Rotary International stands as one of the world’s most influential and enduring service organizations, bringing together leaders from every continent to address humanity’s most pressing challenges. Since 1905, Rotary has evolved from a small group of Chicago businessmen into a global network of 1.4 million members across more than 200 countries and geographical areas. At its core, Rotary represents the power of collective action—the belief that when people of goodwill unite around shared values, extraordinary change becomes possible. Our organization transcends political boundaries, cultural differences, and economic disparities to focus on what unites us: the desire to serve others and make the world a better place.
Understanding The Global Rotary Movement
A Century of Service, Leadership, and Transformation
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Our Areas of Focus
Addressing Humanity’s Greatest Challenges
Rotary International concentrates its global efforts on six strategic areas where we can create the most significant and lasting impact:
Promoting Peace
Working to prevent and resolve conflicts while building the conditions for sustainable peace through education, economic development, and international understanding.
Fighting Disease
Combating diseases that affect millions worldwide, with our polio eradication initiative serving as the crown jewel of global health efforts—reducing cases by 99.9% since 1985.
Providing Clean Water
Ensuring communities have access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene—fundamental requirements for health, education, and economic development.
Saving Mothers and Children
Improving healthcare for mothers and children, reducing mortality rates, and ensuring healthy development from birth through childhood.
Supporting Education
Strengthening communities by supporting basic education, literacy, and lifelong learning opportunities that create pathways out of poverty.
Growing Local Economies
Fostering economic and community development that creates jobs, empowers entrepreneurs, and builds sustainable prosperity.
The Rotary Foundation
Transforming Vision into Global Impact
The Rotary Foundation serves as the charitable arm of Rotary International, channeling the generosity and vision of Rotarians into programs that create lasting change around the world. Founded in 1917 by Rotary’s sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, the Foundation embodies his inspiring vision of creating an endowment fund for Rotary “to do good in the world.”
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Our Guiding Principles
The Four-Way Test: Our Moral Compass
Truth forms the bedrock of trust, and trust enables all meaningful relationships and collaborations. We commit to honesty in our communications, transparency in our operations, and accuracy in our representations. This principle demands that we speak truthfully even when it’s difficult, present information objectively even when it’s complex, and acknowledge our limitations even when it’s humbling.
In our service projects, this means conducting thorough needs assessments, reporting accurate impact metrics, and being honest about both our successes and our challenges. In our professional development, it means giving and receiving feedback honestly, presenting our qualifications accurately, and building reputations based on authentic achievement.
Fairness requires us to consider the interests and perspectives of all stakeholders affected by our actions. This principle challenges us to move beyond self-interest and examine how our decisions impact every person and community involved.
In practice, this means designing service projects that truly benefit the communities we serve rather than simply meeting our own needs for meaningful activity. It means creating inclusive opportunities within our club that welcome diverse perspectives and backgrounds. It means building partnerships where all parties benefit and contribute according to their abilities and circumstances.
This principle recognizes that sustainable positive change requires strong relationships built on mutual respect and understanding. Good will isn’t just about being pleasant—it’s about creating conditions where people can work together effectively toward shared goals.
Our commitment to building good will shapes how we approach every interaction, from club meetings to community partnerships to international collaborations. We seek to understand before seeking to be understood, to find common ground amid differences, and to build bridges where others might see barriers.
Better friendships emerge when people see beyond surface differences to shared values and common aspirations. Our diverse membership and international connections create countless opportunities to build such friendships across cultural, professional, and geographic boundaries.
The fourth test challenges us to design win-win solutions where everyone involved gains value from our interactions and initiatives. This principle moves us beyond charity toward partnership, beyond helping toward empowering, beyond giving toward exchanging.
When we evaluate potential service projects through this lens, we look for initiatives that not only address community needs but also provide learning and growth opportunities for our members. We seek partnerships that strengthen all participating organizations rather than creating dependency relationships.
This principle also guides our professional development activities, ensuring that networking events, mentorship programs, and skill-building opportunities create value for all participants rather than benefiting only a select few.
