How to revitalize a stagnant club

How to revitalize a stagnant club

Aug 19, 2024 | Club building, Fundraising, General interest, Service projects | 0 comments

Kiwanis leader Bobby Quinten shares how his club recovered and thrived after a steep membership decline. 

By Bobby Quinten, 2024-25 governor-elect, Texas-Oklahoma District

During the 2024 Kiwanis International Convention, Bobby Quinten hosted an education session where he described how his club — the Kiwanis Club of Mansfield, Texas, U.S. — rebuilt after a dramatic membership drop. Kiwanis International asked him to re-create that presentation in written form. 

On Friday, March 6, 2020, the Kiwanis Club of Mansfield held its weekly breakfast meeting at Methodist Mansfield Medical Center. My home club counted 25 paid members and averaged eight to 12 attendees, along with a few Key Club students, each week. We sponsored six Key Clubs in the Mansfield Independent School District and supported the local Feed the Kids for Summer program.  

On March 12, the medical center said we could not return due to the coronavirus outbreak. Our club thus began a seven-month odyssey of canceled meetings, awkward Zoom calls — even meeting in the park. By October, when we landed in a church classroom, our membership had dropped from 25 to six. Nineteen members had fallen away through a global pandemic and a summer of social and political turmoil. 

Thankfully, our six surviving members never thought of closing the club. Today, the Kiwanis Club of Mansfield is back to 21 members, including a corporate partner. We still sponsor six award-winning Key Clubs and now a Builders Club. We celebrated our 50th anniversary last year and earned Distinguished Club status in 2022-23. 

How did that happen? Here are a few revitalization lessons that Mansfield Kiwanians learned together. 

Less club, more Kiwanis
While our club may have seemed healthy pre-COVID, we had problems. Mansfield Kiwanis did very few service projects or fundraisers. In fact, half of the membership never attended anything. Those who did attend had formed cliques over time — so when one member quit, others quit.   

Activities were chosen for the fun factor more than any potential community impact. Our Friday morning programs had no focus or themes. We had little meaningful contact with our Key Clubs, even though students came to our meetings regularly.  

The year 2020 revealed cracks in our club structure that were already there. It is great to be a social club. Fun is an integral part of being a successful club. However, there must be a full commitment to Kiwanis along with the fun. Somewhere, Mansfield had lost its Kiwanis identity. 

Leverage the uniqueness of Kiwanis
To survive, we reclaimed what makes Kiwanis unique in Mansfield. We focused on our distinct mission to improve the world one child at a time. We repledged our commitment to teach servant leadership and community service to students of all ages. 

Every week, we emphasized one of our century-old Objects of Kiwanis — those behaviors that should drive every relationship and every activity in every Kiwanis club. We returned to an aggressive, hands-on volunteerism and committed to a more diverse membership and inclusive services. 

Build membership through connections
It took three years, but Mansfield Kiwanis built itself back by making connections. First, we used social media and marketing to publicize meetings and activities. We joined the local chamber of commerce to strengthen our community relationships. We held programs that resonate with our mission and Objects. 

However, most club growth occurred one by one: One person joined, and then that person invited someone who joined, who then invited someone else. Friends, family, neighbors, parents of Service Leadership Program members, and business partners all became a part of Mansfield Kiwanis. As we grew, we conducted service projects based on the new members’ passions and interests.  

We accepted that Kiwanis is not for everyone, and that is fine. Interestingly, only one member who left voluntarily in 2020 ever returned to the club. However, when the Kiwanis mission connects with a person’s passions, any club will have active and productive Kiwanians.   

Engage your members regularly
With a weekly email, a current Facebook page and a simple website, we communicated regularly with every member. Once schools opened again, rebuilding our Key Clubs became a paramount activity. We enlisted new members to become committed Key Club advisors. This rejuvenated our energy after 2020. 

“Doing Kiwanis” kept our club from falling back into a social club mentality. We stayed busy and involved members according to their interests, skills and strengths. New members gave us their ideas for projects and fundraisers.  

New members also provided fresh leadership. By 2023-24, our president, president-elect, treasurer and five directors all had joined since 2020! We now have more women than ever before, and we are a much younger club than before. 

Keep the main thing the main thing
When we lose sight of our unique mission, resources and values, we become just another community organization. In Mansfield, we remind ourselves regularly of the Kiwanis mission and Objects. 

New-member induction ceremonies always include the mission and Objects, our Kiwanis International history, our club history and SLP information. In that way, our new members also understand what makes Kiwanis special.  Everyone is encouraged to spread the word about how the Kiwanis Club of Mansfield is making the world a better place for children and families. 

Five questions to ask your club
Could your club use a boost? Ask yourself these five questions: 

  1. What kind of club do we really have? Is there enough “Kiwanis” in our club? 
  2. What makes us different from other community organizations in our town? Are we leveraging that difference to grow our club and make a greater social impact? 
  3. Who do we know who will bring fresh ideas, perspectives and causes to our club?  How will we make that connection? 
  4. How can each member use their strengths, skills and interests to drive the Kiwanis mission? 
  5. Do locals know our club exists? If so, do they know what we do and what impact we have? If not, how will we tell them? 
Tips for hosting a successful pancake breakfast

Tips for hosting a successful pancake breakfast

Jul 10, 2024 | Fundraising, General interest, News, Service projects | 0 comments

A Colorado club celebrating its 50th pancake fundraiser gives advice on this signature Kiwanis event.

By Erin Chandler

In communities around the world, there are people who know their local Kiwanis club for one thing above all else: serving pancakes. Whether it’s called a pancake breakfast, a pancake feed or just a pancake day, it’s a great way to raise funds for community projects. And it has earned its place as a Kiwanis classic: Some clubs have held annual pancake breakfasts for over 60 years!

