The two-way benefits of sponsoring SLPs

The two-way benefits of sponsoring SLPs

May 12, 2026 | Club building, General interest, Service Leadership Programs, Service projects | 0 comments

Mentorship boosts the value of clubs that provide it.

By Tony Knoderer

For a Kiwanis club, there’s no shortage of great reasons to sponsor a Kiwanis Service Leadership Program (SLP). Of course, many of those reasons involve the benefits to SLP members themselves — students in K-Kids, Builders Club, Key Club and Circle K International, as well as adults with disabilities in Aktion Club.

But SLPs also benefit the Kiwanis clubs that sponsor them.

Over the past two years, Kiwanis clubs that sponsor an SLP club are 1.5 times more likely to have grown their membership (31.5% vs. 20.9%) than clubs that don’t sponsor an SLP club. In that time, SLP-sponsoring clubs were also 6.7% less likely to have lost members.*

When discussing SLPs with your club, these key facts about retention and recruiting are worth remembering. So is every success story about club growth and leadership connected to sponsorship. 

The benefits for students
It’s no wonder that SLP sponsorship has a positive impact on a Kiwanis club’s value for its own members. By helping to fulfill a Kiwanis cause — youth leadership development — it’s the kind of mentorship that makes a noticeable impact.

Members of SLP clubs develop skills and self-discipline alongside like-minded peers. According to multiple studies, students who volunteer: 

  • Tend to get higher grades. 
  • Improve their social and emotional health. 
  • Strengthen their ties to other youth and adults. 
  • Feel connected to the larger community — and motivated to contribute to it. 
  • Develop leadership abilities that lead to better employment opportunities. 
  • Have better awareness and understanding of public issues. 
  • Get more first-hand experience of diverse cultures and communities. 

From elementary school to young adulthood, service matters — and so do mentors. For young leaders, Kiwanians model the value of a lifetime journey of service. Learn more about each program and find links on our SLPs webpage.

*Analysis based on North American clubs, 2023-25 certified membership data. 

How to plan for recruiting 

How to plan for recruiting 

Apr 27, 2026 | Club building, General interest | 0 comments

Use these steps to create an efficient club process for finding potential members.  

By Tony Knoderer

Every Kiwanis member plays a role in recruitment. After all, inviting people to club meetings and events is something any member can do. But the strongest Kiwanis clubs support those efforts, making recruitment a part of club culture rather than a collection of individual acts. 

If your club needs to start the work of finding and meeting with people — or needs to refresh everyone’s enthusiasm for it — Kiwanis International can help. We have five steps for creating an efficient recruiting process. Share them and start a discussion in your club: 

  1. Develop “cold” and “warm” prospect lists. Your cold list will be made of people you don’t know. Your warm list will consist of people you have a connection with. Fill out index cards with prospects’ names, email addresses, home addresses, telephone numbers and any other information you feel is important.  
  2. Assign teams. Teamwork is a successful approach to recruiting because it helps reach more people in more places, more quickly than individuals can. (And you never know who a prospective member will relate to better.) Remember to assemble your teams so each one has a mix of skills, personalities and backgrounds. 
  3. Explore the “Community Survey” tool. Part of our suite of Achieving Club Excellence (ACE) tools, the community survey provides you with more ideas on what to say and do. (You can find more information about all the ACE tools in our club toobox.) 
  4. Use the roster analysis worksheet. This downloadable resource provides prompts to help you think about people you know in various careers.  
  5. Remind members why recruiting matters. Continuing inspiration is one of the most important resources for any club. From club meetings to casual conversations, help your fellow members keep in mind that the larger your club is, the more connections, ideas and skillsets it has — and the more it can do for kids in the community. 

Together, the steps above are a way to plan the work of recruiting. After that, your club can start working the plan. And we have tips for that too! In fact, they’re all in a handy, one-page resource available for viewing or download through our Build. Nurture. Retain. page. You’ll even find tips and tactics for making meetings with potential members successful. 

Want to find even more ways to grow your club? Check out our set of club-strengthening resources

Legacy of Play Contest winner announced

Legacy of Play Contest winner announced

Apr 22, 2026 | General interest, News, Service projects | 0 comments

The award will help a Kiwanis club in Michigan, U.S., bring play to kids of all abilities.

By Tony Knoderer

The Kiwanis Club of Lapeer, Michigan, U.S., has won the 2026 Legacy of Play Contest, sponsored by Kiwanis International and Landscape Structures Inc. As a result, the club will receive US$25,000 in inclusive playground equipment — and local children of all abilities will soon have an all-inclusive playground.

“We’re ecstatic!” said Kara Lambourn, the club’s co-secretary and committee chair for the playground project, after learning of the award and informing her fellow Kiwanians. “We were very pleasantly surprised, but we’ve been rooting for this — along with people in our community. This will be transformational for our project.” 

The playground will be located in Rowden Park in Lapeer. (See the illustration above.) When it’s completed, it will fulfill an important need in the area: a space where everyone can play, learn and grow together. 

Working toward such an important goal, the Lapeer club started the project by engaging people in the community — from potential partners and donors to the families who were intended as the beneficiaries of the playground.

“We started researching five or six years ago,” Lambourn says. “We held community focus groups and determined what the community’s needs and wants were.” 

In addition, the club has worked closely with the City of Lapeer to ensure that the playground’s design, location and long‑term vision align with the city’s goals. The result is a design for kids of all physical and developmental abilities — including those with sensory needs, autism spectrum disorders, cognitive disabilities and other developmental challenges.

With the $25,000 award, the club is much closer to its dream of creating an inclusive play space for all kids and families.

For Paul Palazzolo, executive director of Kiwanis International, the project is a perfect example of what Kiwanis clubs can do when they have a vision of what their communities need — and then work with partners in the community to make it happen.

“Making kids’ lives better is the heart of what Kiwanis clubs do,” Palazzolo says. “When members make sure that all kids in their communities are included in new opportunities, that’s a special outcome.” 

The 2026 contest marked the 10th year of the Legacy of Play Contest — and for Karlye Emerson, president and CEO of Landscape Structures Inc., the Lapeer club’s winning project is what the contest is all about. 

“The Kiwanis Club of Lapeer is creating a space where every child feels welcome and included,” Emerson says. “We’re proud to support their vision alongside Penchura, our local playground consultant, and help bring life-changing play to the Lapeer community.”