Rotary Basics – Part III – Areas of Focus, The Four-Way Test, Object of Rotary, Diversity, and Rotary International Offices.
 

 

Source: Rotary.org

 

The causes we target to maximize our impact are called our areas of focus. Our most successful and sustainable projects and activities fall within these areas. Through global grants and other resources, we help clubs focus their service efforts in the following areas:

   • Promoting peace

   • Fighting disease

   • Providing clean water

   • Saving mothers and children

   • Supporting education

   • Growing local economies

 

Projects that focus on these causes are eligible for global grant funding from The Rotary Foundation.

 

Early Rotary members emphasized the importance of acting responsibly and ethically and using our professions as an opportunity to serve. Honoring our commitments, however bold, is an ideal characteristic of a Rotarian. In 1932, The Four-Way Test was developed by Herbert Taylor, a Rotary Club of Chicago member and 1954-55 RI president, to guide his attempt to save a faltering aluminum company. Rotary later adopted it, and it underscores Rotary’s value of integrity. The Four-Way Test has long served as an ethical guide for members to live by in their personal and professional relationships.

 

 

In Rotary’s first decade, members set out guiding principles that evolved into what is now known as the Object of Rotary. They added the advancement of peace in 1921 and made the language more gender-neutral in 1989 and 1995.

 

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:

 

FIRST: The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service;

SECOND: 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;

THIRD: The application of the ideal of service in each Rotarian’s personal, business, and community life;

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

 

While your club may not emphasize all of these principles, understanding them puts your club experience into perspective and adds meaning to being a part of this organization.

 

As an international organization, Rotary values its diversity around the world and within each club. Each club strives to reflect the diversity of its community by including members from a mix of professions, genders, ages, and ethnicities. Having members with different backgrounds and viewpoints gives your club a broader understanding of the community and its problems, and better equips it to find solutions. Equally important is fostering a culture of inclusion, where these differences are respected, supported, and valued. Rotary is apolitical and nonreligious, and it does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, faith, national origin, or sexual orientation. Clubs are most successful when they reflect the community they serve.

 

Rotary International is administered by the Secretariat, which comprises the general secretary and nearly 800 employees who work to support clubs and districts around the world. Rotary’s world headquarters is in Evanston, Illinois, USA, in a building called One Rotary Center. It includes a 190-seat auditorium, Rotary’s archives, and an executive suite with conference rooms for the RI Board of Directors and Rotary Foundation Trustees and the offices of the RI president and other senior officers. It also features a replica of Room 711, the site of the first Rotary club meeting. The staff at the seven international offices are a part of the Secretariat and support Rotarians in their regions. Rotary staff support Rotary members and work to make Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation run smoothly and effectively. The Club and District Support (CDS) representatives offer guidance and answer questions you or your club’s leaders have.

 

They also attend some club and district meetings to meet with Rotarians and train leaders. Find your club’s CDS representative at rotary.org/cds. You can also contact

Rotary’s Support Center at +1-847-866-3000 or supportcenter@rotary.org to ask questions about Rotary.

 

Rotary International’s world headquarters and international offices:

   • One Rotary Center, Evanston, Illinois, USA

   • Europe and Africa office, Zurich, Switzerland

   • South Asia office, New Delhi, India

   • Brazil office, São Paulo

   • Japan office, Tokyo

   • Korea office, Seoul

   • South Pacific and Philippines office, Parramatta (Sydney), New South Wales, Australia

   • Southern South America office, Buenos Aires, Argentina  

   • Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland (RIBI), Alcester, England, an independent office, but still affiliated with Rotary