The first four Rotarians.
Gustavus Loehr, Silvester Schiele, Hiram E. Shorey, Paul P. Harris.
Rotary started with the vision of one man — Paul Harris. The Chicago attorney formed the Rotary Club of Chicago on 23 February 1905, so professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships.
Over time, Rotary’s reach and vision gradually extended to humanitarian service. Members have a long track record of addressing challenges in their communities and around the world.
Whatever Rotary may mean to us, to the world it will be known by the results it achieves.
Paul Harris
Rotary founder
Our ongoing commitment
Rotary's commitment endures today through an organization that remains truly international. Only 16 years after being founded, Rotary had clubs on six continents. Our members now span the globe, working to solve some of our world’s most challenging problems.
Rotarians have not only been present for major events in history — We’ve been a part of them, from UN to Easter Seals. We’re not afraid to dream big and set bold goals.
Rotary at the start of the United nations
Rotary and the United Nations have a shared history of working toward peace and addressing humanitarian issues around the world.
During World War II, Rotary informed and educated members about the formation of the United Nations and the importance of planning for peace. Materials such as the booklet From Here On! and articles in The Rotarian helped members understand the UN before it was formally established and follow its work after its charter.
Chinese Rotarian from Shanghai Dr V.K. Wellington KOO, the longest-serving diplomat of the Republic of China, and three-time Ambassador to the United States, was the first person to sign on the Charter of the United Nations on 6 June 1945.
Polio Eradications
In early 1979, on a flight home from the Philippines, Sir Clem Renouf, the 1978-79 Rotary International president read a magazine story about the eradication of smallpox. He wondered if Rotary’s new Health, Hunger and Humanities (3-H) Grants could be used to eliminate another disease. Renouf consulted with a friend, John Sever, who was a district governor in Maryland, USA, and chief of infectious diseases at the United States National Institutes of Health. After doing some research, Sever said that polio would be the best disease for Rotary to work on. At that time, Polio was affecting about 1000 children a day. A vaccine had been available for over 25 years, but immunization efforts had not scaled up. In the next few months, Rotarians rallied around the idea of eliminating Polio from the face of Earth. and, in November 1979, the RI Board set the eradication of Polio as a primary goal of the 3-H program.
In order to raise money, Clem asked all the clubs to contribute some cash, which was about $15 per member, for service projects, and the appeal raised the surprising amount of $7 million. Part of that money was then used to fund the first polio immunization project for 6 million children in the Philippines and the success was real.
In 1985, Rotary launched the PolioPlus program, and it later spearheaded the Global Polio Eradication Initiative with its partners — national governments, the World Health Organization, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and UNICEF. The GPEI continues to pursue worldwide eradication of polio.
Rotary International is the second largest private sector donor. According to PolioEradication.org , contributions from Rotary from 1985 to 2016 totaled more than $1.5 billion to the polio eradication activities in 122 countries. In addition, tens of thousands of Rotarians have partnered with their national ministries of health, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and with health providers at the grassroots level in thousands of communities.
Today, polio remains endemic in only two countries — down from 125 in 1988.
World Famous Rotarians
Rotarians are your neighbors, your community leaders and some of the world’s greatest history-makers:
Rotary India
01 Jan 1920
Rotary Club of Calcutta was the first Rotary club chartered in India
19 Mar 1929
Rotary club of Bombay received its charter
08 May 1929
Rotary club of Delhi was chartered
19 Jul 1929
Rotary club of Madras, The first club in South India was chartered
05 Jun 1934
Rotary Club of Bangalore was the 6th club to be chartered in Colonial India.
01 Jul 1977
our Rotary District 3190 was carved out of District 318
29 Jun 2018
Rotary Bangalore Shantiniketan was Chartered
01 Jan 2020
Rotary completes 100 years of service in India
Today, there are more than 1.2 Lakh members in over 3,000 clubs operating throughout the country. Our District 3190 comprises of 8 revenue districts (Bangalore, Bangalore Rural, Mandya, Tumkur, Ramnagaram, Chikkaballapur & Kolar from Karnataka and Chittoor from Andra Pradesh). and has over 6000 members and 150 clubs.
Rotary Bangalore Shantiniketan
Rotary Bangalore Shantiniketan was chartered on the 29th June 2018 with an enthusiastic group of 21 members who eagerly want to contribute towards making the world a better world. We are from diverse professional backgrounds, with an intent to give back to Society. We pour our passion, integrity and capabilities into completing projects that have a lasting impact, and we persevere until we deliver real, lasting solutions. Rotary rests on the twin pillars of Fellowship & Service. RBS has over the past 3 years used the vehicle of friendship & camaraderie of its members to complete impactful projects on the ground.
Past Presidents
Sunil Jain
Mithun Amin
Sanjay Agarwal
Charter President
2018-19
The Rotary Foundation
At the 1917 convention, outgoing RI President Arch C. Klumph proposed to set up an endowment “for the purpose of doing good in the world.” In 1928, it was renamed The Rotary Foundation, and it became a distinct entity within Rotary International.
Since the first donation of $26.50 in 1917, the Foundation has received contributions totaling more than $1 billion.
In Dec 2020, For the 13th consecutive year , The Rotary Foundation has received the highest rating — four stars — from Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charities in the U.S.
The Foundation earned the recognition for adhering to sector best practices and executing its mission in a financially efficient way, demonstrating both strong financial health and commitment to accountability and transparency. Only one percent of the organizations Charity Navigator evaluates have received 13 consecutive 4-star evaluations.
Fellowship Groups
Rotary Fellowships are international, independently organized groups of any interested individual who share a common hobby, recreational interest, or profession. Rotary Fellowships give their members the opportunity to have fun and make new friends around the world.
Many of the sporting fellowships hold regional matches and world tournaments. Fellowships related to travel or excursions plan destination trips, while vocational fellowships often plan get-togethers at professional conferences and seminars.
Fellowship Groups
- Badminton
- Beer
- Chess
- Comedy
- Cricket
- Cruising
- Cycling
- Esperanto
- Ethics
- Fishing
- Golf
- Hiking
- Home Exchange
- Horseback Riding
- Hunting
- Jazz
- Lawyers
- Marathon Running
- Metalhead
- Motorcycling
- Photographers
- Rotary Means Business
- Rowing
- Scuba
- Shooting Sport
- Skiing
- Surfing
- Table Tennis
- Tennis
- Urban Gardening
- Whisk(e)y
- Wildlife Conservation
- Wine
- Yachting
- Yoga
- ... and 56 more