Rotaract is Rotary’s club for young adults. Rotaractors build leadership and professional skills, meet leaders in their community, make friends around the world, and take on service projects they care about.
Who can join
- Anyone 18 or older. Rotary International sets a minimum age of 18 for Rotaract.
- No upper age limit from Rotary. Since July 2020, Rotary has left it to each Rotaract club to decide whether to set its own age limit in its bylaws, with the agreement of its members and its sponsor club. In 2025, Rotary’s Council on Legislation voted down proposals to bring back a fixed age limit.
- You don’t need to be a student. Rotaract clubs can be based at a university or in a community, and many young professionals join after school.
How a Rotaract club works
- Members run it. Rotaractors elect their own officers, manage their own funds, and choose and lead their own activities and service projects.
- Rotary stands behind it. A sponsoring Rotary club offers guidance and support and works with the Rotaract club as a partner in service.
- It is real Rotary membership. In 2019 Rotary’s Council on Legislation made Rotaract a type of membership in Rotary International instead of a program, so Rotaract clubs are members of Rotary International in their own right.
A short history
- January 1968: Rotary’s Board of Directors approves Rotaract as a way to bring young adults into service.
- March 13, 1968: Rotary certifies the first Rotaract club, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, sponsored by local Rotary members.
- 2019 and 2020: Rotaract becomes a membership type of Rotary International, and Rotary removes the upper age limit.
- Every March: Rotaractors around the world celebrate World Rotaract Week during the week of March 13, the anniversary of the first club.
Rotaract around the world
According to Rotary International, there are more than 10,000 Rotaract clubs with about 200,000 members in some 180 countries. Together, Rotary and Rotaract count about 1.2 million members in more than 200 countries and geographical areas.
Where our club fits in
The Rotaract Club of Newport Beach is a 4-7-8-17 Global Service Club, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Newport Beach. Like our Rotary Global Service Club, we put Service Above Self and projects ahead of meetings. We still meet on Zoom, so busy young leaders can join from anywhere in the world. Your project is your membership, and Rotarians in more than 200 countries are here to help you make it real.
Source: Rotary International. Learn more at rotary.org.