What is Rotary?

For those who visit with the Rotary Club of Litchfield Hills or any of the other great Rotary Clubs in the district, defining what Rotary is and does might seem difficult. Indeed, with all that Rotary and Rotarians do, pinning a label on the Rotary is a challenge. Here are some thoughts that might help.

Definition of Rotary - The official definition of “Rotary”, formally adopted in 1976, is: “Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations and help build goodwill and peace in the world”

Object of Rotary – The object of Rotary is to encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise. This “ideal of service” is fostered through

(i)                 the development of acquaintance as the opportunity for service

(ii)               the promotion of high ethical standards in business and professions

(iii)             service in one’s personal, business and community life 

(iv)             The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace.

The 4-Way Test – As you may have noticed, the words “ethics” and “ethical” come up a lot when Rotary is discussed and described. That is because it is an important part of everything the Rotary and Rotarians do. Rotarians measure whether a course of action is “ethical” by using the 4-way Test, which consists of four simple but important questions:

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?

Note: Special thanks to Clifford L. Dochterman, author of  The ABCs of Rotary, from which much of the above was taken.