The world's first service club, the Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, was formed on 23 February 1905 by Paul P. Harris, an attorney who wished to recapture in a professional club the same friendly spirit he had felt in the small towns of his youth. The name "Rotary" derived from the early practice of rotating meetings among members' offices.

Rotary's popularity spread throughout the United States in the decade that followed; clubs were chartered from San Francisco to New York. By 1921, Rotary clubs had been formed on six continents, and the organization adopted the name Rotary International a year later.

As Rotary grew, its mission expanded beyond serving the professional and social interests of club members. Rotarians began pooling their resources and contributing their talents to help serve communities in need. The organization's dedication to this ideal is best expressed in its principal motto: Service Above Self. Rotary also later embraced a code of ethics, called The 4-Way Test, that has been translated into hundreds of languages.

During and after World War II, Rotarians became increasingly involved in promoting international understanding. A Rotary conference held in London in 1942 planted the seeds for the development of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and numerous Rotarians have served as consultants to the United Nations.

An endowment fund, set up by Rotarians in 1917 "for doing good in the world," became a not-for-profit corporation known as The Rotary Foundation in 1928. Upon the death of Paul Harris in 1947, an outpouring of Rotarian donations made in his honor , totaling US$2 million, launched the Foudation's first program - graduate fellowships, now called Ambassadorial Scholarships . Today, contributions to The Rotary Foundation total more than US$80 million annually and support a wide range of humanitarian grants and educational programs that enable Rotarians to bring hope and promote international understanding throughout the world.

In 1985, Rotary made a historic commitment to immunize all of the world's children against polio. Working in partnership with nongovernmental organizations and national governments thorough its PolioPlus program, Rotary is the largest private-sector contributor to the global polio eradication campaign. Rotarians have mobilized hundreds of thousands of PolioPlus volunteers and have immunized more than one billion children worldwide. By the 2005 target date for certification of a polio-free world, Rotary will have contributed half a billion dollars to the cause.

As it approached the dawn of the 21st century, Rotary worked to meet the changing needs of society, expanding its service effort to address such pressing issues as environmental degradation, illiteracy, world hunger, and children at risk. The organization admitted women for the first time in 1989 and claims more than 90,000 women in its ranks today. Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Rotary clubs were formed or re-established throughout Central and Eastern Europe. Today, 1.2 million Rotarians belong to some 30,000 Rotary clubs in more than 160 countries.

About Rotary

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 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 nonpolitical , nonreligious, 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 the 1980s, Rotarians raised US$240 million to 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 PolioPlus program will have contributed US$500 million to this cause. In addition, Rotary has provided an army of volunteers to promote and assist at 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 who 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.

Rotary is organized at club, district, and international levels to carry out its program of service. Rotarians are members of their clubs, and the clubs are members of the global association known as Rotary International. Each club elects its own officers and enjoys considerable autonomy within the framework of the standard constitution and the constitution and bylaws of Rotary International.

Clubs are grouped into 530 Rotary districts, each led by a district governor who is an officer of Rotary International and represents the RI board of directors in the field. Though selected by the clubs of the district, a governor is elected by all of the clubs worldwide meeting in the RI Convention.

A 19-member board of directors, which includes the international president and president-elect, administers Rotary International. These officers are also elected at the convention; the selection process for choosing directors and the nominating committee for president are based on zones, each of which comprises approximately 15 districts. The board meets quarterly to establish policies.

While the Rotary International president is chief executive of the organization, the active managing officer is the general secretary, who heads a staff of about 600 persons working at the international headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Evanston, Illinois, USA, or in one of seven international offices around the world.

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.

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?"

The mission of Rotary International is to support its member clubs in fulfilling the Object of Rotary by:

• Fostering unity among member clubs;

• Strengthening and expanding Rotary around the world;

• Communicating worldwide the work of Rotary; and

• Providing a system of international administration.

The Declaration of Rotarians in Businesses and Professions was adopted by the Rotary International Council on Legislation in 1989 to provide more specific guidelines for the high ethical standards called for in the Object of Rotary:

As a Rotarian engaged in a business or profession, I am expected to:

• Consider my vocation to be another opportunity to serve;
• Be faithful to the letter and to the spirit of the ethical codes of my vocation, to the laws of my country, and to the moral standards of my community;
• Do all in my power to dignify my vocation and to promote the highest ethical standards in my chosen vocation;
• Be fair to my employer, employees, associates, competitors, customers, the public, and all those with whom I have a business or professional relationship;
• Recognize the honor and respect due to all occupations which are useful to society;
• Offer my vocational talents: to provide opportunities for young people, to work for the relief of the special needs of others, and to improve the quality of life in my community;
• Adhere to honesty in my advertising and in all representations to the public concerning my business or profession;
• Neither seek from nor grant to a fellow Rotarian a privilege or advantage not normally accorded others in a business or professional relationship.

