CLASSIFICATIONS IN ROTARY

When a lawyer named Paul Harris, a coal dealer, a mining engineer, and a merchant tailor first met in 1905 in Chicago, they gave birth to Rotary and, by the nature of their diverse occupations, established the associations most distinctive feature – the classification principle.  Today, the classification principle, though modified, remains a cornerstone of Rotary.

Upon joining Rotary, you are lent a classification by the Board of Directors to reflect your occupation or primary source of income. By limiting active membership by classifications, each club becomes a cross-section of the business and professional life of the community it serves. Also, the classification principle makes sure that no one profession or business becomes the dominant force within the club.

A “classification” describes the principal activity of the Rotarian, or the company or business with which a Rotarian is connected.  For example, a police officer can be classified as “law enforcement”, a school principal as “education private schools” or “education secondary”. A lawyer can be classified as “ law-general practice” or “law-family” or “law-criminal”.

A club shall not elect a person to active membership from a classification if the club already has five or more members from that classification, unless the club has more than 50 members, in which case the club may elect a person to active membership in a classification so long as it will not result in the classification making up more than 10 percent of the club’s active membership.

Honorary members do not hold classifications, but shall be entitled to attend all meetings and enjoy all the other privileges of the club.

Retired persons inducted into active membership in a Rotary club shall use their former profession as their classification, but this will not be counted towards the club’s limit of members in a single classification.

The classification committee of the club is responsible for developing and maintaining an up-to-date classification survey of the community. Clubs should maintain and use these classification surveys to develop and strengthen club membership by identifying and recruiting qualified members to classifications that are open.  While the club’s classification committee compiles the classification survey, it is the club’s membership committee and board that reviews and determines the classification of all prospective members.

While adherence to the classification system is desirable, the Rotary International Board of Directors has agreed that each Rotary club should consider carefully the classification practice and broaden the interpretation of classifications where necessary to meet the modern business and professional environment.

 

PP Graham Burmeister, Adelaide Kovac and Bob Willis pictured at the CSU awards ceremony last week. Adelaide was the recipient of our CSU Scholarship and will be attending next week's meeting as guest speaker.