The Rotary movement has four principles (objects) that may be summarised as
Rotary is short for Rotary International - a worldwide association of local clubs for men and women in business or the professions who: provide humanitarian service to the community at local, national and international level encourage high ethical standards in all vocations work for goodwill and peace in the world. Service Above Self is the Rotary's motto.
Rotary Clubs and Membership
Rotary was founded in 1905 and now has over a million members in more than 28,800 clubs in 194 countries and geographical regions. There are 1,700 clubs in Great Britain and Ireland with over 64,000 members.
Each club operates independently. Membership is drawn from the business and professional community and is usually by invitation or recommendation. To ensure the club is representative of the community, clubs try to ensure that there is only one active member from each local profession or type of business.
Meetings
Meetings are held weekly and Rotarians are usually required to attend at least 60% of meetings which can include Vocational and Charity events. Most clubs meet for lunch or dinner (like ours) and some newly formed clubs meet at breakfast time. Business at meetings often includes a talk on a subject of general interest by an outside speaker. Every Rotarian has the right to attend the meeting of any other club and Rotarians invite non - Rotarian guests to their own club meetings. Weekly meetings promote acquaintance and fellowship. Through this fellowship Rotarians find the inspiration to serve the community.
Service to the community requires Rotarians to devote some of their time, energy and professional skills to particular projects. This often involves fundraising to provide charities with financial support but this is not a Rotary club's first aim. The emphasis is on personal service.
Service
Community Service is the traditional and well-known face of Rotary and covers help and advice to the aged, the handicapped, the infirm, young people and all those in need, either directly or through local charitable organisations. Increasingly this also includes the initiation and support of projects which protect the environment.
Q3: What if I am interested in joining the Rotary Club of Hindley? How do I join?
The usual route to membership is through an existing club member. However if you are interested contact our membership secretary to find out more about the club, or to express an interest in joining. New members usually visit us a few times before making a commitment. We meet at the Bellingham Hotel in Wigan Lane in Wigan, why not come along?
Q4: What is The Rotary Foundation?
The Rotary Foundation, Rotary's corporate charity is dedicated to the furtherance of international understanding, goodwill and peace. The fund provides grants and educational scholarships for young people from all parts of the world, but not Rotarians or their close relatives, to visit and study in other countries. The Foundation also administers the 3-H fund which seeks to alleviate the problems of the disadvantaged through out the world under the headings of Health, Hunger and Humanity. The projects supported under this programme are usually beyond the capability of a single club or group of clubs to support.
The Foundation's most ambitious project so far has been PolioPlus, a campaign to help the World Health Organisation and UNICEF immunise the world's children against polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and tuberculosis. Polioplus raised $240 million of which Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland contributed £8 million.
Q5: What is Rotaract and Interact?
Rotary International has created for young people two organisations dedicated to service and international understanding. Though closely associated with Rotary, their clubs are independent and self-governing. Interact, a combination of the words international and action, is for young people between 14 and 18. Rotaract, a contraction of Rotary in Action is for men and women between 18 and 29.
These clubs serve the community as do their sponsoring Rotary clubs. Their service through fellowship covers a range of local, national and international service projects carried out with the energy and enthusiasm of youth.
Q6: What is Rotary International and RIBI?
Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI), with its own governing body and constitution, is a territorial unit of Rotary International, the association of Rotary clubs worldwide. It administers 29 Rotary districts in England , Scotland , Wales , Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . The Rotary ideal of fellowship and international understanding is exemplified by the fact that a single Rotary district covers the whole of Ireland . This district, with its single organisation is a working model of the Rotary spirit in action.
"ROTARY", the magazine of Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland is one of several regional journals published around the world in various languages. It carries articles and news about Rotary, written by Rotarians for Rotarians if you would like a copy contact our club secretary. A copy is sent to each of the 64,000 Rotarians in Great Britain and Ireland and to many Rotarians who are overseas subscribers.
It is also available from RIBI, Kinwarton Road , Alcester, Warwickshire , B49 6BP
"ROTARY" is the oldest magazine serving the association after "The Rotarian", the magazine of Rotary International, having been published continuously since 1915.
Q8: Does Rotary Have an Object?
The Object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:
Rotary Facts
The world's first service club was the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA. The club was formed 23 February, 1905 by lawyer Paul P. Harris and three friends -- a merchant, a coal dealer and a mining engineer. Harris wished to recapture the friendly spirit he had felt among businesspeople in the small town where he had grown up. The name Rotary was derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members offices.
Mission
The main objective of Rotary is service -- in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world. Rotarians build goodwill and peace, provide humanitarian service, and encourage high ethical standards in all vocations. The Rotary motto is "Service Above Self."