On July 4, the Kiwanis Club of Alamosa, Colorado, U.S., celebrated its 50th pancake breakfast. Below, club treasurer Doris Roberts shares some tips for clubs looking to launch their own pancake-based fundraiser — and for those looking to sustain such a project long-term.

Recruit sponsors. Months before the Kiwanis Club of Alamosa’s pancake breakfast takes place, the club is busy recruiting businesses and individuals to sponsor the event. In fact, Roberts says, most of the money to fund the event comes from these sponsors. “That is how we can keep it at such an affordable price for the community [attendees] as well,” Roberts says. 

Call on your community. When hosting a big event, the need for assistance often goes beyond the financial. You may need extra volunteers to help set up and tear down, serve food and drinks, or donate supplies. Roberts recommends reaching out to: 

  • Schools. If your club sponsors a Service Leadership Program, your pancake breakfast could be a great opportunity for its members to serve your shared community. If not, many schools have clubs that would be willing to help — including organizations that require members to complete service hours, like the National Honor Society. The Kiwanis Club of Alamosa calls on the Adams State University football team to provide extra manpower on the day of its pancake breakfast. 
  • Other service organizations. Local Rotary, Lions, Optimist and other service clubs in your area might be interested in partnering with you. (And don’t forget: Celebrate Community is in September.) The Kiwanis Club of Alamosa uses the industrial kitchen at the local Elks Lodge to wash dishes, and Elks also help with cleanup.  
  • Local breakfast-food businesses. A nearby IHOP donates pancake batter and syrup to the Alamosa club, and a local coffee shop provides coffee at a discount. Try reaching out to restaurants in your area that serve pancakes and other breakfast foods. 

Reach out to other Kiwanis clubs. One side effect of the pancake breakfast’s popularity among Kiwanis clubs is that nearby clubs may have experience hosting them. They might be willing to share advice — and even supplies. The Kiwanis Club of Alamosa borrows a “huge rotating grill” built specifically to make pancakes from the Kiwanis Club of Center. “It is awesome and makes a bunch of pancakes,” Roberts says.

Reward your sponsors and helpers. Free advertising is a great way to thank sponsors. The Kiwanis Club of Alamosa displays sponsors’ logos on a large banner and on placemats at every table. And in appreciation for the football players who give their time, the club donates to their athletic department.

Embrace the advantages of longevity. Keeping an event going for decades presents its fair share of challenges, but there are benefits too. After 50 years, the entire community of Alamosa — Kiwanians, sponsors, helpers and hungry families — knows what to expect from the Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast. The event has become a beloved tradition for everyone involved. “We have the same vendors each year,” Roberts says, “and they’re always very helpful to ensure their part of the breakfast gets done.”

That loyalty extends to attendees; the club serves over 2,000 people each year.

“To be honest with you, we’ve done our breakfast for so long that it’s now like a well-oiled machine,” Roberts says. “With all of the extra help and the great members we have, we pull it off.

“While I won’t lie, it is a lot of work, it is a great fundraiser — and very rewarding when it’s complete.” 

Service and cheesecake forge an international friendship 

Service and cheesecake forge an international friendship 

Jun 17, 2024 | Fundraising, General interest | 0 comments

The Kiwanis name brings a German club and an American-style café together to serve their community.

By Erin Chandler

Kiwanis is a truly international organization — and it brings people together all over the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than in a small New York-style cheesecake café in the city of Hamburg, Germany. 

It all began when Peter Keller, then president-elect of the Kiwanis Club of Hamburg, walked into Jeff’s Cheesecake one day in 2023 and struck up a conversation with the owner, Jeff Alpert.  

When Keller mentioned his involvement with Kiwanis, he says, “Jeff laughed — he knew Kiwanis.” 

Alpert, who is from New York, U.S., has fond memories of being invited to play at the local Kiwanis club’s meetings as a student at the New York State Music Camp. “Other than that,” he says, “Kiwanis has a sign upon entering many city and town limits in the U.S. I guess it’s impossible to live in the U.S. and not have heard of Kiwanis.” 

At the time, the Kiwanis Club of Hamburg was looking for a new place to meet on Saturday mornings. Jeff’s Cheesecake is usually closed at that time, but Alpert quickly agreed to open the café and outdoor pavilion for the meeting — which concluded with two cheesecakes topped with the word “Kiwanis.” 

“This was the beginning of a friendship between the Kiwanis Club of Hamburg and Jeff,” Keller says. 

The friendship between the club and the café grew in January. Because of its location in a city park where business often hinges on the weather, Jeff’s Cheesecake usually closes for a “winter break.” Keller proposed that the Kiwanians take over the space to run a mulled wine stand, and Alpert responded with what Keller calls his “typical reaction: ‘Of course, for a good cause, always.’” 

The stand was a success, serving as a perfect opportunity to raise funds for local children’s programs and spread the word about Kiwanis in the community. 

“Peter now has a set of keys to the café and has become part of our café family. And through him, Kiwanis,” Alpert says. “With the current state of the world as it is, we are happy to do our part to help children who are in need in any way we can. I’m sure this is only the beginning of a long-lasting relationship.” 

In fact, the Kiwanis Club of Hamburg and Jeff’s Cheesecake already have their next joint event planned: a jam session for the club and Alpert’s jazz trio. 

Who would have thought that an American fulfilling his dream of selling delicious cheesecake in Germany and a German helping kids in his community through a U.S.-based service organization would make such great music together? But that’s the power of Kiwanis to form international bonds.