Rotary
Facts
Board Members 2009-2010
Rotary is a service organization of business and professional men and women united worldwide who conduct humanitarian projects, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and work toward world understanding and peace. Rotary is over 1,000,000 service-minded individuals belonging to approximately 27,900 Rotary Clubs in more than 153 countries. Membership is by invitation. Rotary meets weekly, not just to eat but to enjoy each other's fellowship and discuss how they can serve others. Every hour of every day a Rotary club meets somewhere in the world. Rotary is compassion for the underprivileged, the underfed and the disabled, many of whom are the beneficiaries of 25,000 service projects conducted by Rotary Clubs in the world each year. Rotary adds fulfillment to the lives of more than 7,000 young people each year of secondary age as they study in a country other than their own as international youth exchange students. Rotary Foundation contributes approximately 20 million dollars in graduate scholarships and for group study exchanges each year to promote international understanding. Rotary begin in 1905 in Chicago, Rotary International Headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, where 29 different languages are spoken.
This articulation of Rotary ideals began with the first constitution of 1906 which had three objects: promotion of business interests, promotion of good fellowship and the advancement of the best interests of the community. By 1910 there were five objects in the statement and by 1915, six. The document went through several further revisions until a final revision in 1951 which made it single "Object" which is manifested in four separate ways. The "ideal of service" is the key phrase, expressing an attitude of being a thoughtful and helpful person in all of one's endeavors. Below is the complete text of the 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:
First. The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;
Second. High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his occupation as an opportunity to serve society;
Third. The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his personal, business and community life;
Fourth. The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a worldwide fellowship of business and professional men and women united in the ideal of service.
One of the most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics in the world is the Rotary 4-Way Test. It was created by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor in 1932 when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy. Taylor looked for a way to save the struggling company mired in depression-caused financial difficulties. He drew up a 24-word code of ethics for all employees to follow in their business and professional lives. The 4-Way Test became the guide for sales, production, advertising and their business and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy.
Herb Taylor became president of Rotary International in 1954-55. The 4-Way Test was adopted by Rotary in 1943 and has been transferred into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways.
Of the things we think, say or do
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Service Above Self. Early in its history, the members of the first Rotary club realized that fellowship and mutual self-interest were not enough to keep a group of busy professionals meeting each week. Undertaking efforts to improve the lives of others proved an even more powerful motivation. In 1907 the club adopted a practical community service project -- the installation of a public comfort station near the city hall in downtown Chicago.
Three years after the organization of the Chicago club, a second club was formed in San Francisco, California, and three more clubs were founded the following year. By 1910, there were 16 clubs in the United States, and the first convention was held in Chicago where the clubs organized themselves to form the National Association of Rotary Clubs. At that convention, a member of the Chicago club proposed a motto for the new organization, recognizing its commitment to the idea of service: "He Profits Most Who Serves His Fellows Best."
The following year, another early leader spoke of the importance of serving others and promoted the idea that a club should be organized on the principle of "Service, Not Self." The two sayings, modified to "He Profits Most Who Serves Best" and "Service Above Self," were quickly embraced by all Rotarians and were officially designated as Rotary mottoes at the 1950 convention in Detroit, Michigan. In 1989, the Rotary International Council on Legislation established "Service Above Self" as the organization's principal motto.
Club service involves all of the activities necessary for Rotarians to make their club function successfully. Vocational service is a description of the opportunity each Rotarian has to represent the dignity and utility of one's own vocation to other members of the club. Community service pertains to those activities which Rotarians undertake to improve the quality of life in their community. It frequently involves assistance to youth, the aged, the handicapped and others who look to Rotary as a source of hope for a better life. International service describes the many programs and activities which Rotarians undertake to advance international understanding, goodwill and peace. International service projects are designed to meet humanitarian needs of people in many lands.