What is Rotary? 
Rotary is an organisation of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide
humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill
and peace in the world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians
belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs.
Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional
men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are non-political, nonreligious, and
open to all cultures, races, and creeds.
The main objective of Rotary is service - in the community, in the workplace, and throughout
the world. Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today's most
critical issues, such as children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy,
and violence. They also support programs for youth, educational opportunities and international
exchanges for students, teachers, and other professionals, and vocational and career development.
The Rotary motto is Service Above Self.
Look at www.rotary.org for information
on Rotary programmes, press releases about Rotary activities, the meeting dates and places of
all Clubs, and much more.
The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is a not-for-profit corporation that promotes
world understanding through international humanitarian service programs and educational and
cultural exchanges. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and
others who share its vision of a better world. Since 1947, the Foundation has awarded more
than US$1.1 billion in humanitarian and educational grants, which are initiated and administered
by local Rotary clubs and districts.
History
The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, was formed on
23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to recapture in a professional
club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The name "Rotary"
derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.
Rotary's popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that followed; clubs
were chartered from San Francisco to New York. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six
continents, and the organization adopted the name Rotary International a year later.
As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and social interests of
club members. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help
serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its
principal motto: Service Above Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called The 4-Way
Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages.
During and after World War II, Rotarians became increasingly involved in promoting international
understanding. A Rotary conference held in London in 1942 planted the seeds for the development of
the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and numerous
Rotarians have served as consultants to the United Nations.
An endowment fund, set up by Rotarians in 1917 "for doing good in the world," became a not-for-profit
corporation known as
The Rotary Foundation in 1928. Upon the death of Paul Harris in 1947, an
outpouring of Rotarian donations made in his honour, totalling US$2 million, launched the Foundation's
first program - graduate fellowships, now called
Ambassadorial Scholarships. Today, contributions to The Rotary Foundation total more than US$80
million annually and support a wide range of
humanitarian grants and
educational programs that
enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world.
In 1985, Rotary made a historic commitment to immunize all of the world's children against polio.
Working in partnership with nongovernmental organisations and national governments thorough its
PolioPlus program ,
Rotary is the largest private-sector contributor to the global polio eradication
campaign. Rotarians have mobilized hundreds of thousands of PolioPlus volunteers and have immunized
more than one billion children worldwide. By the 2005 target date for certification of a polio-free
world, Rotary will have contributed half a billion dollars to the cause.
As it approached the dawn of the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet the changing needs of society,
expanding its service effort to address such pressing issues as environmental degradation, illiteracy,
world hunger, and children at risk. The organisation admitted women for the first time in 1989 and
claims more than 90,000 women in its ranks today. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, Rotary clubs were formed or re-established throughout Central and
Eastern Europe. Today, 1.2 million Rotarians belong to some 30,000 Rotary clubs in more than 160 countries.
PolioPlus
Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programmes, all Rotarians worldwide are united
in a campaign for the global eradication of polio. In the 1980s, Rotarians raised US$240 million
to immunise the children of the world; by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and the target date for
the certification of a polio-free world, the PolioPlus programme will have contributed US$500
million to this cause. In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to promote and
assist at national immunization days in polio-endemic countries around the world.
A century of service
A century of Rotary service is described in a Rotary Timeline on
www.rotary.org/centennial/lookback .
Rotary International has suggested that all Rotary Clubs should sponsor
some community project to celebrate the Centennial of the Rotary Movement.
The Rotary Club of Rotorua, in collaboration with the other four Clubs
in the City, is sponsoring a project involving the completion of the
Rotorua Museum. This is an historic Edwardian style building that will
celebrate its centennial at approximately the same time as the centennial
of Rotary. The original plans for the building were never been completed.
Under the Chairmanship of Doug Clemens, a committee has been established
to raise funds for the completion of the building as a project involving
all five Rotary Clubs in Rotorua. Applications for finance are being
made to local charitable and national organisations. It is hoped that
the project will see the completion of the building as it was originally
intended in 1905 plus an extension to the building to house the local
Maori and historic art and heritage treasures. See
www.rotoruamuseum.co.nz for more information on the Rotorua Museum.
E-mail Doug Clemens for information on the Centennial Project at
d.clemens@osc.co.nz .
Logo
Rotary's early emblem was a simple wagon wheel. It was designed in 1905 by Montague M. Bear,
a member of the Rotary Club of Chicago, who was an engraver. He designed the emblem to
represent both civilization and movement.
In 1923, the present emblem, a gearwheel with 24 cogs and six spokes, was adopted. A keyway
was added to signify the usefulness of the gearwheel. Royal blue and gold were chosen as the
official Rotary colours. The emblem, worn as a lapel pin, now identifies Rotarians around the world.
The Rotary emblem is a trademark owned by Rotary International and is protected throughout
the world by the international association. The emblem is a registered trademark in more than 35 countries to date.
|
