Over the last 3 years, we have seen steady decline in membership. There are various reasons for this, but primarily, our club has seen many members retire. We have been attracting some new members to the club.. in fact, I would say that our club is now 50/50 on members that have joined in the last 6 years vs. members that have been there for MANY years. But the club membership is a little stagnant right now.
Beginnings of change - Look in the mirror
In talking with one of our newest members in a very open social environment, we started questioning what our club was doing and how we can make our club something of interest to new members. I asked him why he joined Kiwanis - what sent him looking? His answer was that he wanted to join a SERVICE club. He wants to give something back to the community. This prompted many, many discussions between us about what would make our club more attractive to members from 30-50 years old... members that have full time jobs and families with children still living at home.
Kiwanis Magazine Article
A few months passed since that talk with our newest member, before he brought an article in the Kiwanis Magazine to my attention. The article was about an 87 year old club that folded, only to be reborn as a true service club and how it was continuing to grow... The article could have been written from some of our social conversations! Here is that Bluefield article.
3-2-1 Clubs
Not too long after those discussions, and reading the article on Bluefield, our new secretary was going through the Kiwanis.org website looking for additional resources for herself - and for ideas for the club. She stumbled upon something that none of us had heard of; a 3-2-1 Club. This format was almost exactly what we had been discussing and it was yet ANOTHER validation of things that we had been feeling. As a group we decided to alter the meeting schedule some, to fit the personality of our club. Here is a link to more information about 3-2-1 Clubs.
The Decision
After a lengthy period that involved a lot of internal conversation as well as a LOT of open communication with the entire club, it was time to ask the club to decide. We decided that we would take a full club vote on the changes and have the board meet immediately afterwards and make the vote official.
I'm happy to report that as of January 3rd, 2012 by a unanimous vote, our club has changed their meeting schedule focus of our club. Our club is going to be focused on:
- Service to our community (especially children)
- Social Interaction within the club
- Promotion of Leadership through our projects.
- First Tuesday - Optional - Social Meeting
- Second Tuesday - Required - Standard Meeting
- Third Tuesday - Optional - Service Event
- Forth Tuesday - Required - Standard Meeting followed by Board Meeting.
- Fifth Tuesday (where there is one) - Optional - Open for either Social or Service.
I've decided to start this blog, in case there are other clubs that are considering this kind of change in their meetings and focus. I'll try to detail the effects of our decision - both good and bad - and I'll also provide some research that I've dug up along the way.
Kiwanis is doing a seminar on making your club younger... emphasis on 3-2-1 clubs, internet clubs, young professionals, etc.
In the end... our club is banking on this last paragraph from the article:
"You can increase your club’s service impact in your community, increase member enthusiasm and involvement and attract more members to your club if you are willing to change."
