Rotary is an opportunity to build lifelong friendships and experience the personal satisfaction of providing volunteer service to others.

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. In 1945, 49 Rotary members served in 29 delegations to the United Nations Charter Conference. Rotary still actively participates in UN conferences by sending observers to major meetings and promoting the United Nations in Rotary publications. Rotary International's relationship with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) dates back to a 1943 London Rotary conference that promoted international cultural and educational exchanges. Attended by ministers of education and observers from around the world, and chaired by a past president of RI, the conference was an impetus to the establishment of UNESCO in 1946.

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 honor, totaling 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 organizations 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 organization admitted women for the first time (worldwide) 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 31,000 Rotary clubs in 166 countries.

Serving Through Membership

Rotary is service-driven. Belonging to a Rotary club gives men and women an organized outlet for contributing to their community.

Serve

Rotary is an international humanitarian service organization. The men and women of Rotary are business and professional leaders who volunteer their time and resources to help others in their local community and throughout the world.

Rotary clubs carry out a variety of service projects that address critical issues including poverty, hunger, illiteracy, substance abuse and pollution.

Service to youth, especially children at risk, is a major emphasis. Working with and for tomorrow's leaders, Rotary sponsors service clubs for youth and young adults and offers career development and mentoring programs.

Innovate

Where need exists, Rotary works to find solutions. Nonpolitical and nongovernmental, Rotary clubs are autonomous and create innovative solutions to meet community needs.

Rotary members improve the quality of life through routine child immunization projects, medical and dental clinics, and the construction of safe water and sanitation systems. Clubs also work for peaceful communities by organizing violence-prevention projects.

Rotarians attack the problem of illiteracy through programs that strengthen primary, vocational and adult education, and teacher training.

Whether standing at the forefront of an international health campaign or mounting a massive literacy initiative, Rotary rallies the tools and know-how to successfully lead the way to change.

Give

Rotary members dedicate their time, skills, expertise, and myriad other resources toward improving the human condition.

Club members support international project through the programs of The Rotary Foundation. The Foundation was created in 1917 for the purpose of doing good in the world, and is supported almost entirely by member contributions.

Organized by Rotary clubs in at least two countries, Rotary Foundation humanitarian grants support projects that provide helath care and supplies, clean water, food, job training, and education - particularly in the developing world.

Large-scale Health, Hunger and Humanity (3-H) Grants support sustainable projects that help others help themselves.

Rotary members also contribute their technical expertise and compassion. Each year more than 200 grants fund Rotary volunteers in 50 countries.

Exchange

Rotary promotes cultural understanding and brings people together, even when they live worlds apart. Rotary's exchange programs forster the free flow of ideas and opportunities across national borders.

Through Rotary, youth, scholars, and professionals experience the culture and people of another land - and return home to share their new understanding with others.

Some 7,000 secondary-school students participate annually in short- or long-term Rotary Youth Exchanges.

The Rotary Foundation's Ambassadorial Scholarships program is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. More than 30,000 students from 100 countries have studied abroad as Rotary scholars. The Group Study Exhange program pairs Rotary districts in different countries to send and receive non-Rotary study groups comprised of young professionals.

Immunize

Eradicating polio is a top Rotary priority which requires the immunization of every child under 5 in the world. As a result of the efforts of Rotary and its global partners, more than one billion children have been immunized against polio since 1985. Rotary members will have given approximately US $500 million to the campaign by the year 2005, the target date for certification of a polio-free world.

Through the Rotary Foundation's PolioPlus program, more than one million Rotary volunteers from around the globe have contributed to the success of polio eradication efforts. Rotary is the key private-sector partner in this international health effort. Public-sector partners include the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).