About Us

The second oldest Rotary Club in existence, the Rotary Club of San Francisco has held a prominent place in the life of the city and the Bay Area since 1908.

Cooperation, teamwork, common purpose, and community spirit were the cornerstones of Chicago Rotary founder Paul Harris's credo in those early days, and remain strong today, carried on by a succession of business and community leaders in San Francisco.

Evolving Purpose

World War I changed the club's purpose from interdependence of members in business to participation in the global community. And as the notion of "service above self" took hold, Rotary members initiated what have become long-standing commitments to community organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco. Another great interest was eradicating polio. The San Francisco Rotary helped the School Board in the city open The Sunshine School for crippled children in the early 1920s, continuing over the decades to contribute to the Easter Seals campaign of the California Society for Crippled Children.

The giving policy of the Club has broadened over the years (see San Francisco Rotary Foundation page). In addition to local services, it now embraces international student exchanges and business group exchanges as well as international programs to help children with cleft lip and palate and other deformities (see Alliance for Smiles page and Rotaplast page), as well as children and adults with disabling eye problems (see Rotavision page ).

Socializing

Of course, the Club is also a social club, sponsoring golf tournaments and skiing outings as well as hosting weekly lunches and monthly networking meetings. It has a Speakers Program second only to perhaps the Commonwealth Club's for members (see Weekly Lunch Meetings page ).

Currently, the Rotary Club of San Francisco has almost 300 members and is actively recruiting more members. More members equate to more service to community and more contributions to the important funding work of the Rotary (see Foundation and Project  pages for more specifics).