Altrusa International provides community service, develops leadership, fosters international understanding and encourages fellowship by an international network of executives and professionals in diversified career classifications. Altrusa is, first and foremost, a community based, grassroots organization that seeks to solve the problems in our back yards. Busy Altrusans raise money for local charities, volunteer at battered women’s shelters, help runaway teens, build houses for Habitat for Humanity, and so much more. Inspired by Thoreau, Mamie L. Bass put it best, "it is not enough to be good; Altrusans must be good for something."​