a. New Club Building

New club building includes the following 3 critical functions:

• Identification of site/sponsor pairs. It is critical that the appropriate sponsoringKiwanis club sign on and completely buy in to the concept of building a newclub. The graphic above makes possible suggestions for sponsorship, but theGrowth team and each Lt. Governor must discuss the specifics of club sponsorship with the potential sponsoring clubs. It is possible to form a club without an engaged sponsor, but the club will fail within two years without continued oversight and participation from an actively engaged sponsor.
• Preparation and planning. Kiwanis International can provide a roster of previous club members, if the location is one in which a Kiwanis clubpreviously existed. Additionally, a Site Survey needs to be done so that theclub building team will have a strong understanding of the demographics, the opportunities, and the limitations. As a part of that survey, other suggested contacts and referrals will also be provided. The Site Survey for Preston County was extremely helpful and it can be provided to sponsoring clubs to assist them in organizing their survey. The survey is crucial in planning the recruitment effort.
• Executing on the plan. Once a survey has been completed, then members of the sponsoring club should meet with District growth team representatives to assist in establishing a “script” and a plan for canvassing. Ideally, all of the canvassing should occur within one week, and should include collecting the requisite membership fees. Once the paperwork has been collected, one or two Pre-Organizational Meetings should be scheduled where decisions required for club chartering are discussed, and an Organizational meeting should be scheduled as soon as possible, giving enough time to ensure that a majority of charter members will be present, and for a nominating committee to have identified all of the charter officers and board members. District growth staff can assist in this process as well. All requisite chartering documentation is available on the Kiwanis International website.

Adding 7 additional new clubs between January 2010 and September 2011 may seem ambitious to some, given the District’s recent history in club building, butthe experience demonstrated in recent months with Salem-Doddridge, Putnam Area and Preston Co. all indicate that we have the ability to succeed. Towns need not be extremely large to sustain a Kiwanis club if the prospective members are given a clear understanding of the Kiwanis product. Once we are able to secure agreement from committed sponsors, this is a goal which can most assuredly be attained.

b. Revitalization of Weak Clubs

Although the District has demonstrated positive growth and formed three new clubs in recent months, there is still a crisis of membership at the club level. 26 of our 43 active clubs, or more than 60%, are at or below charter strength of 25members. However, the District also has six clubs with membership between 40 and 60, so it is clear that membership growth can be sustained. There are two fundamental reasons why clubs do not sustain membership: 1) the members do not feel they are receiving value for their dues, or that the club is providing value to the community; and 2) the club does not actively promote membership growth by publicizing its efforts and engaging in a constant sustained effort to recruit new members. Each of the clubs that is below charter strength should be engaging in an effort to recruit new members, whether through ongoing initiatives, or through a contained membership drive. Clubs should consider asking their members to participate in the Club Excellence Tool, and the supporting membership development documentation available on the Kiwanis International website. District growth team staff can also assist clubs in setting up and holding membership drives. Stronger clubs in areas where weaker clubs exist, especially within the same town, should offer to partner with the weaker clubs to hold a town-wide membership drive, or to assist the weaker club in strengthening its membership.

The goal for the 2009-2011 period will be to reduce the number of clubs in the District below charter strength by half.

c. Continued Organic Growth of Existing Clubs

Although all clubs should consider the options addressed in b, above, there are other opportunities for growth which stronger clubs can avail themselves of, including new membership initiatives such as Club Satellites, as well as ensuring that the club is participating in Kiwanis branded and Service Leadership Programs such as Terrific Kids, Bringing up Grades, K-Kids, Builders Club, Key Club, Circle K and Aktion Club. In today’s busy environment and with the pressures on individuals’ time, clubs which actively engage in these programs can use them to their advantage in explaining what the benefit of Kiwanis would be to prospective members, and in demonstrating the relevance of the club to the community in practical terms. There are many opportunities in the District to increase the penetration of these programs in our communities, and doing so will improve membership recruitment and retention.

There are currently twelve clubs in the District that do not sponsor either a K-Kids, Builders Club, Key Club, or a Circle K. Salem-Doddridge, Putnam County and Preston County have all expressed interest in either taking over sponsorship of an existing club, forming their own new one, or both. The District’s percentage of non-sponsoring clubs is 10% worse than the average for the whole organization (see below), and this is not beneficial to maintaining membership in existing clubs. We need the remaining nine clubs, which include Delbarton, Gilbert, Keyser-Breakfast, Lenore, Moundsville, Parkersburg, Parsons, Petersburg, Red Jacket, Suncrest, Welch, West Huntington, White Hall and Williamson, to sponsor at least a K-Kids program, and we should work with them to do so before the end of the 2010-2011 term.

It should be our goal that 100% of clubs participate in some form of CLE before assuming office, by September 30, 2011.

b. Training and Orientation of New Members

Quite simply, one of the things which clubs can do to control their own membership destiny, is to ensure that every new member receives some form of training and orientation. Many of our club members do not know what information is available to them on the member website www.kiwanisone.org, and they are not signed up to be able to access this information electronically. Consequently, too many of our members do not really know what Kiwanis is. The member website also provides clubs the opportunity to have their own website, to have contact and roster information available to all members, to easily communicate with all members, and to publish schedules and information about upcoming projects, meetings, events and speakers. New member orientation efforts are crucial to a sense of belonging and understanding of what the organization is, and it combats the single biggest reason which causes new members to drop out of the organization after the first year - a lack of understanding of and involvement in the operations of the club. Each club should provide this kind of orientation to its new members, whether formally or informally, on a regular basis.

c. Training and Development of District Officers

The District must engage in a formal course of training for District officers andcommittee chairs on an annual basis. This training should provide the officers with the skills and information necessary for them to, in turn, provide training to club officers, and it will provide them likewise with the skills and tools necessary to successfully understand and execute their duties and responsibilities. This training information should be available, furthermore, to individuals who express interest in holding a District office in the future. This will assist in the development of a pipeline for future District officers. Lastly, the organized training and orientation of all District officers on an annual basis will assist each of those officers in better identifying, preparing, and assisting their successors.

