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.