The "Wise Choice" For The Civic-Minded Business Owner, Executive, and Professional

Established in 1909, the Rotary Club of New York is an organized and enjoyable way for civic-minded executives and professionals to contribute their skills to the progress of New York and to the needy areas of the world. As a Rotarian, you and your company will become part of the 1.2 million worldwide Rotarian network, and warmly welcomed at the 33,000 clubs in more that 172 countries. You will also establish life- long friendships with other like-minded men and women in a cross-section of industries and professions. (Photo taken from the German Mission to the United Nations' Cafe where we host a monthly breakfast Round-Table discussion to enhance the Rotary/ UN partnership.)


Be a Part of the Rotary Club of New York and Help Make a Difference!

In 1945 our club created its own, IRS recognized, Foundation of the Rotary Club of New York. As a result, in concert with a number of interesting and enjoyable fund raisers, our club is proud to have provided support to needy local and international projects -The Heart and Soul of our Club - for nearly 100 years.

Part of our club's service projects include providing technical and financial assistance, as well as providing helping-hands and recognition to a number of worthy New York organizations:

They include

• An Upper Manhattan Soup Kitchen
• After-School Computer Center
• Monthly Round-Table Breakfast Meeting at the United Nations with UN officials and ambassadors to assist in the Millennium Development Goals http://nyrotaryunitednations.blospot.com/
• Policeman Recognition Day
• Fireman Recognition Day
• Monthly Public High School Scholarships
• City-wide Essay Contest Scholarship
• Financing, hosting and arranging high-risk surgery at a New York Hospital for children from countries where the surgical procedure is not available. www.giftoflifeinternational.org

How to Apply for Membership?

We encourage all civic-minded business owners, managers, and professionals to explore the benefits of Rotary membership. If you and/or your company would like more information about becoming a part of the legendary Rotary Club of New York, or would like to visit one of our regular lunches, contact our Executive Director at ny.rotary@verizon.org , or one of our membership co-chairpersons: Lou Dipaolo at louis.dipaolo@verizon.net or Tom McConnon at Thomasref@aol.com

Guest Speaker Program

At nearly every weekly meeting, we invite an informative and recognized industry leader to meet with club members. They provide us with first-hand insight on a wide-array of relevent topics such as politics, economics, finance, poverty-eradication, health, media, art, music, history, film, etc. The presentation and Q&A period normally lasts about 30 minutes, but our guest(s) usually remain after the lunch for an informal, extended conversation.

Where We Meet

One of the wise policies of the The Rotary Club of New York, as with most Rotary Clubs, is not to own any real estate for our weekly meetings. Rotarians prefer to spend their time and energy on service projects and fellowship with other like-minded individuals, rather than expending resources on the costly responsibility of maintaining and managing a building. It is the tradition of Rotarians to simply meet at a comfortable and convenient restaurant to enjoy our weekly meetings. Since December 2007, we meet every Monday at the Harvard Club at 35 w. 44th St., from 12:15pm to 1:30pm. where we have been very comfortable for the last five years. We normally meet on the third floor banquet room, but ask the doorman for our exact location for that week. The cost of the lunch is $50.00. Reservations can be made by contacting the Executive Director or a membership chairperson.

Rotary's Polio-Plus Program that was started in 1985 is credited with the near-eradication of polio from our planet. We are very proud of the recent Wall Street Journal Editorial. The NY Times had a similar editorial but did not recommend us for the "Noble Peace Prize".

