Membership declining among service clubs
Podcast Episode
ABOUT THE CLUBS
Lions
These men and women, who gather in local clubs in 205 countries and geographic areas worldwide, work together to answer the needs that challenge communities around the globe. They conduct vision and health screenings, build parks, support eye hospitals, award scholarships, assist youth, provide help in time of disaster and much more.
Kiwanis
This global organization of volunteers has 8,000 clubs in 96 countries with a mission to serve children of the world. In addition to contributing more than $80 million toward the global elimination of iodine deficiency disorders, members sponsor youth clubs in the schools while supporting their projects and fundraising activities.
Rotary
This is the world’s first service club organization. Made up of business and professional leaders providing humanitarian service, their motto is “Service Above Self.” Today, there are 33,000 Rotary clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas. The club’s international foundation promotes world understanding through humanitarian service and educational cultural exchanges. All Rotarians are united in their global campaign to eradicate polio.
Optimists
Nearly 95,000 volunteers in 3,200 clubs internationally conduct 65,000 service projects while serving 6 million young people and spending $78 million on their communities each year. Optimists are known as friends of youth.
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Members and guests of Janesville's Noon Rotary Club check in before a meeting on 03-16-09. Going against a trend, the local organization has been gaining members in recent times.
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The boards used to hold the name tags for the members of the Janesville Noon Rotary Clubs have room for 192 people. With a current membership of over 150, the club has seen it's numbers on the rise while many service clubs are struggling.
JANESVILLE — The Wisconsin Jaycees at the end of 2008 dissolved the Janesville Jaycees charter, which dated to the 1930s, because the club didn’t have enough members.
The Jaycees are not alone.
Lions International membership dropped from 1.45 million in 1995 to 1.3 million this year.
Kiwanis membership has dropped by 20,000 since the early 1990s.
And Rotary membership in the United States dropped from its peak of 445,434 in 1996 to 375,914 in 2007, according to club officials cited in the Chicago Tribune.
As of Jan. 31, Optimists International had about 94,000 members, down from 99,000 last year, said Cindy Miser, secretary/treasurer of the Wednesday Optimist Club of Janesville.
Local numbers
Membership in the Janesville Noon Lions peaked at 110 in the 1970s. When Bob Clapper joined eight years ago, the club had 60 members. Today, the club has 51. It’s held its own the last three or fours years—gaining a few members after losing a few.
“It’s been not a rocketing decline, but a steady decline,’’ said Clapper, club president.
The Kiwanis Club of Janesville always is attracting new members, but it’s also been losing one or two a year for the past three years.
“We’ve been having a net loss,’’ said Ben Coopman, president.
The three Optimist Clubs of Janesville, although 100 members strong, were much bigger at one time, Miser said.
“Membership has come down over the years,’’ she said.
For example, the Wednesday club had 40 members eight years ago. Today it has 23, Miser said.
In contrast, Janesville Noon Rotary is bucking the trend of membership declines.
The club has grown from 125 to 150 members in three years, said Bill Boyd, president.
“One of the reasons so many people join Rotary is they can get into anything they want (because) we have so many projects. Once people realize what Rotary is doing for the community and humanity as a whole, there is so much personal satisfaction,’’ he said.
“We’re looking for people who really want to get involved in projects and for quality not quantity,” Boyd said.
He referred to the 80/20 rule: Typically 20 percent of a club’s membership is active and 80 percent is inactive.
“In our club, it’s the reverse. About 80 percent of the people do the work. That’s why we don’t have a problem getting people involved,’’ he said.
Why the decline?
Causes of membership declines are varied, club leaders said.
Years ago, Miser said, “when you were in a certain business, you almost had to belong to a service club, but it’s not that way anymore.’’
Business support has waned, Coopman said.
“A number of people have been given additional duties on their jobs and just don’t have time to get away. As companies downsize, they have a number of vacancies and decide to leave four people’s jobs unfilled and redistribute duties.”
Coopman said workplace-expense trimming possibly has led to the elimination of paying for employees’ club membership dues.
Clapper said it’s hard to get younger people involved because everybody is busy.
Families also reduce flexibility, Coopman said.
Clapper agreed: “These days when raising kids, they just don’t have time.’’
Miser cited the same reason: “If you have two parents working instead of one, there are family commitments. With us being a morning club, if they’ve got kids to get ready for school, they sometimes fall away because of their family obligations.’’
Coopman said the local Kiwanis are not alone in their membership struggle.
“I can name a number of local clubs in the Kiwanis that folded—Delavan/Darien and one over in the Waterford area. Racine County merged with another club to become one, and Lake Geneva’s club just vanished. There’s just not enough people, which seems to be the problem,’’ he said.
Solutions
Local clubs are trying fresh approaches to attract new members, club leaders said.
The Lions club started a membership drive a couple of weeks ago by inviting guests to its weekly noon luncheon meetings at no cost.
“The best form is for members to recruit. Somebody is more likely to be more comfortable coming in when club members bring them as a guest,’’ Clapper said.
The Lions also invite high school students to a club meeting each month.
“We give them a chance to talk and tell what they think of us. At some point, hopefully, they’ll join in the future,’’ he said.
