Rotary International is an international service organization whose stated purpose is to bring together business and professional leaders in or- der to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world. It is a secular organization open to all persons regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, gender, or political preference. There are 34,282 clubs and over 1.2 million members worldwide. The members of Rotary Clubs are known as Rotarians. Members usually meet weekly for breakfast, lunch or dinner, which is a social event as well as an opportunity to organize work on their service goals. Rotary's primary motto is "Service above Self ".

The first years Of The Club
The first Rotary Club was formed when attorney Paul P. Harris called together a meeting of three business acquaintances in downtown Chicago, at Harris' friend Gustave E. Loehr's office in the Unity Building on Dearborn Street on February 23, 1905. In addition to Harris and Loehr (a mining engineer), Silvester Schiele (a coal merchant), and Hiram E. Shorey (a tailor) were the other two who attended this first meeting. The members chose the name Rotary because initially they rotated subsequent weekly club meetings to each other's offices, although within a year, the Chicago club became so large it became necessary to adopt the now-common practice of a regular meeting place.

The next four Rotary Clubs were organized in cities in the western United States, beginning with San Francisco, then Oakland, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The National Association of Rotary Clubs in America was formed in 1910. On 22 February 1911, the first meeting of the Rotary Club Dublin was held in Dublin, Ireland. This was the first club established outside North America. In April 1912, Rotary chartered a club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, marking the first establishment of an American style service club outside the United States. To reflect the addition of a club outside of the United States, the name was changed to the International Association of Rotary Clubs in 1912. In 1922, the name was changed to Rotary International. By 1925, Rotary had grown to 200 clubs with more than 20,000 members. Rotary persevere in tough times. During WWII, Rotary clubs in Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan were forced to disband. Despite the risks, many continued to meet informally and following the war's end, Rotary members joined together to rebuild their clubs and their countries.

From 1945 onwards
Rotary clubs in Eastern Europe and other communist-regime nations were disbanded by 1945-46, but new Rotary clubs were organized in many other countries, and by the time of the national independence movements in Africa and Asia, the new nations already had Rotary clubs. After the relaxation of government control of community groups in Russia and former Soviet satellite nations, Rotarians were welcomed as club organizers, and clubs were formed in those countries, beginning with the Moscow club in 1990.

In 1985, Rotary launched its Polio Plus pro- gram to immunize all of the world's children against polio. As of 2011, Rotary has contributed more than 900 million US dollars to the cause, resulting in the immunization of nearly two billion children worldwide. As of 2006, Rotary has more than 1.2 mil- lion members in over 32,000 clubs among 200 countries and geographical areas, making it the most widespread by branches and second largest service club by membership, behind Lions Club International. The number of Rotarians has slightly declined in recent years: Between 2002 and 2006, they went from 1,245,000 to 1,223,000 members. North America accounts for 450,000 members, Asia for 300,000, Europe for 250,000, Latin America for 100,000, Oceania for 100,000 and Africa for 30,000.

Organisation and Administration
In order to carry out its service programs, Rotary is structured in club, district and interna- tional levels. Rotarians are members of their clubs. The clubs are chartered by the global organisation Rotary International (RI) headquartered in Evanston, Illinois. For administrative purposes, the more than 32,000 clubs worldwide are grouped into 529 districts, and the districts into 34 zones.

Club
Rotary Club is the basic unit of Rotary ac- tivity, and each club determines its own member- ship. Clubs originally were limited to a single club per city, municipality, or town, but Rotary International has encouraged the formation of one or more additional clubs in the largest cities when practical. Most clubs meet weekly, usually at a meal time on a weekday in a regular location, when Rotarians can discuss club business and hear from guest speakers. Each club also conducts various service projects within its local community, and participates in special projects involving other clubs in the local district, and occasionally a special project in a "sister club" in another nation. Most clubs also hold social events at least quarterly and in some cases more often.

Each club elects its own president and officers among its active members for a one-year term. The clubs enjoy considerable autonomy within the framework of the standard constitution and the constitution and bylaws of Rotary International. The governing body of the club is the Club Board, consisting of the club president (who serves as the Board chairman), club secretary, club treasurer, and several Club Board directors, including the immediate past president and the President Elect. The president usually appoints the directors to serve as chairs of the major club committees, including those responsible for club service, vocational service, community service, youth service, and international service.

District level
A district governor, who is an officer of Rotary International and represents the RI board of directors in the field, leads his/her respective Rotary district. DG is elected by Clubs during District Conference held within the District. The DG appoints assistant governors from among the Rotarians of the district to assist in the management of Rotary activity and multi-club projects in the district.

Zone level
Approximately 15 Rotary districts form a zone. A zone director, who serves as a member of the RI board of directors, heads two zones. The zone director is nominated by the clubs in the zone and elected by the convention for the terms of two consecutive years.

Rotary International
Rotary International is governed by a board of directors composed of the international president, the president elect, the general secretary, and 17 zone directors. The nomination and the election of each president is handled in the one- to three year period before he takes office, and is based on requirements including geographical balance among Rotary zones and previous service as a district governor and board member. The international board meets quarterly to establish policies and make recommendations to the overall governing bodies, the RI Convention and the RI Council on Legislation.

The chief operating officer of RI is the general secretary, who heads a staff of about 600 people working at the international headquarters in Evanston and in seven international offices around the world.

Membership
According to its constitutions ("Charters"), Rotary defines itself as a non-partisan, non-sectarian organization. It is open to business and professional leaders aged 18 and upwards, with no regard to economic status. One can contact a Rotary club to inquire about membership but can join a Rotary club only if invited; there is no provision to join without an invitation as each prospective Rotarian requires a sponsor who is an existing Rotarian. Some clubs, though not all, have exclusivist membership criteria: reputation and business or professional leadership may be a specific evaluation criterion for issuing invitations to join and representation from a specific profession or business may be limited to a percentage of a specific club's membership.