3. Increased Attendance at District Functions

In the past number of years, attendance has continually declined at the annual Mid-Year and District conventions held in March and August, respectively. Records indicate that last year, attendance at a district function was at 44%. This is a disturbing trend which causes more problems than most people are aware of. In practical terms, net income to the District from these events is critical to the District budget and to keeping dues low. This income has continually declined in the past several years. Secondly, declining attendance has become a self-fulfilling circumstance, with fewer and fewer returning attendees at conferences, only continuing to exacerbate the problem.

Nearly 20% of the current membership of the District has joined Kiwanis within the last three years, and the vast majority of them have not yet attended a District function. Furthermore, anecdotal information indicates that 80% of current membership have never attended a District function, or have not done so for many years. Attendance, orlack thereof, at these functions also has a direct relationship to the development of future District leaders, among many other effects.

We can and must increase attendance at District functions by 50% during 2009-2011. This can be done in two straightforward ways:

• The District must make an effort to change certain portions of the Agendas of these events each year so that recurring attendees will be more inclined to attend, and so that new attendees will receive topical and practical information to assist them in their Kiwanis path. Forums should be changed on a regular basis to provide current and useful information to assist club leaders and members in their participation with their clubs. Sufficient effort must be made to honor and recognize clubs and individuals for their successes and achievements, and clubs must be aware that these events are going to occur. And certain clubs should be given the opportunity to highlight successes. This would include information on special projects, new membership initiatives, new members, new clubs, fundraising achievements, service events, etc. Anything which can give clubs and members an opportunity to highlight their successes and to receive recognition for those successes will provide an incentive for those clubs and members to attend District functions, and will make the attendance more enjoyable for others as well, resulting in an increased likelihood of return attendance.

Scholarships are directly impacted by the per capita contribution to the Foundation. Through the 2008-2009 administrative year, each district received two $500 matching scholarships from the Foundation to be provided to graduating Circle K and Key Club members, with the application procedures being controlled by the District, and the funds disbursed by the Foundation. In 2009-2010, however, due to economic limitations, the Foundation will begin providing only one scholarship for every $1.00 per capita, up to five scholarships, with a bonus of one scholarship given for districts which exceed $5.00, for a maximum of six scholarships, to be divided up among graduating Key Club and Circle K members, and to be disbursed by the District. The District received ten matching scholarships for 2008-2009 and will only receive a maximum of six going forward. Therefore, it is critical that we continue to contribute to the Foundation at a minimum of $5.00 per capita. In addition to scholarships, the Foundation provides grants to service leadership programs and to local clubs, allowing for monies to address local needs, if those funds are successfully applied for.

 

Participating in the Foundation provides concrete and practical benefits to clubs, aswell as the obvious benefits to the beneficiaries of the Foundation. One of the biggest challenges for clubs is to focus Kiwanis participation in terms that are plain and easily understood for members. The Foundation responds to local, national and global needs in a way that allows all Kiwanis members to be a part of larger initiatives without ever leaving home. Inasmuch as the Foundation raised over $100 million for the purpose of eradicating Iodine Deficiency Disorder in third-world countries, the benefits and effects of Foundation activities is far-reaching. Because the Foundation will be sponsoring a new Worldwide Service Project to begin in 2010-2011, clubs will now have a new opportunity to participate in an initiative which will help to provide clarity and focus to their efforts and to ensure that members, especially new members, have a better understanding of the impact of Kiwanis outside of their individual community. The District should focus on 100% participation in the Foundation during this period, and in maintaining the $5.00 per capita contribution level.

In terms of the WV District Foundation, club outreach giving has been far under 50%for some time. Lt. Governors need to encourage each of their clubs to contribute to the District foundation as well as the International foundation. The District foundation only gives awards from the available earnings, which have dissipated significantly over the past few years due to market fluctuations, and some years ofsignificant giving. In 2010, the Foundation Board was only able to approve $1,500 for total matching scholarship funding for SLPs. This means that of the ten SLP scholarships provided by the International foundation, seven are in jeopardy, unless the Key Club and Circle K Districts can come up with the gap of $3,500 to match. If more clubs contribute to the District foundation on a regular basis, then there will be additional funds for matching scholarships, as well as for any other grants which District clubs apply for. Otherwise, the District foundation will continue to be significantly limited in its ability to fund grant requests.

Conclusion

There are literally dozens of smaller individual goals which fall under these four broad areas, or which local clubs can tailor to their own individual needs. But if the District successfully focuses on and executes on these four fundamental and broad-based goals, we will achieve the membership growth we need, we will improve the health of existing clubs, we will create clubs in new and underserved areas, we will promote branded and Service Leadership Programs, we will grow the Kiwanis reach in West Virginia, and we will successfully serve as an example to other districts in a time when Kiwanis participation is crucial, and when Kiwanis desperately needs to grow and expand in order to guarantee its legacy for decades to come.