the year 2000, the achievement will be certified in time for Rotary to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its birth in a polio-free world.
The vision of Rotary founder Paul Harris was of a club that would kindle friendship among members of the Chicago business community. He wanted to find in the large city the kind of friendly spirit and helpfulness that he had known in the small towns where he had grown up -- the spirit to reach out in service to others less fortunate. Through the subsequent spread of the Rotary movement, the spirit of friendship and service evolved quite naturally into a focus on helping to build goodwill and peace in the world.
It was also Harris's thought that the first club should represent a cross-section of the business and professional life of the community. From this idea developed Rotary's Classification Principle. Admission to Rotary club membership is by invitation, and accepting the invitation represents a personal commitment of the Rotarian to exemplify high ethical standards in one's own vocation or occupation.
As the entity representing the global association of all Rotary clubs, Rotary International's mission is to assist Rotarians and Rotary clubs to accomplish the Object of Rotary, emphasizing service activities by individuals and groups that enhance the quality of life and human dignity, encouraging high ethical standards, and creating greater understanding among all people to advance the search for peace in the world.