Rotary is an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide   humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace   in the world. In more than 160 countries worldwide, approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more   than 30,000 Rotary clubs.

  Rotary club membership represents a cross-section of the community's business and professional men   and women. The world's Rotary clubs meet weekly and are non-political, non-religious, and open to all   cultures, races, and creeds.

  The main objective of Rotary is service — in the community, in the workplace, and throughout the world.   Rotarians develop community service projects that address many of today's most critical issues, such as   children at risk, poverty and hunger, the environment, illiteracy, and violence. They also support programs   for youth, educational opportunities and international exchanges for students, teachers, and other   professionals, and vocational and career development. The Rotary motto is Service Above Self.

  Although Rotary clubs develop autonomous service programs, all Rotarians worldwide are united in a   campaign for the global eradication of polio. In 1985 when Rotary began it's campaign to eradicate polio   there were over a 1000 children a day dying from Polio, in 2001 there were less than 2000 cases for the   year.

  Our goal is to completely immunize the children of the world by 2005, Rotary's centenary year and the   target date for the certification of a polio-free world; the Rotarians will have personally contributed   US$500 million to this cause. The Escondido Sunrise Club alone has donated over $60,000. In addition,   Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to actually give the drops of life in national immunization days   in polio-endemic countries around the world.

  The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International is a not-for-profit corporation that promotes world   understanding through international humanitarian service programs and educational and cultural   exchanges. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and others that share its   vision of a better world. Since 1947, the Foundation has awarded more than US$1.1 billion in humanitarian   and educational grants, which are initiated and administered by local Rotary clubs and districts.

  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.

  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 test 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?"