Active membership
Active membership is by invitation from a current Rotarian, to professionals or business persons working in diverse areas of endeavour. Each club may limit up to ten percent of its membership representing each business or profession in the area it serves. The goal of the clubs is to promote service to the community they work in, as well as to the wider world. Many projects are organised for the local community by a single club, but some are organised globally.

Honorary membership
Honorary membership is given by election of a Rotary Club to people who have distin- guished themselves by meritorious service in the furtherance of Rotary ideals. Honorary membership is conferred only in exceptional cases. Honorary members are exempt from the payment of admission fees and dues. They have no voting privileges and are not eligible to hold any office in their club. Honorary membership is time limited and terminates automatically at the end of the term, usually one year. It may be extended for an additional period or may also be revoked at any time. Examples of honorary members are heads of state or former heads of state, famous scientists or other famous people.

Female membership
From 1905 until the 1980s, women were not allowed membership in Rotary clubs, although Rotarian spouses, including Paul Harris' wife, were often members of the similar "Inner Wheel" club. The Seattle-International District club unanimously voted to admit women in 1986. The United States Supreme Court, on May 4, 1987, confirmed the Californian decision. Rotary International then removed the gender requirements from its requirements for club charters, and most clubs in most countries have opted to include women as members of Rotary Clubs. Women currently account for 15% of international rotary membership.

PROGRAMS
Interact

Interact is Rotary International's service club for young people ages 12 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and self-supporting. Club membership varies greatly. Clubs can be single gender or mixed, large or small. They can draw from the student body of a single school or from two or more schools in the same community. Each year, Interact clubs complete at least two community service projects, one of which furthers international understanding and goodwill. Through these efforts, Interactors develop a network of friendships with local and overseas clubs and learn the importance of

• Developing leadership skills and personal integrity
• Demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others
• Understanding the value of individual respon- sibility and hard work
• Advancing international understanding and goodwill

As one of the most significant and fastest growing programs of Rotary service, with more than 33,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geo- graphical areas,] Interact has become a worldwide phenomenon. Almost 340,000 young people are involved in Interact.

Rotaract
Rotaract is a service club for young men and women aged 18 to 30 with around 215,000 members in 9,388 clubs in 176 countries. Rotaract was founded in 1968 by Charlotte North Rotary Club, located in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they are sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true "partners in service" and key members of the family of Rotary.

Rotary Community Corps
The Rotary Community Corps (RCC) is a volunteer organization with an estimated 157,000 non-Rotarian men and women in over 6,800 com- munities in 78 countries.

Polio Plus
The most notable current global project, Polio Plus, is contributing to the global eradication of polio. Sergio Mulitsch di Palmenberg (1923-1987), Governor of RI District 204 (1984-1985), founder of the RC of Treviglio and Pianura Bergamasca (Italy), was the man who inspired and promoted the RI Polio Plus vaccination campaign. Since beginning the project in 1985, Rotarians have contributed over US $850 million and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours, leading to the inoculation of more than two billion of the world's children. Inspired by Rotary's commitment UNICEF and the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Rotary is recognized by the United Nations as the key private partner in the eradication effort. By 2006 it was revealed that polio in all its known wild forms would be eliminated by late 2008. The World Health Organization (WHO) passed a resolution in 1988 to eradicate polio by 2000. Except in one or two countries polio stands completely eradicated from the world.

Exchanges and scholarships

Some of Rotary's most visible programs include Rotary Youth Exchange, a student ex- change program for students in secondary education, and the Rotary Foundation's oldest program, Ambassadorial Scholarships. Today, there are six different types of Rotary Scholar- ships. More than 38,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under the auspices of Ambassadorial Scholarship, and today it is the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program. In 2006-07 grants totalling approximately US$15 million were used to award some 800 scholarships to recipients from 69 countries who studied in 64 nations. The Exchange Students of Rotary Club Munich International publish their experiences on a regular basis on Rotary Youth Exchange with Germany. In July 2009 the Rotary Foundation ended funding for the Cultural and Multi-Year Ambassadorial Scholarships as well as Rotary Grants for University Teachers. Rotary Centers for International Studies Starting in 2002, The Rotary Foundation partnered with eight universities around the world to create the Rotary Centers for International Studies in peace and conflict resolution. Rotary World Peace Fellows complete two year masters level programs in conflict resolution, peace studies, and international relations. The first class graduated in 2004. As with many such university programs in "peace and conflict studies", questions have been raised concerning political bias and controversial grants. As of August 2006, the Rotary Founda tion had spent $18 million on its "peace and conflict" Centers, and the average grant was about $60,000 per enrolee in the two year program. In 2004, Fellows established the Rotary World Peace Fellows Association to promote interaction among Fellows, Rotarians, and the public on issues related to peace studies.

Literacy programs

Rotary clubs worldwide place a focus on increasing literacy. Such importance has been placed on literacy that Rotary International has created a "Rotary Literacy Month" that takes place during the month of March. Rotary clubs also aim to conduct many literacy events during the week of September 8, which is International Literacy Day. Some Rotary clubs raise funds for schools and other literacy organizations. Many clubs take part in a reading program called "Rotary Readers," in which a Rotary member spends time in a classroom with a designated student, and reads one-on-one with them. Some Rotary clubs participate in book donations, both locally and internationally.

Publications

Rotary International publishes an official monthly magazine named The Rotarian in English (first published in 1911 as The National Rotarian). Other periodicals are independently produced in more than 20 different major languages and distributed in 130 countries.