WSJ Editorial April 12, 2005
"Today marks the 50th anniversary for the Salk polio vaccine. Poliomyelitis, also know as infantile paralysis, used to be one of childhood’s most feared diseases. A few years after Dr. Jonas Salk announced his vaccine on April 12, 1955, nearly every child in the U.S. was protected. Today polio has disappeared from the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific and is nearly gone from the rest of the world. A too-little known part of this feat is the role played by Rotary, the international businessman’s club, which in 20 years adopted the goal of wiping out the disease. Rotary understood that medical breakthroughs are worthless unless people aren’t afraid to immunize their children and efficient delivery systems exist to get the vaccine to them. And so it mobilized its members in 30,100 clubs in 166 countries to make it happen. In 1985, when Rotary launched its eradication program, there were an estimated 350,000 new cases of polio in 125 countries. Last Year, 1,263 cases were reported. More than one million Rotary members have volunteered their time or donated money to immunize two billion children in 122 countries. In 1988, Rotary money and its example were the catalyst for a global eradication drive joined by the World Health Organization, Unicef and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. In 2000 Rotary teamed up with the United Nations Foundation to raise $100 million in private money for the program. By the time the world is certified as polio-free probably in 2008-Rotary will have contributed $600 million to its eradication effort. An economist of our acquaintance calls Rotary’s effort the most successful private health-care initiative ever. A vaccine-company CEO recently volunteered to us that the work of Rotary and the Gates Foundation, both private groups, has been more effective than any government in promoting vaccines to save lives. It’s become fashionable in some quarters to deride civic volunteerism, but Rotary’s unsung polio effort deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. "

It should be noted that our Polio-Plus program is only the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands of Club to Club poverty-eradication projects are completed every year. Most of these projects are not regestered with any central agency or even with Rotary International. Therefore, there is no centralized annual accounting of these projects, but it is in the tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. Visit any developing country and it would be very difficult to find a region where a Rotary Club from an economically developed country has not built a school house, medical clinic, or ball field.

YIR, tm

Rotary Club of New York History In A Nutshell

August 24, 1909 we officially became Rotary Club No. 6.

In October of the same year, our club member John Frick designed and made the first Rotary pin, the prototype of what Rotarians wear today. We still have the pin on display at our office.

In 1916 our current Club’s shield emblem was first designed. In 1919, one of our members placed this design on a banner which he personally presented to the Rotary Club of London; and thus started the tradition of Club to Club banner exchanges that is still a Rotary tradition today.

In 1922 Rotary International adopted its Constitution and By-Laws that was heavily influenced by our Club’s Constitution and the recommendations of our Club’s Past President, Ray Knoeppel.

On April 1, 1926 Paul Harris addressed our club and named us “The Host Club of America” because nearly all European Rotarians traveling to the United States visited our club after their long Atlantic crossing. It is an endearment we still use today.

The Rotary Club of New York’s Foundation was established in 1945 and has raised millions of dollars for social programs throughout our city and the world. Most recently, we were responsible for dispensing more than 1.5 million dollars that we received from other generous Rotary Clubs and others to assist needy New Yorkers to recover from the terrorist attack at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

Our Club hosted two Rotary International Conventions, first in 1949 and then again in 1959.

Luther Hogers, our club’s president in1947-48, became governor of North Carolina and then U.S. Secretary of Commerce. But the high point of his career was when he became Rotary International president in 1967.

In addition to many New York mayors, governors, United Nations officials, business and religious leaders, our historic, yet still very much utilized, Club Podium has hosted such notable guest speakers as Thomas Edison, Helen Keller, President Herbert Hoover, and even the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in his full resplendent uniform. (Our historic podium is pictured above as Past- President Greg Lynch makes a presentation to one of New York's Finest Finest for a heroic life- saving rescue).

The Rotary Club of New York is also known for our corny but friendly welcome song that we have sung to the over 60,000 visiting Rotarians since it was first copyrighted by club member Johnny Shays in 1945: “Fellow Rotarians We Greet You.”

Transcription From a Full Page Advertisement in the New York Times published on May 11, 1918 "A Rotary Club is an organization of businessmen bound together by the understanding to better the life and conditions in the community. Primarily the idea was to stimulate interchange of business among members, but this proved provincial and has long been discontinued. Today Rotary stands for the highest ideals in the business and social life, with benefit to all, and favoritism to none.There are 888 clubs in as many cities of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, and Cuba. The movement started in 1905, and today there are 86,806 Rotarians each pledged to an unselfish duty. The Rotary Club of New York has 412 members, each representing a different line of business or profession. By virtue of its membership principles, Rotary cannot be dominated in a single selfish direction, but must serve the greatest number fearlessly. These leaders of industry offer this page to the public as an expression of sincerity in business and community betterment". Rotarians are in business to serve. If you go to one of these advertisers on this page, or purchase his merchandise, you are assured of full value, courtesy and no misrepresentation."

