A ready-made way to educate your Rotary friends is to seek time from your club president to talk about The Rotary Foundation. Ask for 1-2 minutes at each meeting to provide valuable information. Give the presentation yourself or ask a member of your foundation committee or any member to give the Rotary Minute. Weekly ideas for presentations will be provided each month OR you can develop your own presentations.
In December, our Rotary Minutes focus on the Guiding Principles of Rotary:
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF ROTARY - WEEK #1
Object of Rotary
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.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF ROTARY - WEEK #2
Avenues of Service
Based on the Objects of Rotary, the Avenues of Service are Rotary’s philosophical cornerstone and the foundation on which club activity is based:
- Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club.
- Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards.
- Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.
- International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary’s humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace.
- Youth Service recognizes the positive change implemented by youth and young adults through leadership development activities, service projects, and exchange programs.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF ROTARY - WEEK #3
The Four-Way Test
One of the world’s most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is The Four-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 Four-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways.
