How to recognize your club’s successes 

How to recognize your club’s successes 

Oct 16, 2024 | Club building, General interest, Leadership, Service projects | 0 comments

To keep your members engaged, make them feel valued as individuals and as a group. These suggestions can get you started. 

By Julie Saetre

Members of your community join your club because they want to make a difference in the lives of children. But if their efforts are taken for granted, they might participate less — or even worse, stop attending club meetings and events altogether. To keep them involved and engaged, it’s important to celebrate members’ successes, recognize their contributions and make them feel valued as individuals and as a group. Here are some suggestions to get you started. 

For individual acknowledgment 

Little gestures make a big difference: A simple thank-you note, quick social media post or verbal recognition during a meeting takes little time but lets someone know they matter. Or give a small token of appreciation, such as a small gift from the Kiwanis Family Store, a cupcake or a “thank you” balloon.  

Take it public: If someone has achieved a major accomplishment, such as a milestone membership anniversary or a long-time tenure as project chair, public recognition can shine a spotlight on that individual (and boosts your club’s visibility). Nominate them for a community award or look for media opportunities that profile volunteers. 

For group efforts 

Make it an event: Host a cocktail/mocktail/appetizer hour, treat members to a meal during a meeting, attend a local sporting event as a group or take in a performance of an area play. If you have the time and budget and want to go bigger, consider a recognition night, an annual banquet or even a formal gala. Invite the public and showcase the great work your members do in the community. You could add a fundraising element by selling admission tickets, auctioning items or letting attendees know donations are welcome. 

For more ideas and tips on celebrating success, head to the Achieving Club Excellence tools webpage. You’ll find other common challenges clubs face and the tools that help club leaders address them. 

Boost member engagement with ACE tools 

Boost member engagement with ACE tools 

Oct 7, 2024 | Club building, General interest | 0 comments

If your club members seem less engaged lately, these three resources can help rebuild enthusiasm. 

By Tony Knoderer

Dwindling enthusiasm: It’s a problem that can strike even the most successful Kiwanis club. Sometimes it’s a natural result of habit or routine — the same meetings, the same projects, the same old routine. Sometimes it’s a more serious matter. 

Whatever the reason, Kiwanis International has the tools to help your club address it. In fact, a few of our Achieving Club Excellence (ACE) tools are designed to help your club’s leaders understand what members want and where they want the club to go: 

  • Member survey. The first step toward ensuring a positive club experience, this survey helps gather information that can improve the club experience for current members — and even make it more appealing for people you’re recruiting. You’ll also find a guide for survey options, results evaluations and potential solutions. 
  • Club vision. Here’s where you define what your club does and why it exists — and then create a clear vision that guides club leaders and members. The tool’s guide also provides instructions for conducting a group exercise, so everyone has a voice in the vision-making process. 
  • Celebrate success. Don’t forget the fun — or the importance — of feeling valued. People stay involved when their efforts are recognized. And club service stays special when success is celebrated. Use this tool to determine how you celebrate, who and what you recognize, and which questions your club should ask itself.

All these resources can be found on the ACE tools webpage, which includes other common concerns clubs face — and pairs them with the tools that help club leaders address them.  

Microgrants boost clubs’ community support

Microgrants boost clubs’ community support

Sep 30, 2024 | General interest, Kiwanis Children's Fund, News, Service projects | 0 comments

From July through September, smaller clubs made a big impact through the Kiwanis Children’s Fund.

By Erin Chandler

In July, August and September 2024, more clubs around the world received Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrants for small projects that will make a big impact. These clubs are giving out books throughout their communities, providing food and emergency supplies to families and training parents of children with autism in sensory therapies. The following three projects highlight the ways Kiwanis clubs are using microgrants to advance the Kiwanis causes of education and literacy, health and nutrition, and youth leadership development. 

Health and nutrition 

Edmarc Holiday Baskets
The Kiwanis Club of Churchland, Virginia, U.S., says their members are “few in number but mighty in volunteering.” This holiday season, with help from a Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant, they will prove it by helping families with children in hospice care. These families may not have the time or money to shop for holiday meals and other essential items while caring for their terminally ill children. The Churchland Kiwanians will take care of the shopping with a list from Edmarc, a well-known hospice provider in their community. They will then gather with Key Club members to assemble food baskets that will bring holiday cheer in dark times.  

Education and literacy 

Adopt-a-Teacher
Sometimes the best way to support a child’s education is to support the teacher. In the Kiwanis Club of Greater Mount Laurel’s Adopt-a-Teacher project, teachers in the New Jersey, U.S., community apply for help with purchasing classroom supplies they would otherwise have to provide themselves. Club members vote on the winning application and, with help this year from a Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant, fulfill the entire wish list. The selected teacher also receives a year’s membership to BookSmiles, which supplies teachers with books for their classes. The club even works with BookSmiles to make sure other teachers with books on their wish lists get the titles they need.  

Youth leadership development 

Do Good Bus Trip
The Kiwanis Club of Slinger, Wisconsin, U.S., will use its Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrant to help members of its sponsored Builders Club develop into a new generation of servant leaders. Each month, Kiwanians accompany their Builders Club members on the local volunteer-run “Do Good Bus” to Casa Guadalupe Education Center, which offers literacy support to Spanish-speaking Latino families in the area. Builders Club members read to children at the center and lead them in craft activities they have planned themselves, such as making bookmarks and holiday ornaments. They have even helped Spanish-speaking kids write letters to Santa. Grant funds will supplement Builders Club book drives and fundraisers to purchase supplies for each trip.  

How you can help 
To learn more about Kiwanis Children’s Fund microgrants, visit kiwanis.org/microgrant-program.   

If you want to help the Children’s Fund provide grants like these that reach children around the world, you can make a gift to The Possibility Project. Your club can also apply for a grant to help kids in your community today.