Club moves forward by going back to basics

Driving new members to your club doesn’t always mean re-inventing the wheel. Sometimes all it really requires is getting back to basics, a lesson learned by the Kiwanis Club of Dobytown, Kearney, Nebraska, which has added more than 30 people to its roster this past year.

The new-member class of the Dobytown, Kearney, Nebraska, Kiwanis club.

“We followed a Kiwanis program developed by the Nebraska-Iowa District,” says club secretary Mark Reid. “We appointed a strong member-recruitment team, led by Marv and Marilyn Heckman, who set up the plan that was to be followed. We first asked our members to provide a list of prospective members. Letters were sent to those on the list inviting them to a meeting in which we presented a program on Kiwanis and Dobytown-Kearney, Nebraska.”

The program was only 15 minutes long, says Mark, and featured five members who provided an “insight on the history of Kiwanis using photographs, and compelling information about the club and the work we do in the community, showing what Kiwanis is all about in its service to children.”

Each prospective member received a brochure created by the club using the template provided by Kiwanis International. They were personally contacted by members and invited to a meeting specifically set aside for member recruitment. The following week, if prospective members were interested, they were invited to join the club.

Mark says the club sent out letters to more than 125 people, 37 of whom attended the membership meeting. At the following meeting, which featured new-member orientation, 22 people were formally inducted into the club, with six more added to the rolls about six weeks later.

The key to the club’s success, Mark believes, is the strong leadership of its member-recruitment team.

“Our membership drive was a club effort,” he stresses, “with Marilyn and Marv the guiding force. Without their leadership and training, we would not have been successful.”