History of Rainbow
The International Order of the Rainbow for Girls (Rainbow), is a non-profit youth organization for girls ages 11-20. When Reverend W. Mark Sexson founded the organization in 1922, he wanted an organization for young girls to help build their self-confidence and leadership skills, all while helping serve their communities.
He named the organization “Rainbow” because in the book of Genesis, after the flood, God made a covenant with people that He would never again destroy the earth, and placed a Rainbow in the heavens as a symbol of that covenant. The Rev. Sexson believed that this symbol of God’s love was an appropriate symbol for the Order, so the Rainbow and its colors provided the inspiration for both the International Order of The Rainbow for Girls and for the lessons that are taught in the ceremonies of the Order. Throughout the world, Rainbow teaches young women to be confident in themselves and all that they do. We build friendships around the globe and create life-long relationships as the girls communicate to each jurisdiction and work together to learn how to be the best women they can be.
Rainbow currently has 275,000 members in 45 states and in 9 foreign countries: Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Aruba, Japan, the Philippines, Canada and Germany. Rainbow recently celebrated it’s 100th Birthday and since its inception more than one million girls have been initiated into our order. Many of those members remain active today as adult leaders after obtaining their majority at the age of 20.