Application Process For Membership

Prospective Member Induction Process

Our goal is to ensure that prospective members are informed about Rotary and the Rotary Club of New York, and are inducted within one month of presenting their application.

• Step 1. Contact our Executive Director, Andreas Runggatscher, or membership chairs Lou DiPaolo, Tom McConnon or Saul Anton for an application.


• Step 2. Assign sponsor and co-sponsor if the prospective member does not already have one.


• Step 3. With the help of their sponsors, the prospective member should fill out the Rotary Club of New York’s application. A fully refundable $300 deposit is required with the submitted application. Before filling out the application, the sponsor and /or the co-sponsor should inform the prospective member of the “Basics Of Rotary” and answer any questions the applicant may have. Topics should include:
  - The Fundamentals of Rotary
  - Attendance
  - Financial commitment,
  - Membership profession classification.
  - Our Club’s Community and International Service projects.
  - VoluntaryClub Service
  -Annual donation to New York Rotary Foundation
  - Prepaid lunch coupon system.


• Step 4. A representative from the Club’s “Selection and Classification Committee” (SCC), chaired by Saul Anton, will visit the prospective member to evaluate mutual compatibility and classification. They will also answer any additional questions the prospective member may have.


• Step 5. Completed application and recommendation by SCC is submitted to Board for approval. The approval process will be done on-line to expedite the process.


• Step 6. Successful candidate is asked to attend an one hour orientation on the second Tuesday of the month at 11:00 AM chaired by incoming president. The incoming president may invite other Rotarians to assist in conducting the orientation.


• Step 7. The prospective member can be inducted at the same day of the orientation meeting. Sponsor and / or co-sponsor will introduce the inductee and briefly introduce the new member before the new member addresses the club.


• Step 8. The new member’s photo, along with a synopsis of their profession, company name, personal hobbies, family life, and areas of interest and any chosen job assignment in Rotary, may be presented in our weekly newsletter.
  
  
  Membership Application
  Please complete this form and return to the Rotary Office with your $300.00 fully refundable deposit. This information will be used for introductions and reference for club publications and activities. Forms can be faxed: (212) 633-1954, or mailed: Rotary Club of New York, 322 Eight Avenue, Suite 1701, New York, NY 10001. Our office telephone number is (212) 633-1311.

Name _______________________________________________

Nickname for badge______________________________________

Home Address _________________________________________

Home Phone __________Fax__________Email________________

Work Phone __________Fax__________ Email________________

Company Name ________________________________________

CompanyAddress_______________________________________

Circle one: I prefer to receive Rotary mail and/or e-mails at HOME WORK

Professional Title or Function _______________________________

Years company?____________

What products or services does your company provide? Are they in business locally, nationally or internationally?

__________________________________________________

Describe briefly the duties you perform______________________


List past and present civic, charitable, nonprofit and professional or trade organization activities___________________________________________________

Have you been a member of this or any other Rotary Club? _______________

Where__________ Number of years? ____ When? ________ Paul Harris Fellow________

Club Sponsor: _____________________________________________

Club Co-sponsor___________________________________________

Rotary and the United Nations

More than Five Hundred Rotarians and Three Hundred High School Students - that are members of Rotary's "Interact" - met at the Annual Rotary Day at the United Nations - November 2005. In 1945, forty-nine Rotary members served in 29 delegations to the United Nations Charter Conference. Rotary still actively participates in UN conferences by sending observers to major meetings and promoting the United Nations in Rotary publications. Rotary International's relationship with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) dates back to a 1943 London Rotary conference that promoted international cultural and educational exchanges. Attended by ministers of education and observers from around the world, and chaired by a past president of RI, the conference was an impetus to the establishment of UNESCO in 1946.