“We’re addressing some changes we think will be proactive in attracting new members,’’ Clapper said.
The Kiwanis Club of Janesville is in the infancy of establishing club satellites—groups of people who can’t attend a noon meeting but come up with their own projects and become subs of the noon club.
“It’s something Kiwanis International just started and we’ve acknowledged,’’ Coopman said.
“They work on our projects and are a part of our club on paper but don’t necessarily do things we do at the same time. They’re there for service and camaraderie within the satellite but not big enough to form their own club. The hope is that satellite groups merge into the mother club,’’ he said.
Optimists participate in New Optimists Wanted, a national initiative.
“We set a date, get a list of potential members, send out invitations then bring them in for a special event,” Miser said.
Optimists are making extra efforts to ask friends and neighbors to get involved during a service project then take it a step further by asking if they’re interested in joining, she said.
“There are a lot of people that need to belong to a service group and do some good things for the neighborhoods and city,” Miser said. “We just need to remember to ask people to join us.”
Mar 24, 2009 at 12:53 p.m.
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The reason for the different clubs is not splintering or differences of opinion. It is often the difference between morning and noon meetings as much as anything. With larger communities it can also be geographic. Rotary in particular bars a club from having more than one member in a particular job category (with some slight flexibility), so if you have two bankers in town, only one can join unless there are two Rotary clubs. This is to prevent clubs from becoming, well, clubby.
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The organizations can't just lower their fees. Most of the membership money pays for the meals, for starters. If you want to divide it up and see what it costs versus buying your own lunch, it's probably actually cheaper in the long run. What affects people staying in the organization is the time commitment necessary. You need to attend the meetings, you need to show up and volunteer at the fundraisers or the service events, or your membership is (and should be) in jeopardy. It's not a club for people to join and bask in acclaim, it's a club centered around service.
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Recruiting members is basically a never-ending proposition. I know how hard it is! You meet people and tell them a bit about the club and their eyes glaze over, or if they're smart, they understand that it's a steep commitment. Many times people really join just for the networking opportunities rather than the time away from their families (although you never know, that may be a benefit in some eyes).
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Today the internet offers a lot of different ways to keep in touch with a network of people, starting with sites like Facebook or LinkedIn. I think these are competing with service clubs because they require very little commitment. In the long run I hope the clubs survive, though, because they offer satisfaction and community that just networking cannot.
Mar 24, 2009 at 11:14 a.m.
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I think they hit it right on the head. Families, work committments, etc. Something has to give, and it is these service organizations and volunteer groups that suffer. However, I was and have never been approached or asked to join one of these groups. Their recruitment is where I would start looking first.
Mar 24, 2009 at 10:05 a.m.
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I believe there are a number of reasons the Janesville Noon Rotary Club is growing Their Monday meetings begin at noon and end promptly at 1 pm., allowing busy professional people to return to their offices on time. The weekly meetings include a 20 - 30 minute program that is relevant to most of the members. The meetings are fun and uplifting with an appropriate dose of humor and good natured teasing. The members represent a wide range of ages, ethnicities, political parties and incomes and are almost evenly split between men and women.
The weekly lunch is of excellent quality and reasonably priced at about $8. The members are friendly and sincerely welcomes new members.
The club is a actively involved in service locally, nationally and internationally including the ownership and operation of Camp Rotamer, support of the Rotary Gardens, support of many other local organizations, thousands of dollars in scholarships benefiting Janesville and Milton students, the funding of at least a dozen fresh water wells in Haiti, support of the Hope Institute of Uganda, sponsorship of hundreds of foreign exchange students both into and out of the Rock County area and countless other worthwhile projects too numerous to mention here.
The Noon Rotary club also works closely with the other three Rock County Rotary Clubs in the operation of Kids Against Hunger - Rock County Rotary, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization that brings volunteers together to package highly nutritious meals which are given to hungry people. Since beginning operation in May of 2008, over 140,000 meals have been distributed locally, nationally and internationally.
Rotary promotes high ethics in business and strives to promote world understanding and peace.
Although new members must be "sponsored", that is purely a method to ensure people are joining for the "right" reason. Even though Rotary International (including the Janesville Noon Club)is a socially beneficial organization, the real reason to belong is to (as the motto says) offer service above self. If you'd like additional information, please visit www.janesvillerotary.org. If you have specific questions about membership (or anything else) feel free to contact me.
David Warren
dave@davesace.com
A Very Proud Rotarian
Mar 24, 2009 at 8:41 a.m.
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I appreciate all of the work these organizations do, but I can't resist. If the decline in enrollment continues, the Optimists will soon become the Pessimists.
I apologize, I know the members of these clubs are very proud as they should be. My grandfather was a Lions President in another part of the state, and between Sunday church and the Lions, life was good.
Mar 23, 2009 at 9:39 p.m.
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JvlBorn: You may be right with clubs splitting due to differences but I think the reason "new" clubs have started is an attempt to increase membership by accommodating those unable to attend the "regular" club meeting times.
