The story of the permanent themes of Rotary

The name of Arthur Frederick Sheldon is directly connected to one of the permanent themes of Rotary: “He profit most who serves best”. In 1911, the second convention of the National Association of Rotary Clubs in the city of Portland, it was approved as a Rotary theme. It was adapted from the speech of Rotarian Arthur F. Sheldon that was delivered on the first convention the year before in Chicago.

Sheldon declared then “… only the science of good conduct towards others is what counts. Business is the science of serving humanity. But profits most the one who serves best to his fellow.” In Swedish the word for business is “naringsliv” which translates to “the nourishment of life”, which explain adequately our business as Rotarians.

The convention of Portland also inspired another traditional and permanent theme of Rotary. During a boat tour on Columbia river, that occurred during a convention break, Ben Collins who was then the President of the Rotary Club of Minneapolis, Minnesota, during a conversation with Rotarian from Seattle, J.E. Pinkham, about the most adequate manner to organize a club in Rotary, made the comment of a principle that was adopted by his club: “Service, Not Self”. Pinkham was delighted with the conversation and asked Paul Harris who was nearby, to join the conversation. Paul Harris also liked the principle that that phrase contained and asked Collins to present it in the plenary of the convention on the next day. The phrase “Service, Not Self” was received with great enthusiasm by the audience. It was in 1950 at the Detroit Rotary International Conven-

tion, that the original phrase stated by Rotarian Collins was rephrased to take the negative content on it and was stated as “Service Above Self”. This phrase was considered at the 1989 Council on Legislation as the main permanent theme in Rotary, because it was considered as the best form to express the unselfish philosophic posture of the voluntary service.

The other permanent theme of Rotary, He Profit Most Who Serves Best, was modified by the 2004 Council of Legislation, to take off the masculine gender content of the phrase and was stated as: “They Profit Most Who Serve Best”. It is translated to all official languages in Rotary.