Membership Growth

Taking Your Club from Good to GEM

Many of us give our all for Kiwanis and each of us gives in the best way that we can. Our giving is in many directions. We give money, we give time, and we give ideas. We give so much that Kiwanis makes an incredible contribution to our communities and to the world. I am proud to be a part of this incredible organization, and have been captivated by the attitudes of our outstanding membership as I have traveled through the state in my last two years as a District Chairperson.

We fund raise our hearts out and then we give our money and labors throughout our communities. We give until it hurts and then still wonder how we can give more. We spend hours helping in the community without thought of personal gain. Yet, many of us are missing our most important role in Kiwanis.

To define this role, I would like to first review the 3 missions of being a Kiwanian (in my opinion). First, we must fund raise to have a foundation of money to give out in our community. Secondly, we must find ways to help in our community with both collected monies and our labors; looking for appropriate causes for our dollars and our work. Finally, the third mission is that we must develop our clubs in strength and size.

This third responsibility of being a Kiwanian is often overlooked and frequently under done. A seriously missing piece, the mission of helping our clubs to grow. A club that is not continuously adding membership each year becomes less and less effective and reduces its ability to help in the community. A club that is growing continuously increases its ability to be of assistance in the community. This basic fact may not be surprising to most but there is more to the story. A club that stops growing begins a slow death as its members become fewer and older. Older clubs as a statistic start a faster decline in membership totals and this decline can become fatal as the membership ages out. Growing clubs bring fresh leaders, fresh ideas, and new and increasing growth. Clubs that are growing statistically continue to grow faster and stay alive. Growing clubs also help the district and Kiwanis to grow in many ancillary ways. Growing clubs have found "The Missing Piece"

Simply put, a growing club will do more in the community and will be around for a longer time. A stagnant or declining club will ultimately get so small that it either dies or substantially loses it ability to support its community. Sometimes, members even exacerbate the problem by unconsciously trying to keep the club at "status quo" without realizing that they are causing their club to become "status dying". Do we really want to kill our clubs in order to keep them the way they used to be? Of course not. We rarely even realize that it is happening because it is a slow decline. Do we want our legacy in Kiwanis to continue or do we want it die? Of course, we all want our clubs to continue on in the future, but to accomplish that some of us need to take a new and fresh look at our this missing commitment to our club needs. We need to think carefully about the legacy that we will be leaving behind in Kiwanis. Then allow and support some changes to happen.

The job of helping your club to grow becomes even more important in these times where we have nationally decreasing memberships. Volunteerism is declining in these difficult times. Even those clubs who do membership development work have to work harder. We must spend as much time developing our memberships as we do fund raising and giving. Are you spending adequate time in membership development? Most of us are not. Most clubs spend almost no time at all in membership development. The legacy becomes more and more obvious. A missing piece, a slow death.

What can you do? First, of course, you must be sure that your club is vibrant and interesting; a club that others would want to join. This requires that a club has fun and that its members feel valued. Additional emphasis should be placed on welcoming and monitoring new members (and guests) for the first year, as this is the year that we lose most members. Since maintaining membership interest is critical here, we must communicate regularly with all members via newsletters or emails to keep all members informed and educated, especially those who miss meetings! Members must enjoy meetings or they will unconsciously stymie membership development efforts.

Then comes the 3rd mission, perhaps the most important task in today's volunteer world; making the time, spending the time, and finding many ways to bring in new membership. The most important single thing that we can do to accomplish this is to run club or divisional roundups twice a year. A roundup is a meeting in which members commit to bringing a qualified guest to an interesting meeting at which they can hear all about Kiwanis and its accomplishments and needs. They should know about the date of the roundup at least 3 months in advance and leaders should keep reminding them of their great responsibility to bring guests to these special meetings. This, of course, does not preclude our regular efforts to bring guests to meetings, which should be ongoing. Clubs will be asked by their Lt. Governors to run individual roundups in July. Start planning now by choosing appealing speakers and beginning to encourage each other to find appropriate prospects.

When clubs truly embrace this third mission, they grow rapidly. When they do not, they are really missing out on how easy and productive roundups can be. This 3rd mission really is "The Missing Piece". It's a GEM of a piece!

The following is a summary of the GEM plan for growing a club, Ask me to prove it works. I will. Ask me to help - I will. I am part of a team of dedicated Kiwanians that stand ready to help the clubs in the New York District in developing a growth plan. I will put you in touch with your closest representative and answer all of your questions. We promise you that if your memberships will open their minds to some new ideas and accept some different responsibilities, we can help you to develop a vibrant and growing club that can do even more than ever to help the members of our community. A GEM of a club!

The GEM Plan:

G    = Get Your Club "Guest Ready"
E    = Educate, Enform (I) and Empower
M    = Make the Commitment to Recruit

G - Getting your club Guest Ready
1)    Discuss the club's needs and make a plan. Listen to your new members for ideas.
2)    Work on speakers, spouse events, hands-on activities, etc.
3)    Make sure that all members feel involved.
4)    Thank You's, awards, and acknowledgments must be constant.
5)    Evaluate progress throughout the year including new member attendance and attitudes.
6)    Lead the members to initiate change in the clubs themselves.
7)    All new members should immediately be put into committees and I    involved.
8)    Be willing to change and let your newer members suggest and try new things!

E - Educate and Inform and keep the information flowing
1)    Appoint an Information Developer (PR).
2)    Make a plan including but not limited to:
    a) Improve/develop a newsletter, use mail, email and both as individuals request.
    b) Train new and current members about Kiwanis and get them involved in committees.
    c) Train current members and keep them involved.
    d) Let the community know what we do.
3)    Evaluate progress throughout the year.

M - Make the Commitment to bring guests- 25-33% of clubs' time should be spent on this!
1)    Appoint a Membership Development Person in your club. Appoint a Guest Coordinator to monitor guests and encourage return visits.
2)    Develop the "Bring a Guest" concept as opposed to "bring in a new member" and get a commitment from each and every member to participate.
3)    Scheduling a bring a guest night (at least 2x year - one may be with your divisional).
4)    Participate in a Divisional Roundup - 1x per year.
5)    Bring a guest to the service activities - a powerful way to sell Kiwanis.
6)    Find good speakers for your nights when you bring in guests.
7)    Follow up potential members with club members designated to stay in touch.
8)    Keeping track of progress throughout the year. Have a numerical goal for membership growth.
9)    Look for new sources for guests - seniors, high school grads, Chamber of Commerce lists.
10)    Be open to change!
11)    Take the GEM Commitment

The GEM Commitment: I promise to bring two qualified guests to an activity of my club's during this year. I will help my club to become a GEM and grow from GOOD to GREAT!

Remember, when all else fails, bring a guest.
 

Column Posted on Web Site December 27, 2009