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Does sponsorship tend to exclude potential members? Perhaps. Unfortunately today, ANY potential member is screened through CCAP and other sources only because of our involvement with children and elderly. It is an ugly fact there are n'er-do-well's in our midst and we like to have the sponsor at least get to know their prospect (at least a little) before presenting them for possible membership. Sad fact of today's society.
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Demographics have changed and the days of one parent working are gone. Even though many have a desire to volunteer, time contraints prohibit their participation. Many folks believe if they can't give a service club 110%, they won't join. Unfortunately, membership suffers as does the community it supports.
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A Proud Kiwanian
Mar 23, 2009 at 7:17 p.m.
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Just a clarification. The web site for the Independant Order of Odd Fellows in Janesville is: http://www.wisconsinlodge14wi.org/
Mar 23, 2009 at 4:17 p.m.
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Here's my question: why are there so many branches of the same clubs? Morning Rotary, Noon Rotary; Morning Lions, Noon Lions, Tea-time Lions (not to be confused with Tee-time Lions). That is the info I was hoping to read in the article. If they all splintered off due to petty differences years ago, perhaps it is time to rededicate themselves to their respective shared visions. That would still leave us with Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis, Optimists and the other various causes to which we're all dedicating our time.
Mar 23, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.
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I know it sounds terrible, but I have to agree with the "sponsor" idea. I'm sorry, while 95% of people out there just ROCK in my opinion, there is that 5% that would be more of a hinderance than a help in a service organization (can't hold their liquor...argues over every suggestion or idea just because they CAN.. etc etc). I've seen it firsthand. The Palmyra Lions dues are only $35 a year. That's not a bad figure and tax deductible.
Mar 23, 2009 at 1:44 p.m.
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Moby you are right on target.
Mar 23, 2009 at 1:39 p.m.
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Every clubs dues is a little different. Some are as low $10.00 and others are over $100.00 a year. Some meet just once a month and others meet once a week. Most clubs serve a meal and that could cost as much as $8.00 every week. Some clubs you have to buy a meal every week you are there and others gives you a chose if you want to eat. My club has a lot of seniors who chose not to eat and that is fine. Our club and Most clubs have a rental fee that they have to pay for the room and that is usually in the price of the meal. Yes it is not a cheap venture to get into but does get one involved in the community. Many of our seniors would be hermits if it wasn't for service clubs.
Mar 23, 2009 at 1:13 p.m.
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Another thing that is often overlooked in these established organizations, is that the "old" members don't want anything to change and the "new" members get rebuffed at every suggestion they make,,,so they leave and tell their friends and soon, guess what,,, no more new members come to try their luck!!!
Mar 23, 2009 at 12:52 p.m.
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Yes the cost could be what is keeping many members from joining. Does anyone know what the membership fees and dues run? Also why if the clubs are in such desperate need of members require sponsorship from another member??? why not just let people join plain and simple?
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I don't know about you, but personally I don't want to have to pay to join a club in order to volunteer my time in the community. Otherwise I think more people would step up and join IMO. Besides many people, especially parents are already volunteering through other organizations that their children or grandchildren are in such as Scouts, 4H, sports, Church, FFA, Band, Choir, and the list goes on....
Mar 23, 2009 at 12:30 p.m.
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Im a Member of the Independent order of odd fellows and we meet every wednesday the doors is open at 600 and there is a wab site to it is www.wisconsin14wis.org and there is links to follow .
Mar 23, 2009 at 12:17 p.m.
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I believe the problem is more than economics--when my parents belonged to these organizations they were making little money and had a family. These organizations used to provide an important social connection as well as service. Today, there are many more avenues and opportunities--and people are more content to sit home and surf the web. If I was a young person/couple moving into this community I would look to these types of organizations to get to know people. Additionally, with the "me" and "I don't have time to give" culture, community service is no longer a priority. Sad but true--same thing to be said for local church membership.
Mar 23, 2009 at 10:49 a.m.
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OK, thanks for the clarification. Agreed!
Mar 23, 2009 at 10:41 a.m.
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Hannah--I'm sorry but what does your gutted bathroom have to do with service organizations?
Mar 23, 2009 at 9:57 a.m.
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I came to Janesville 20 years ago and knew many Jaycees and went to their fourth of July celebration every year. Was I ever asked to join? No. My friends and I are professionals who volunteer with several organizations locally and know many members of the Kiwanis and Rotary but we have never been invited to any of these groups either. I think if they would ask the right people they would be able to maintain their numbers. I don't know if they are trying to be exclusive or not, but that is the impression they seem to give.
Mar 23, 2009 at 9:34 a.m.
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When I said "more information", I meant links to websites or to local contacts (names/numbers). I know that they have a little bit of information about each club listed. Also, what are they doing locally for in the community?
Mar 23, 2009 at 9:29 a.m.
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I think that this article should have included information about each of the clubs so that people are better informed. They may not know anything about these clubs besides their name. More informed=more participation. Also, many consider "clubs" as part of an elite group and may not be able to participate due to their lack of qualifications, i.e. wealth. I know personally, I wouldn't mind being a member of a few of the groups, but you need to be sponsored. If you don't know anyone in it, how are you to do that?
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