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Information for Prospective Members
Rotarians are business and professional leaders who take an active role in their
communities while greatly
enriching their personal and professional lives. A Rotary club contains a
diverse group of professional
leaders from the community that the club serves.
Membership in a Rotary club offers a number of benefits, including:
Effecting change within the community.
Developing leadership skills.
Gaining an understanding of — and having an impact on — international
humanitarian issues.
Developing relationships with community and business leaders.
Through Rotary's service programs, a Rotary club can have a significant effect
on the quality of life in its
community. Rotary Foundation programs offer opportunities to form international
partnerships that help
people in need worldwide. Some 1.2 million Rotarians in 30,000 clubs in more
than 160 countries make
significant contributions to the quality of life at home and around the globe.
Responsibilities of Membership
Rotary club membership carries with it certain responsibilities.
Members are expected to attend weekly programs of the club. Opportunities to
make up
attendance include attending the regular meeting of another Rotary club,
attending various other
Rotary meetings, or attending a club service project authorized by the club
board of directors.
Members are required to pay annual dues to their clubs, their districts, and to
Rotary
International.
Members are expected to participate in local or international activities or
projects of the Rotary
club.
Clubs encourage members to aspire to leadership or committee roles within their
clubs.
Benefits of Rotary
Rotary membership provides the opportunity to:
become connected to your community;
work with others in addressing community needs;
interact with other professionals in your community;
assist with RI's international humanitarian service efforts;
establish contacts with an international network of professionals;
develop leadership skills;
involve family in promoting service efforts.
Becoming a Rotarian
An association of some 30,000 autonomous clubs in more than 160 countries,
Rotary International is one of
the world's largest service organizations. The goal for a club's membership is
an up-to-date and progressive
representation of the community's business, vocational, and professional
interests.
An important distinction between Rotary and other organizations is that
membership in Rotary is by
invitation. Rotary clubs invite individuals to join and become members.
Membership is vital to a Rotary club's operations and community service
activities. A primary goal of the
club is to continually expand the club with committed members who have the
interest and ability to get
involved in service and humanitarian projects. Prospective members must:
hold — or be retired from — a professional, proprietary, executive, or
managerial position;
have the capacity to meet the club's weekly attendance or community project
participation
requirements;
live or work within the locality of the club or the surrounding area.
The membership process
Often a person being considered for membership is invited by a member/sponsor to
attend one or more club
meetings to learn more about Rotary. The sponsor may then submit the name of the
candidate to the club's
membership committee.
An individual who is interested in membership but doesn't know any Rotarians can
contact the local club
directly. Some Rotary clubs maintain an office and may be listed in your
telephone directory. Other resources
include a Rotary club in an adjoining community, the local chamber of commerce,
the public library, or other
non-profit service organizations.
Classifications: professional representation Rotary uses a classification system
to establish and maintain a vibrant cross-section or representation of the
community's business, vocational, and professional interests among members and
to develop a pool of resources and expertise to successfully implement service
projects. This system is based on the founders' paradigm of choosing
cross-representation of each business, profession, and institution within a
community.
A classification describes either the principal business or the professional
service of the organization that
the Rotarian works for or the Rotarian's own activity within the organization.
Some examples of
classifications include: high schools, universities, eye surgery, banking,
pharmaceutical-retailing,
petroleum-distribution, and insurance agency.
The 4-Way Test
From the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned with
promoting high ethical standards
in their professional lives. One of the world's most widely printed and quoted
statements of business ethics is
The 4-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who
later served as RI president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that
was facing bankruptcy. This 24-word code of ethics for employees to follow in
their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production,
advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of
the company is credited to this simple philosophy. Adopted by Rotary in 1943,
The 4-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and
published in thousands of ways. It asks the following four questions:
"Of the things we think, say or do:
1.Is it the TRUTH?
2.Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3.Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4.Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"
Rotary Club of Hicksville - Jericho
P.O. Box 435
Hicksville, NY 11802
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