Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders
united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high
ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and
peace in the world. In 166 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2
million Rotarians belong to more than 30,000 Rotary clubs.
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.
