See how this U.S. Kiwanis club has grown its roster from five to more than 40.
By Tony Knoderer
The Kiwanis Club of Corbin, Kentucky, U.S., was founded in 1921 — but this year has already been one of its most remarkable. Since January alone, the club has grown from five members to over 40.
The club’s membership success has been the result of several factors, including demographic targeting, the inclusion of corporate members and more. But the most important influence, says Kyle Perkins, the club’s president, has been the willingness to go beyond a simple focus on expanding the roster.
“It’s not just about increasing numbers,” he says. “We’re targeting people. We’re looking for the right members — the members who will bring something to the club. We’re finding that’s not too difficult, once you sit down and talk with folks about the mission and about what our goals are.”
Among the club’s advantages, Perkins says, are its leaders — including current fellow officers Amanda Ellis, secretary; Jeff Campbell, vice president; and Barbara Logan, treasurer (with Perkins, second from right, in the photo above) — and their knowledge of the community and the area around them. Measured in miles, the town of Corbin is about equidistant between Lexington, Kentucky, and Knoxville, Tennessee (“90 to the north, 90 to the south,” as Perkins puts it) on U.S. Interstate 75. In an area where the towns, like Corbin, have small- to medium-sized populations, a solid business presence makes it a logical place to recruit members from the corporate community.
“We don’t have IBM or Georgia Power, that kind of thing,” Perkins says. “Pepsi-Cola is one of our biggest employers, but what we have a lot of is entrepreneurs and the trades — HVAC companies, electrical contractors, a large railroad presence.”
A flash of inspiration
Early in the year, that demographic opportunity came with a flash of inspiration. Perkins had been invited by a client to attend U.S. college football’s national championship game in Atlanta on January 9.
“There on the big LED board in the stadium, during the announcements [of groups in attendance], was Kiwanis,” he says. “And I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, maybe we can get there someday.’ So I came back from that event with the question of how they do that.”
The answer, Perkins realized, is corporate involvement — and prominent promotion and display of that involvement. For example, the club has crafted an approach for recruiting corporate members by building bonds through sponsorships.
“We’re working on our Facebook page to put our corporate sponsors on there in a block with all their logos,” he says, “and then we run them across our banner on our website.”
Those sponsors also get an opportunity to become corporate members of the club for US$500 per year.
“Once we’re starting to do events out in the community beyond bake sales and chili suppers and things like that,” Perkins says, “I think we’ll have an even greater opportunity to generate additional funds through corporate memberships.”
Consider your connections
Corporate interest doesn’t just happen. It requires the efforts of individual members who can reach out to others in local businesses and organizations. Even when membership in the Corbin club was at its lowest, recognizing the connections they did have was crucial.
Perkins himself is an example: “I’m a longtime resident here, so I know a lot of people and companies. We’re working on really reaching out through my client base — just recognizing who the folks are that would make effective Kiwanis members.”
For many clubs, that kind of knowledge may not be readily available. So Kiwanis International offers resources such as the roster analysis worksheet, which offers an extensive list of professions — and the related skills and experiences — that can enrich a club’s impact.
Of course, knowledge itself doesn’t change anything without the will to act on it. In the Corbin club, Perkins and his small core of fellow members made a specific commitment at the start of the year to increase membership. Their existing connections were important — but the energy that came from their dedication also has been a significant part of their success.
“What happened, really, was a little bit surreal,” Perkins says. “Several of my close friends and colleagues started to see my involvement and my interest. And they literally asked me, ‘Do you mind if we join you for lunch?’ Once we started with that, things started to kind of snowball. And one thing led to another — and another and another.
“So we got to the point where we could literally begin to have committees and start that foundational development again.”
