Newsletter | April 2024

May is Membership Month for Kiwanis

In honor of Kiwanis Membership month we are running a two part special on membership based on information from Fred Bishop.  Fred has been a Kiwanis Member for almost 50 years.  During this time, he has served many roles for Kiwanis, including Club President for his former club, Manchester, he has also served as Lt. Governor, Governor and also as International Trustee. Additionally, he spent many years at the District level focusing on membership. Fred understands that membership is the life blood of Kiwanis and he as well as many long-standing Kiwanis members are concerned about Kiwanis and how it will continue to exist given the change of culture of not only Kiwanis members but American population in general as it relates to service.

Below is a submission from Fred and asked us to include in our Newsletter, some of which he submitted ten years ago to be published in the Yankiwanian (New England- Bermuda District Newsletter).  As you read it you will see it is still relevant today… 

Where have all the Kiwanians gone?   It is a take-off on a song from long ago by Pater, Paul and Mary (Where have all the flowers gone) I know there are some reading this who want to know who is Peter, Paul and Mary and where are the pictures or links.

Where have all the Kiwanians gone?  It is a take-off on a song from long ago by Pater, Paul and Mary (Where have all the flowers gone) I know there are some reading this who want to know who is Peter, Paul and Mary and where are the pictures or links.

Fred rediscovered the copy of what was submitted to the Yankiwanian in 1975 which was the year he joined Kiwanis.  During those years it was common practice to list the clubs with their membership numbers. In 1975 there were almost 11,000 members with 240+ clubs in the New England District. All members in those days were men and dual memberships were not allowed so those were actual members.

Today the District has over 2900 members and 130+ clubs. Those numbers include many dual members as well a good percentage of women. (They certainly have been a welcome addition, since they are some of the most active members).

Below is a table showing the 20 largest clubs in New England in 1975 and where they stand today. There is only one club (Wilton, CT) which has membership within 60% of what it was almost 50 years ago. With very few exceptions the rest of the clubs have membership numbers which is less than 50% of where it was 50 years ago…

Club	1975	2013	2024		Club	1975	2013	2024
Portland, ME	164	30	18		Concord, NH	97	37	16
Springfield, MA	152	40	17		Meriden, CT	91	78	55
Worcester, MA (2 clubs)	143	20	16		Haverhill, MA	88	41	23
Wellesley, MA	139	27	27		Manchester, CT	86	0	0
Manchester, NH	136	59	49		Norwalk, CT	85	15	16
Brockton, MA	135	4	0		Woburn, MA	84	47	46
Malden, MA	125	57	36		Norway-Paris, ME	81	41	0
Augusta, ME	123	80	41		Wilton, CT	80	105	75
Auburn-Lewiston, ME	115	13	8		Waterbury, CT	80	37	0
Westfield, MA	99	68	42		Waterville, ME	80	23	10

—

Club	# Members	Club	# Members
Hooksett – NH	85	Manchester – NH	49
Wilton – CT	75	Somerville – MA	49
Weston – CT	68	Three Rivers – ME	46
Orno- Old Town – ME	61	Woburn – MA	46
Colebrook – NH	59	Mt. Washington Valley – NH	45
Sanford – ME	57	Dover Foxcroft- ME	42
Claremont- NH	55	Westfield – MA	42
East Bridgewater – MA	55	Augusta – ME	41
Meriden – CT	55	Everett – MA	40
Danvers – MA	53	Windsor	39

Looking at the Top 20 Kiwanis Clubs today it looks completely different. There are only six clubs which are in the top 20 for membership for the District,that were in the top 20 back in 1975. As you will see Hooksett is the largest club and was only chartered in 2000. Congratulations to our club.  However, having said that in the last five years we have gone from 100 members to 85.  That is a loss of 15%. 

Kiwanis is not alone in facing a decline in membership. According to author E.E. Bill Russell in his article “Decline of America’s Service organizations” – American volunteerism continues to decline, studies find | Philanthropy news | PND. 

Elks, Rotary, Jaycees, Lions, Optimists, Kiwanis and many other service organizations have shown a marked decline in membership. Rotary. Lions and to some extent Kiwanis have off-set some of the US losses with growth in other parts of the world. 

Looking further into this loss of membership if we look at a book called “Bowling Alone” – Bowling Alone Summary PDF | Robert D. Putnam

Author Robert Putnam talks about the disengagement of our younger population. Bowling leagues used to be a very popular fun group activity. Today people still bowl, and also like to volunteer, but alone or in small groups. Many of our young people do not desire leadership and interaction provided by some clubs. In addition they are deeply involved in their careers and paying off large college loans, they communicate electronically. They also prefer to socialize with people their own age. This is apparent by the increase of Young Professional groups. While Kiwanis does focus on young groups through their SLP’s and are very proud of the sponsored SLP’s (Key Club and others) and the fact there are more Key Clubbers than actual Kiwanis members. The reality is that while the Key Clubbers enjoy their experience while in High School soon after graduation for many it becomes just a memory as they face college experience, getting a job paying off loans getting married and raising a family. 

So now that we have detailed some of the challenges Kiwanis and other Service Organizations have been trying to increase membership and more importantly helping our communities how do we overcome that and what is recommended to increase membership. 

Please stay tuned for part II of this story next month.