Building Membership in the Duluth Kiwanis Club

Quote from Kiwanis material and my opinions

Provide a “Product” People Will Buy and Repurchase

The primary focus of our Duluth Club should be to retain members and to create an environment that will attract new members. How do we do that? One thing is to conduct a exit interview of members leaving and set up a retention team.

Club meetings should be interesting and fun to attend. I believe we are lacking in this area. That does not mean we don’t have good speakers, we just need ones people will tell others about. I believe we should not invite too many speakers who are seeking funds unless we are targeting this organization. We need speakers we can invite non members too and they will say thank you for inviting me. Jim H is working hard to provide speakers, but we need to support him and set some goals for the kind of speakers we want. In the past we were able to invite the Rotary and other groups to our club because our speaker had a broader appeal. Need ideas here. Let’s invite the Governor. Think big.

Club leadership must be dynamic and conduct organized, informative meetings. I think we do pretty well here.

Projects should match community needs with member’s interest and abilities. I can’t say we have enough projects people want to take time with. We need to spend time in this area. We have key people who spend time on Aktion Clubs, Key Club, Vending, and K Kids, but not many Kiwanians are involved. What other projects are required where the members are energized.

New members should be made to feel welcome through a professional new member orientation process. We need to improve. We slap a pin on them and maybe they will attend an orientation meeting in the future. I can help fix this if I get a kick in the back side.

Members must be invited to participate in club projects and activities. I think we do this. Maybe we need to ask if some members really want to be involved in the volunteer process. Maybe we can create a program that fits their interest.

Individual participation and achievement must be appropriately acknowledged. Maybe we don’t make a big enough deal out of members giving their time. Maybe a gift card or a free sky diving lesson is needed or a ride on the back of Johnson’ Harley to the next bar hoping ride. Something more. Please keep the plaques. It’s just me.

The Duluth Club must create and sustain an environment that enables members to grow personally and professionally, to feel they can share ideas and concerns, and to feel better for having attended and participated. WOW this is a challenge. Maybe we need to ask our membership what would help them grow personally and professionally. Let set up some small group meetings with a leader. It looks like we will have to drag this out of the members.

We can’t just sit on our hands. Please talk to the Board. We will act on the needs and opinions of the membership.