Membership
Rotarians are professional men and women who work as volunteers to improve the quality of life in their home and world community. Club membership represents a cross-section of local business and professional leaders. The worlds Rotary clubs meet weekly and are non-political, non-religious and open to all cultures, races, and creeds.
Service Today
The Beginning of Rotary
The world's first service club was founded on 23 February 1905 when lawyer Paul Harris and three friends met in a small office in downtown Chicago . These men wanted to rekindle in the turn-of-the- century city the spirit of friendliness they had known in their home towns. Word of the club soon spread and others were invited to join. They named their new club Rotary to describe the practice of meeting in rotation at the members various places of business.
Originally formed for fellowship, the first Rotary club quickly evolved to use the talents and resources of its members to serve the community. By the end of 1905, the Rotary Club of Chicago had 30 members. Three years later a second club was established in San Francisco , California , USA. The next year three more clubs were established on the west coast of the United States and a fourth in New York City . Within a few years other groups formed service clubs based on the Rotary model.
The first Rotary convention was held in the Congress Hotel in Chicago in August 1910. The National Association of Rotary Clubs was organised at that time with 16 member clubs. Rotary founder Paul Harris was elected the association's first president.
Rotary's international growth
During the 1911-1912 Rotary year, the association became international with the founding of a club in Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada . Soon Rotary crossed the Atlantic to establish clubs in England , Ireland and Northern Ireland . The National Association of Rotary Clubs, which became the International Association of Rotary Clubs in 1912, adopted the name Rotary International (RI) in 1922.
Before reaching its 20th birthday, the Rotary association had grown to include some 200 clubs with more than 20,000 members across the globe:
Working for peace
As Rotary grew, so did its scope of activities. During World War I, Rotary discovered new outlets for service -- in war relief and peace fund drives at home and in emergency efforts abroad. In 1917, outgoing RI President Arch Klumph proposed the establishment of an endowment fund, which in 1928 became The Rotary Foundation. The Foundation awarded its first humanitarian grant (US$500) in 1930 to the International Society for Crippled Children. After World War II, many clubs that had been disbanded during the conflict were re-established and initiated new service projects, including relief efforts for refugees and prisoners of war.
In the aftermath of World War II, Rotary International sent the largest non-governmental organisation delegation to the United Nations Charter Conference, held in 1945 in San Francisco . Forty-nine Rotarians served as delegates, advisors and consultants to the conference. A Rotary-sponsored conference of education ministers and observers held in London in 1943 was the inspiration for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), established in 1946.
The Rotary Foundation enjoyed modest growth until 1947, when Rotarians made a significant number of contributions in memory of Paul Harris, who died in January 1947. That same year the Foundation launched its first program, Graduate Fellowships (today called Ambassadorial Scholarships), sending 18 students abroad to 7 countries. Today, more than 1,300 students study abroad as Rotary scholars every year.
Two of Rotary's programs for young people, Rotaract and Interact, were started during the turbulent 1960s. Interact (for youth ages 14-18) and Rotaract (for young adults ages 18-30) clubs operate under the guidance of a sponsoring Rotary club and give young people opportunities for community service and leadership development, and to promote international peace and understanding. Service to youth remains an important focus of Rotary.
Rotary today,
Rotary's most ambitious undertaking, announced in 1985, is the PolioPlus program -- a massive campaign to eradicate polio by the year 2000. Conducted with the co-operation of national governments and intergovernmental agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF), PolioPlus is a paradigm for public/private sector collaboration in the fight against disease. PolioPlus helps support national and regional polio eradication programs by providing vaccine, surveillance support and social mobilisation. By the year 2005 -- the target date for certification of a polio-free world -- Rotarian contributions to the global polio eradication effort will reach a half billion US dollars.
First admitted in 1987, women are today the fastest-growing segment of Rotary membership, and increasingly hold leadership positions within the organisation. Nearly 2,000 women serve as club presidents and women are also rapidly assuming regional leadership roles. Currently, some 1.2 million professional men and women belong to more than 29,000 clubs world-wide.
Rotary continues to grow internationally. After the collapse of the Iron Curtain, Rotary clubs which had been disbanded during World War II were re-established in central and eastern Europe. In 1990, Rotary clubs were formed in Russia for the first time, and other former Soviet republics soon followed. Kyrgyzstan , once a part of the Soviet Union , is a recent addition.
Today, Rotary International encourages its clubs to focus on a broad spectrum of service activities such as hunger, the environment, violence prevention, illiteracy, drug abuse prevention, polio eradication, youth, the elderly, and AIDS awareness and education. Rotary clubs around the world are united under the motto Service Above Self.