Rotary is an organisation of professional and business men who meet together every week for the purpose of fellowship and service; it is non-political and non-sectarian.

The operational unit is the Rotary Club, the name of which will be associated with a centre of population, large or small.

An International Movement

The principles of Rotary have appealed to a variety of people in many different communities, and although early expansion took place in the U.S.A., Canada and the British Isles, the idea has now been accepted in many parts of the world. There are now over 1.1 million Rotarians meeting in more than 25,000 Clubs and adapted to the local customs of some 170 different countries and geographical regions.

There is an international administrative structure with headquarters at Evanston, Illinois, U.S.A., which serves to link all the Rotary Clubs in the world together; but wherever they are located the Clubs accept the same basic rules of membership and attendance. Although they will all follow the general programme of service, they will adapt it to their own local conditions.