Membership falls for service groups

I am not at all surprised to read these words. It is an ongoing problem that is occurring in our society due to the manner that we have been raising our children. They (the younger adults) are loking for events/organizations that will give them instant gratification for the time they spend. Too often our Kiwanis Clubs are content to keep doing the same ol' thing that we have been doing for so many years and refuse to change. Change is inevitable and can be looked upon in this manner--"you may choose to remain the same until the consequences become more painful than the consequences of change. For things to change we have to change--for things to get better we must get better--if we keep on doing what we have been doing we are going to keep on getting what we have been getting.

I think I disagree with the entire starting premise of the article.

If you get more details, I don't think you will find that the

membership decrease is due to younger members dropping out. Personally, I find it offensive when leaders of service

organizations making sweeping generalizations claiming

young professionals don't volunteer or have that community

service spirit. We DO volunteer in countless organizations

for countless hours...it might not be through Kiwanis or

Lions or Rotary but we're out there.

As I see it, "being just a baseball mom/grandmother", the younger generation is indeed willing to give back, however, there is no such thing as a 40-hour workweek anymore and in most cases, no such thing as a 10 minute commute.  My children (a teacher, a business man, a paralegal and a lawyer) do give back as much as they can through their churches, youth groups, etc.but there is no time left over when jobs are so demanding.

For any business to success (for-profit or non-profit), you have to have a marketable, sellable product or service.   If your Kiwanis Club is tuned in to today's volunteers (your customers) and knows what they want, and then offers those things, you'll have folks lining up at your club's door wanting to join.  

UC Berkeley did a study on volunteerism last year, and here's my own summary of what they found volunteers in America want out of their volunteer lives:

Purpose  

Impact

Cameraderie

Kudos

If your Kiwanis club will seek to offer meaningful service projects where members can see the results and impact of their efforts; and if members can forge friendships with like-minded, like-hearted people; and if they are thanked for their giving hearts, your club will be inducting people every month.

My own club did that.  Our members have enjoyed the membership experience so much that it's been easy to invite others to join.  We had 24 people join our club in 2007-08, and we inducted folks every month.

And we have quite a few members in their 20s.  Our club was chartered in 1961.

The "membership experience" has been no accident. It has been a careful planning with great attention paid to the needs, lifestyles, and wishes of our members.

let us help our organization grow..invite them to Kiwanis and let them "make a diffrence"

As a former Circle K'er and a current Kiwanis member, I have the opportunity to see and be involved in two very different Kiwanis clubs in the same district.  One of the tings that remanis the same is that alot of people either said that they do not have the time or the intrest anymore, to be  a member of their respective kiwanis club.  Also there have been a few people who were forced to drop out due to moving for job reasons.  There are ways for the younger generation like me to become active in Kiwanis and yet still be active with our jobs and our families.  The Chicago area has an online kiwanis that meets online and does service projects, and meets about once a month in person and the rest of the time they have online chats.  If there were more clubs like that, I would think that we as an organization would have more younger members, and the younger members would stay on for a longer time frame.  I am not a member of the e-kiwanis right now because I may become a Lt. Governor for my current divison

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato, according to William L. Patty and Louise S. Johnson, Personality and Adjustment, p. 277 (1953)."

The origin of the above quote may be in question, but it dose highlight the fact that the “Youth of today” woes is no new phenomenon. Older and younger generations have been clashing for as long as there has been older and younger generations. The two groups view the world from opposite ends of the spectrum. It should come as little surprise that the groups clash.  

As a 23 year-old and as a member of Kiwanis, I take offense Michael Mulhaul's opinion that “...people just aren't motivated to give back to the community.” and “...[the] younger generation gradually thought it was unnecessary.”

I know many young motivated volunteers. What we do want, and often what we don't find, are groups that are truly working to make a difference. We care and we are motivated. We just need to find groups that welcome and guide us instead of groups that ostracize us for our youth.  Kiwanis and other organizations need to ask themselves how they can work to make their clubs more welcoming to young members. I'm happy to say that I've found that leadership and friendship in the Franklin club that I'm a member of. I know we can all work together. We simply need to stop pointing fingers and start finding solutions.

Kiwanis International have been focusing on membership growth in recent years instead of deeds and examples to atrtact members who can aford to give of their time example & cash.  It is bette, I think, to have a smaller group of business & professional men  who can affort to toke on important projects instead of a large group of members who are unable to afford either their time, talent or their treasure.  People are always attracted to success.