Membership in a Rotary club is by invitation only and was based on it's founder, Paul Harris, deciding to choose one representative of each business, profession and institution in the community. What is called the "classification principle" is used to ensure that the members of a club comprise a cross section of their community's business and professional life.

A Rotarian's classification describes either the principal business or professional service of the organization that he or she works for or the individual Rotarian's own activity within the organization. The classification is determined by activities or services to society rather than by the position held by the particular individual. In other words, if a person is president of a bank, he or she is not classified as "bank president" but under the classification "banking." The classification principle fosters a fellowship for service based on diversity of interest, and seeks to prevent the predominance in the club of any one group.

When a person becomes an active member of a Rotary club, it is said that the member has been "loaned" a classification. He or she may propose one additional active member in that classification. On completing five, ten or fifteen years of service, depending on the individual's age, he or she becomes a "senior active" member and their classification is released to enable another person to join the club.

To find out if your classification is open in the Rotary Club of Kingston, send us an e-mail to: kingstonrotary@pjcservices.com.