Home Contact Us Contents

Rotary Basics

www.rotarysma.org                                                                                                    San Miguel de Allende, Gto., México

 

Home
Up
2008 Speakers
Club Projects
What is Rotary?
San Miguel de Allende
Links
Financials
Visiting Us?
Visitor Info

 

 

The Basics of Rotary

(Click on the underlined headings below to go to that section or just scroll down)

 

The Organization of Rotary

Rotary is essentially a grassroots organization, with most of its service efforts being carried out at the club level. The district and international structure is designed to support the clubs and help them provide more service in their communities and abroad.

CLUBS   Rotarians are members of Rotary clubs, which belong to the global association Rotary International (RI). Each club elects its own officers and enjoys considerable autonomy within the framework of Rotary's constitution and bylaws.

DISTRICTS   Clubs are grouped into 529 RI districts, each led by a district governor, who is an officer of RI. The district administration, including assistant governors and various committees, guides and supports the clubs.

RI BOARD   The 19-member RI Board of Directors, which includes the RI president and president-elect, meets quarterly to establish policies. Traditionally, the RI president, who is elected annually, develops a theme and emphasis for the year.

RI SECRETARIAT   Rotary International is headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, USA, with seven international offices in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Korea, and Switzerland. The RI in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI) office, in England, serves clubs and districts in that region. The Secretariat's active managing officer is the RI general secretary, who heads a staff of about 600 people, working to serve Rotarians worldwide.
 

Responsibilities of Club Membership  

The club is the cornerstone of Rotary, where the most meaningful work is carried out. All effective Rotary clubs exhibit four key characteristics: they sustain or increase their membership base, participate in service projects that benefit their own community and those in other countries, support The Rotary Foundation of RI financially and through program participation, and develop leaders capable of serving in Rotary beyond the club level. 

What Rotarians get out of Rotary depends largely on what they put into it.  Many membership requirements are designed to help members more fully enjoy their Rotary experience.  

ATTENDANCE   Attending weekly club meetings allows members to enjoy their club's fellowship and enrich their professional and personal knowledge. If members miss their own club's meeting, they are encouraged to expand their Rotary horizons by attending make-up meetings at any Rotary club in the world -a practice that guarantees Rotarians a warm welcome in communities around the globe. For meeting places and times, consult the Official Directory or use the Club Locator at www.rotary.org, the RI Web site.  

SERVICE   By participating in club service projects, members learn about their club's involvement in local and international projects and can volunteer their time and talents where they are most needed. 

MEMBERSHIP RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION   To keep clubs strong, every Rotarian must share the responsibility of bringing new people into Rotary. Even new members can bring guests to meetings or invite them to participate in a service project. The value of Rotary speaks for itself, and the best way to spark the interest of potential members is by letting them experience fellowship and service firsthand. Keeping members interested in Rotary is another responsibility. Good club fellowship and early involvement in service projects are two of the best ways to sustain the club's membership.

 

Rotary's Guiding Principles

 Throughout Rotary's history, several basic principles have been developed to guide Rotarians in achieving the ideal of service and high ethical standards. 

OBJECT OF ROTARY    First formulated in 1910 and adapted throughout the years as Rotary's mission expanded, the Object of Rotary provides a succinct definition of the organization's purpose as well as the individual club member's responsibilities.  

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: 

  • The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service; 
     

  • High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations; and the dignifying of each Rotarian's occupation as an opportunity to serve society; 
     

  •  The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian's personal, business, and community life;
     

  • The advancement of international understanding, goodwill, and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional persons united in the ideal of service.

 

Classification principle    This system ensures that each club's membership reflects the business and professional composition of its community. Under this system, each member's classification is based on his or her business or profession; the number of members holding that classification is limited according to the size of the club. The result is professional diversity, which enlivens the social atmosphere of the club and provides a rich resource of occupational expertise to carry out service projects. 
 

Avenues of Service    Based on the Object of Rotary, the four Avenues of Service are Rotary's philosophical cornerstone and the foundation on which club activity is based: 

  • Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club.
     

  • Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards.
     

  • Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.
     

  • International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary's humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace.

     

RI programs

RI's programs and service opportunities are designed to help Rotarians meet needs in their own communities and reach our to assist people in need worldwide.

  •  Interact   Rotary clubs organize and sponsor this service organization for youth ages 14-18; almost 9,700 clubs in 117 countries.
     

  •  Rotaract   Rotary clubs organize and sponsor this leadership, professional development, and service organization for young adults, ages 18-30; more; than 7,600 clubs in 158 countries.
      

  • Rotary Community Corps (RCC)  Rotary clubs organize and sponsor these. groups of non-Rotarians who work to improve their communities; more than 5,500 RCCs in 71 countries.
     

  •  Rotary Fellowships   Recreational, vocational, and health-related groups open to all Rotarians and spouses sharing common interests; approximately and 85 fellowships.
     

  • Rotary Friendship Exchange   Rotarians and their families make reciprocal visits to other countries, staying in each other's homes and learning about the culture firsthand.
     

  •  Rotary Volunteers   While every Rotarian is a volunteer, many also offer their special skills and experience to a project abroad for short periods.
     

  •  Rotary Youth Exchange   Clubs and districts sponsor and host students ages 15-19 who travel abroad for an academic year or an extended holiday; about 7,000 per year.
     

  •  Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA)   Clubs and districts sponsor seminars to encourage and recognize leadership abilities of youth and young adults ages 14-30.
     

  •  World Community Service (WCS)  Rotary clubs and districts from two different countries form partnerships to implement community service projects many such projects receive funding from The Rotary Foundation Humanitarian Grants Program.
     

