Mark Twain And Kiwanis Growth
(As first published in the January 2008 Capital District eBuilder electronic newsletter)
By Governor-elect Tom Ganse
Mark Twain is credited with once having said, “There are three kinds of lies – little white lies, damned lies, and statistics”. No disrespect to the old sage, but I do believe it is important to pause for a moment and reflect on a few relevant statistics, or measurements, concerning our efforts to restore membership. After all, is there a Kiwanian left that isn’t growing weary of the “need to grow” mantra in the face of over 16 years of steady membership declines? It is time now to share some of the fruits of those labors, because this District is growing again!
Growth efforts have three primary focus areas: 1) Keep the members we have (reduce attrition), 2) Grow existing clubs (local expansion) and 3) Build new clubs (broad expansion) so let’s consider some of the measurements or “metrics” we use to quantify our successes.
First, the District has specific goals to reduce attrition. Our goal at the end of the 2005-2006 year was a 2 percent reduction to16 percent, from 18 percent. We finished the year at 16.4 percent. Not bad. Our goal at the end of the 2006-2007 year was another 2 percent reduction to 14 percent. No way, you say. We finished the year with 13.5 percent attrition, beating our goal. Nice work! Our goal at the end of the current administrative year is another two percent reduction to 12 percent. That is well within our reach, especially when you consider our increasing membership, and efforts such as the Growth Team’s DVD “Closing the Backdoor” which every club should review.
Next, the District has several initiatives at work to help existing clubs grow. Your District Trustees monitor every club, and when they identify one experiencing membership challenges, they coordinate through the Lieutenant Governor to bring resources and training to the struggling club. As proof of this success, only two years ago the District had seventeen clubs below 15 members. Now there are three-to-five clubs. True, some of those 17 clubs resigned their charters, but most grew and are continuing to grow.
Since I mentioned failing clubs and growing clubs, you should know that the District Growth Team conducts a semi-annual trend analysis for all District clubs, to cover a rolling five-year timeframe. Not surprisingly, even during the darkest membership days, which generally correspond to 2006, there were 43 clubs that demonstrated sustained growth over the preceding five years. As of October 2007, that number has grown to 54. Clearly, we can succeed if we want to.
The Growth Team also looks at “sustaining clubs”, or those who are within a member or two of where they were five years before, and that number has grown to 71 in 2007, from 58 in 2005. Finally, the Growth Team identifies those clubs that sustain net losses during the preceding year, and that number has decreased to 72, from 81.
We have organized nine new clubs during the past two years and coordinated with Regional Growth Team representatives and Lieutenant Governors to develop a prioritized list of potential new club sites in each Division. By providing local Kiwanians with training and resources from the District, these sites can be developed quickly and effectively, to continue the New Club Building trend that was established over the last two years.
There is one, last “metric”, and it is not what we want to see. It measures “rate of change”, or more simply, whether we are “getting better faster” or “still getting better, but not as fast”. Unfortunately, the numbers suggest the rate at which we are growing is beginning to slow down, just when we need to be building momentum on top of our hard-earned successes. This indicates a classic short-term effort to get a desired result when what is really needed is a sustained effort to create a cultural change. But do not be dismayed. The Growth Team and the Capital District Multi-year Growth Plan are just beginning the third year. Now is not the time to throw in the towel and say, “it can’t be done”, because we are doing it! Now is the time to re-double our efforts and shift into the next gear.
These successes are the quantifiable results of many people’s efforts, from Lieutenant Governors and Trustees working together to identify where help is needed, to trainers and presenters at Regional Conferences and District Conventions, to Kiwanis International staff, to the District Board that continues to create opportunities for your clubs to expand. Ultimately, only you can make the choice to succeed or fail.
In closing, thank you for everything you continue to do for Kiwanis, but more importantly, thank you for making a positive difference in your communities. I look forward to seeing you at the International President’s visit in Bowie later this month!
With a Kiwanis servant’s heart,
Tom Ganse