R otarians’ generosity and involvement in humanitarian projects go beyond borders. But making international service happen involves travel, which can be expensive.

Through the United Airlines' Mileage Plus Charity Miles program, Rotarians can receive free airfare for club and district humanitarian work. Read about how the Gift of Life program uses donated miles to bring children to the United States for lifesaving heart surgeries.

How to contribute miles

Anyone can donate United Airlines miles through the Humanitarian Miles program. Instead of expiring, your unused miles will be used for service projects. Learn more.

How to participate

Rotarians can work with the Rotary International Travel Service (RITS) to collect airline miles from their community for a specific project. This approach is similar to a fundraiser, except Rotarians collect United Airlines miles instead of money. Donations must be in 1,000-mile increments.

Clubs or districts interested in receiving miles through this program should appoint a Rotary Miles program manager, who needs to provide the following information to the RITS travel manager (by e-mail, fax, or mail):

• Humanitarian purpose of the program/project
• Number of desired airline tickets
• Anticipated travel dates

For clubs or districts interested in collecting miles in their community for a project, the Rotary Miles program manager should take these additional steps:

1. Give the RITS travel manager an approximate time frame for donation collection.
2. Gather and report donations to United on the Rotary Miles donation form (PDF), and follow the instructions listed on the donation form while retaining a copy for the club’s records.
3. Send the donation summary form (PDF) to the RITS travel manager to get tickets once the club has received enough miles.
4. Notify the RITS travel manager of the airline record locator number after United Airlines verifies the donations. Tickets will be issued by RITS and sent to the Rotary Miles program manager.

RITS contact information
Robert S. Mintz
Travel Manager
Rotary International
1560 Sherman Ave., 12th Floor
Evanston, IL 60201-3698 USA
Phone: 847-866-3445
Fax: 847-866-6297

Cheryl Miller
Travel Supervisor
Rotary International
1560 Sherman Ave., 12th Floor
Evanston, IL 60201-3698 USA
Phone: 847-424-5277
Fax: 847-866-6297

Required miles for Mileage Plus economy class round-trip tickets
Domestic US US to Central America, Peru, Venezuela US to Europe US to South America US to Asia Pacific	25,000 miles 35,000 miles 50,000 miles 50,000 miles 60,000 miles

Securing Mileage Plus space can be difficult during popular travel times. In these cases, the Rotary Miles program manager should plan on using standard award tickets, which require about 50 percent more miles. See the complete list of mileage requirements on the United Airlines Web site.