What is Rotary International?

Rotary International is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provides humanitarian service, encourages high ethical standards in all vocations, and helps build goodwill and peace in the world. Approximately 1.2 million Rotarians belong to more than 31,000 Rotary clubs located in 167 countries.

Rotary International History
The Rotary Club of Chicago, Illinois, USA, the world's first service club was formed on 23rd of 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.


The Rotary International Foundation (Separate from the Foundation of the Rotary Club of New York)
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 Foundation'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.

Membership
The organization admitted women for the first time (worldwide) in 1989 and claims more than 145,000 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 31,000 Rotary clubs in 172 countries.

Rotary International Milestones

• 1905 First Rotary club organized in Chicago, Illinois, USA1905
• Second club formed in San Francisco, .
• Rotary Club of New York organized in 1909,
• First Rotary convention held in Chicago1912.
• The Rotary Club of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, becomes the first club outside the United States to be officially chartered. (The club was formed in 1910.)
• 1917 Endowment fund, forerunner of The Rotary Foundation, established
• 1932 Four-Way Test formulated by Chicago Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor
• 1945 Forty-nine Rotarians help draft United Nations Charter in San Francisco
• 1947 Rotary founder Paul Harris dies;
• 1947 First 18 Rotary Foundation scholarships granted
• 1962 First Interact club formed in Melbourne, Florida, USA
• 1965 Rotary Foundation launches Matching Grants and Group Study Exchange programs
• 1978 RI's largest convention, with 39,834 registrants, held in Tokyo
• 1985 Rotary announces PolioPlus program to immunize all the children of the world against polio
• 1989 Council on Legislation opens Rotary membership to women worldwide
• 1989 Rotary clubs chartered in Budapest, Hungary, and Warsaw, Poland, for first time in almost 50 years
• 1990 Rotary Club of Moscow chartered first club in Soviet Union
• 1990-91Preserve Planet Earth program inspires some 2,000 Rotary-sponsored environmental projects1994Western Hemisphere declared polio-free
• 1999 Rotary Centers for International Studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution established
• 2000 Western Pacific declared polio-free 2002 Europe declared polio-free; first class of 70 Rotary Peace Scholars begin study
• 2003 Rotarians raise more than US$118 million to support the final stages of polio eradication

Rotary International Administration

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 529 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 the highest officer of RI, the chief administrative officer of RI 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.

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. The Four-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 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. It asks the following four questions:
"Of the things we think, say or do:

• Is it the TRUTH?
• Is it FAIR to all concerned?
• Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
• Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"

Four Avenues of Service

Based on the Object of Rotary, the Four Avenues of Service are Rotary's philosophical cornerstone and the foundation on which club activity is based:

1. Club Service focuses on strengthening fellowship and ensuring the effective functioning of the club.
2. Vocational Service encourages Rotarians to serve others through their vocations and to practice high ethical standards.
3. Community Service covers the projects and activities the club undertakes to improve life in its community.
4. International Service encompasses actions taken to expand Rotary's humanitarian reach around the globe and to promote world understanding and peace.
   
   R.I. Mission Statement
   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.
   
   
   History of Rotary Youth Exchange
   Since 1927, students and host families all over the world have had their horizons broadened and their lives enriched by the generosity of Rotary's Youth Exchange program. Administered by Rotary clubs, districts and multidistrict groups, the program today involves more than 82 countries and over 8,000 students each year.The first documented exchanges date back to 1927, when the Rotary Club of Nice, France, initiated exchanges with European students. Exchanges between clubs in California, USA, and Latin American countries began in 1939, and exchange activities spread to the eastern United States in 1958. In 1972, the RI Board of Directors agreed to recommend Youth Exchange to clubs worldwide as a worthwhile international activity that promotes global peace and understanding.