Rotary is a worldwide
organization of business and professional leaders that provides
humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in
all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world.
Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 32,000
clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.
Rotary club membership
represents a cross-section of the community's business and
professional men and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet
weekly and are nonpolitical, nonreligious, and open to all
cultures, races, and creeds.
The main objective of Rotary
is service - in the community, in the workplace, and throughout
the world. Rotarians develop community service projects that
address many of today's most critical issues, such as children
at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy,
and violence. They also support programs for youth, educational
opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers,
and other professionals, and vocational and career development.
The Rotary motto is Service Above Self.
Although Rotary clubs develop
autonomous service programs, all Rotarians worldwide are united
in a campaign for the global eradication of polio. In the
1980s, Rotarians raised US$240 million to immunize the children
of the world; by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and the target
date for the certification of a polio-free world, the PolioPlus
program will have contributed US$500 million to this cause.
In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to
promote and assist at national immunization days in polio-endemic
countries around the world.
The Rotary Foundation of
Rotary International is a not-for-profit corporation that
promotes world understanding through international humanitarian
service programs and educational and cultural exchanges. It
is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians
and others who share its vision of a better world. Since 1947,
the Foundation has awarded more than US$1.1 billion in humanitarian
and educational grants, which are initiated and administered
by local Rotary clubs and districts.
