The insistence on keeping to a single member for each classification led indirectly to the formation of the 'Stand Together Club' in Kansas City, Missouri, by Dr George W. Smith in 1912. The classification of 'physician' had already been filled in the Kansas City Rotary Club, so Smith started a new club with the motto of 'SERvice TO MAnkind'. This, after a first change of name to 'Co-operative Clubs', was adopted in 1950 as the organisation's title 'SERTOMA' with the motto 'Make Life Worthwhile'. Operating on a similar model to Rotary with districts and regions (zones) and a charitable Foundation, Sertoma is now almost exclusively confined to North and Central America, but with its headquarters still based in Kansas City. Like Rotary it has now become a dual gender organisation.

Rotary was well aware that strict adherence to classification rules and limitations on club size might be barriers to increasing membership. In the 'Manual of Procedure' in the early 1920s, appears the comment: "And then, too, other similar organisations with no such restriction, usually profit at the expense of he Rotary Club having this limitation." There was also a feeling that Rotary appealed mainly to the older and more senior members of the community.

This latter concern was met with by another organisation which was started directly by Rotarians 'Round Table'. In 1927, Louis Marchesi of the Norwich Rotary Club had realised that there was a need for a club with similar ideals to Rotary but catering for young business and professional men (up to the age of 40) who were not yet at a level where they were eligible for the older organisation. The inaugural meeting was well attended and so the new club came into being with Marchesi as Secretary and other Rotarians among its officers. The first club was soon followed by a second and then several more. On May 25, 1928, the National Association of Round Table Clubs was formed at a meeting held at Rotary's London offices and the RIBI conference of 1928 actually passed a motion "That this conference recommends the Rotarians of Great Britain and Ireland to foster the promotion ..of clubs of young business and professional men similar to the Norwich Round Table Club" . Round Table subsequently became an international organisation in its own right and has no direct connection with Rotary although many British Rotarians were originally Tablers, and there is often local co-operation. Another organisation for younger business men called the 'Young Men's Progressive Civic Association' had been formed in St Louis, Missouri, by Henry Giessenbier in 1915 which subsequently became the Jaycees or Junior Chamber of Commerce in America, and later in other countries. This was in effect an earlier attempt to do the same as Round Table but without Rotary input.

In Canada, the need for a younger club was also seen by Hal Rogers whose father was a Rotarian. He created the KInsmen Club in Hamilton, Ontario, for the 21-40 age group in 1920 and this led to others throughout Canada. Paul Claiburne of Auburn, California had a similar idea in 1922 and he formed a '20-30 Club' in Sacramento. With help from Rotary headquarters, and the local Rotary club, a second '20-30 Club' was started in Stockton, California, and others soon afterwards. Both of these organisations had ideals similar to those of Rotary but were restricted to North America.

The third of the big three international service organisations, dedicated to 'Serving the children of the world', is Kiwanis International. Kiwanis was started by Allen Browne, a professional organiser of groups, who, in 1914, wanted to start a new kind of organisation for business and professional men in Detroit, Michigan. The first club there began life in January 1915 and was soon followed by many more throughout the United States and Canada. Similar again to Rotary, Kiwanis also faced the problem early on as to whether their prime purpose was mutual business benefits for members or community service. In 1921 the membership adopted clear cut policies of 'Service'. Today, Kiwanis has grown into an international service organisation about half the size of Rotary and represented in perhaps half the number of countries.

It is interesting to note that all these organisations have mottos which involve 'Service' and clearly indicate the underlying ideals behind all of them. Another similarity concerned 'paid' or 'field organisers'. These were people who took pay for starting clubs or recruiting members. The case of Stuart Morrow in Rotary is recorded at our section of Rotary's early leaders. Kiwanis had a problem with their founder, Allen Browne, who actually owned rights in the organisation. In 1919 he had to be paid off at a cost of $17,500!

There are several other organisations throughout the world which cater for both single and dual gender membership. A few exist in more than one country but the big three international organisations remain Rotary,

Lions and

Kiwanis.

Although these three were for men only, there was a recognition that a similar organisation was needed for women. Some of these are detailed elsewhere.

Basil Lewis