Members

About Rotary Membership

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.

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. Programs of The Rotary Foundation offer opportunities to form international partnerships that help people in need worldwide. More than 1.2 million Rotarians make significant contributions to the quality of life at home and around the globe.

Becoming a Rotarian

Rotary is an association of nearly 32,000 autonomous clubs in 166 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. Search the Club Locator and Rotary Web sites databases to find contact
information for clubs. 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.

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