"Too long and boring with too much talking"

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Just a quick post on a positive club experience this week. While in Taiwan I had a chance to meet with the charter members of a new Kiwanis Club that has just been formed. All 49 charter members were in attendance at the Charter Celebration. All of the members are under 40 years old and are successful technology professionals. They did express concern to me (through an interpreter) that the Kiwanis meetings that they had attended were "too long and boring with too much talking" They wanted to know if this was a requirement from Kiwanis International. We had a good laugh over that one and they were pleased to hear that they could design their meetings to fit their busy lifestyles, including the development of an online community and online meetings. They named their new club "Kiwanis Club of Science and Technology People" and I am looking forward to following the progress of this exciting young club.

Posted Oct 15 2007, 07:00 PM by Rob Parker

Comments

Judith Brunt wrote re: "Too long and boring with too much talking"

on 10-23-2007 12:06 PM

We have recently formed a new business networking club in our community and I have heard similar comments from several of our dynamic new (younger!) members when they have attended other Kiwanis club meetings in our community. We are determined that this new club will be fun, vibrant, action oriented and definitely not long & boring with too much talking! On that note, can you confirm if it says anywhere in the unwritten Kiwanis rule book that we must begin each meeting with a formal protocol of national anthem, invocation and toast to the queen/president etc? We are certainly a group of patriotic, spiritual people but we are not sure we want to spend our once a month face to face meeting time following a ritual which seems to "not fit right" with the new members and is purely being done because that's "how things have always been done"? We do not wish to throw out all that is fabulous about Kiwanis and would of course follow all protocol when official visitors were with us, but just wondered if we could "do our own thing" at regular meetings?

Thanks for any advice you have on this subject.

Rob Parker wrote re: "Too long and boring with too much talking"

on 10-24-2007 11:01 AM

Judith,

There are no rules in Kiwanis about how your meeting is to be run, what it must include etc... You are free to create a meeting that meets the objectives that you have established and that creates the culture and environment you are looking for. We do have some suggestions in our "Leadership Guide" resource (pgs 26-27) that can provide some guidance, but they are suggestions only. I applaud your efforts to be true to our rich history, but create something that will be attractive to your current and future members.

Rob

Kim, Fort Lauderdale, FL wrote re: "Too long and boring with too much talking"

on 11-07-2007 11:41 PM

My family business is in a position to donate a large amount of money ($40,000) to a local Kiwanis Club but were informed they were not a 501c3. Now it makes no sense to donate because we can not use it as a tax deduction. Are you looking in to switching to a 5013c in the near future? It's a shame you lost out on this money as I know you have a great organization. Please inform me of your intentions for future consideration.

Thank you.

Kim

Rob Parker wrote re: "Too long and boring with too much talking"

on 11-08-2007 1:04 PM

Kim,

Thanks so much for your willingness to consider a contribution to suppor tthe work of Kiwanis. Kiwanis International has applied to the IRS to become a 501 (c) 3 charitable organization. We are currently a 501 (c) 4, and you are right that contributions are not tax deductable in that situation. We have been waiting for an IRS determination for a number of months and are hopeful to hear soon. In the meantime, one of your options would be to make your contribution to the Kiwanis International Foundation on behalf of the local club. That money would be put in a restricted "named" fund and could only be used for that club. If you are interested in discussing that, you can reach me directly at 1-800-kiwanis (ext 101) or by e-mail at robparker@kiwanis.org. Thanks again for the genosity of you and your family,

Rob