Membership: A Primary Focus

Why is membership important?
Imagine if your club were to lose 10 percent of its members. How would that affect your service program? What projects might not get finished? Which ones might never have been started? Now consider what your club could accomplish with 10 percent or five percent or even two percent more members. Think about the professional expertise you could add to your club's overall profile simply by filling all open classifications. Think about the new ideas and new club service projects that could be initiated. Think about the additional people to take on leadership and committee roles. Every new Rotarian brings a range of personal and professional resources and knowledge that can greatly strengthen your club's ability to serve throughout the community and the world.

This section will provide you with some resources and tools for membership development.

What is membership development?
The three essential elements of membership growth are:

• the proposal of new members;

• the retention of existing members;

• and the extension of Rotary through the formation of new clubs.

These three elements are equally important, as illustrated by this simple membership equation:

New Members + Retaining Members (retention) + New Clubs (extension) = Membership

Each of these elements needs to be emphasized at the club and district levels

Background of Rotary in Thailand

Rotary Organization was founded in Chicago, U.S.A. on 23 February 1905 (B.E.2448) by Paul P. Harris, and was later brought to Thailand through Rotarian James W. Davidson of the Rotary Club of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who was appointed by Rotary International as General Commissioner for the formation of Rotary Clubs in the Orient.
Rotarian James W. Davidson had been granted an audience with His Royal Highness Prince Purachatra in Bangkok to seek his permission to discuss the possibility in forming a Rotary Club in Thailand. His Excellency Prince Purachatra was impressed with the ideal of Rotary, and thus the first Rotary Club was founded by him on 17 September 1930, namely: "Rotary Club of Bangkok" (an English speaking club) with 69 founding members of 15 different nationalities. The Charter Presentation Ceremony was held at Phyathai Palace (now becomes Phra Mongkut Army Hospital, Rajvithee Road), whereas H.R.H. Prince Purachatra was installed as Charter President.

1931 there were 8 Rotary Clubs in this " Golden Peninsula " region. They were grouped together and designated as "Provisional District B"

1935 Rotary international had included all Rotary Clubs in the French Indo-China region in the same Provisional District B whose designation was later changed to "District 80", whereupon H.S.H. Prince Purachatra became the first District Governor.

1948 as a result of the worldwide rearrangement, "District 80" was renumbered as "District 46".

1955 on the occasion of the Silver Anniversary Celebration of the founding Rotary Club of Bangkok, His Majesty King Bhumipol Aduljadej (King Rama IX) graciously consented to honor Rotary by becoming "Patron of Rotary in Thailand". It was noted that the Constitution and By-laws of Rotary International was translated into Thai for the first time by Past President Luang Sitsayamkarn of RC Bangkok who later became a charter member of the second Rotary Club in Thailand, namely: Rotary Club of Thonburi , which is a Thai speaking club.

1957 the total number of Rotary Clubs became enormous, the District numbers were re-numbered in three digits worldwide. Effective 1 July 1957 District 46 was changed to "District 330".

1958 the second Rotary Club was born with Phya Mahai-Sawan aselected Charter President.

1980 as of 23 February 1980 which marked the 75 th anniversary of Rotary International, there were 48 Rotary Clubs in Thailand . At the 45 th conference of District 330 during 22-24 February 1980, it was resolved to re-district District 330 into two districts, whereby a new District 335 comprised of all Rotary Clubs in Thailand as of 1 st July 1982 was headed by PP Rojvit Pereira of RC Bangkok South as the first District Governor. Number of Rotary Clubs in Thailand was increased to 69 during that year.

1983 the first issue of Rotary Magazine in Thai language was published on 1 st July 1983 and was approved as the official Regional Rotary Magazine for Thailand on 1 st July 1985 . PP Dr. Sumin Prurgsiganont of RC. Chiang Mai North was the first Editor.

1985 the number of Rotary Clubs in Thailand was fast growing, Rotary International approved the split of District 335 into two districts: District 335 and District 336, on 4 June 1985 , and became effective on 1 July 1985 .

1992 R.I . approved Districts 335 and 336 to split into 4 districts, namely: Districts 3330, 3340, 3350 and 3360 to be effective as from 1 July 1992 onward.

Rotary International has as april 2000

- 1.170.904 Members

- 29.268 Clubs

- 528 Districts

in 161 Countries

Rotary in Thailand has as July 1999 has 253 Clubs with 5754 members.