  •  Menu of Service Opportunities  RI recommends that clubs planning service activities consider nine major needs or concerns: Children at Risk, Disabled Persons, Health Care, International Understanding and Goodwill, Literacy Numeracy, Population Issues, Poverty and Hunger, Preserve Planet Earth, and Urban Concerns.

  

PROMOTING INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING AND PEACE   When it comes to working for peace, Rotarians approach the issue from many angles. The most visible effort is the establishment of the Rotary Centers for International Study in peace and conflict resolution, where dozens of scholars are learning how to prevent and resolve conflict the world. Through the Foundation's Ambassadorial Scholarships and Study Exchange programs, Rotary is enhancing international understanding at a grassroots, person-to-person level. 

Rotary clubs are reaching out to refugees and other victims of war and restoring stability to their lives, One such ambitious project is underway in Afghanistan, where U.S. and Pakistani Rotarians have established a US$250,000 school project to serve more than 2,000 students -50 percent of them girls -in the eastern part of the country. The U.S. Rotarians also equipped a computer center and provided dictionaries to Nangarhar University, one of the largest universities in Afghanistan, which previously had no computers or dictionaries for classroom use.


The Rotary Foundation   The Rotary Foundation of RI is a not-for-profit corporation whose mission is to support the efforts of Rotary International in the fulfillment of the Object of Rotary, Rotary's mission, and the achievement of world understanding and peace through local, national, and international humanitarian, educational, and cultural programs.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT    In 2002-03, The Rotary Foundation received contributions totaling U$$133 million and spent more than $94 million in support of humanitarian and educational programs implemented by clubs and districts. Contributions from Rotarians go into one of two funds:

  •  Annual Programs Fund, which provides grants and awards through Foundation programs
     

  •  Permanent Fund, an endowment from which only the earnings are spent in support of Foundation programs, ensuring the long-term viability of the Foundation.

 Every dollar contributed by Rotarians funds the humanitarian and educational programs and program operations.  Clubs and districts apply for and receive Foundation grants to carry out many worthy projects worldwide. In an effort to maintain sufficient funding for vital programs, the Foundation launched the Every Rotarian, Every Year initiative, designed to increase annual giving to $100 per capita during the Rotary Centennial year of 2004-05 and beyond.
 

HUMANITARIAN GRANTS PROGRAM   Humanitarian grants enable Rotarians to increase their support of international service projects that provide water wells, medical care, literacy classes, and other essentials to people in need. Rotarian participation is key to the success of these projects.

  • District Simplified Grants enable districts to use a portion of their District Designated Fund (DDF) to support service activities or humanitarian endeavors that benefit local or international communities.
     

  • Individual Grants support the travel of Rotarians, Rotarian spouses, Rotaractors, and qualified Foundation alumni who are planning or implementing humanitarian service projects abroad.
     

  • Matching Grants assist Rotary clubs and districts in carrying out World Community Service projects with clubs these in other countries.
     

  • Blane Community Immunization Grants provide U S. Rotary clubs and districts up to $1,000 in matching funds to improve immunization levels in their communities.

 

POLIOPLUS   The PolioPlus program provides funding for vaccine and transportation for mass immunization campaigns as well as support for social mobilization, surveillance, and laboratories to help carry out the final stages of global polio eradication. Having raised funds that will provide more than $600 million in support, Rotary International is a major partner with the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the initiative to eradicate polio worldwide by 2005, Rotary's centennial.

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS    These programs are designed to promote international understanding by bringing together people from different countries and cultures.

  •  Ambassadorial Scholarships, the world's largest, privately funded international scholarships program, sends 1,000 students each year to serve as ambassadors of goodwill while studying abroad.
     

  • Rotary World Peace Scholarships are awarded to individuals for study in master's degree programs at the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution.

  • Group Study Exchange is a cultural and vocational exchange program between districts in different countries for business and professional men and women ages 25-40

  • Rotary Grants for University Teachers are awarded to higher education faculty to teach abroad in an academic field of practical use to people in a low-income country.

  

Key meetings

Several key meetings bring Rotarians together to share ideas, celebrate successes, enjoy fellowship, and plan for the future. 

  • RI Convention  The RI Convention, the largest Rotary meeting, is held in May or June in a different part of the Rotary world each year. This lively, four-day event features speeches by world and Rotary leaders, spectacular entertainment reflecting the local culture, and unparalleled opportunities to experience the true breadth of Rotary's international fellowship.
     

  •  Presidential  Conferences  Held in different parts of the world each year to address issues determined by the RI president, these meetings generally focus on the region in which they are held and provide the backdrop for spirited discussion and opportunities to form international service partnerships. 
     

  • District Conferences   Rotarians are encouraged to attend their district conference, an annual motivational meeting that showcases club and district activities. A family event, the district conference mixes fellowship with learning and allows Rotarians to become more directly involved with charting their district's future.

 

The changing face of Rotary  

The genius of Rotary has been its ability to respond to the needs of the day, from child welfare to refugee relief to rural development to polio immunization. This cornucopia of projects is matched by the increasing diversity of Rotary's membership in terms of gender, age, and ethnicity. Originally an all-male U.S. club, Rotary has expanded to include many female business and professional leaders. Two-thirds of today's Rotarians live outside the United States and represent a multitude of cultures. 

Rotary clubs are also changing their meeting times and places to make membership more convenient and relevant to today's demanding professional and personal schedules and using technology to communicate, promote their activities, and engage in Rotary business. The RI Web site enables members to conduct Rotary business online as well as order publications. register for meetings, and learn about Rotary history, programs, and events. For the latest Rotary information, visit http://rotary.com regularly. 
 

Note: Information copied from the Rotary International brochure "Rotary Basics"