What is Rotary?

Rotary is a worldwide organization of business and professional leaders that provided 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.

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 is The Four-Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as Rotary International's President) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy.

Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The Four-Way Test has been translated into more than one 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?"