Restore and increase District support for clubs and members

Try this experiment: Go to your local convenience store and pick up a 20 oz. bottle of Dasani or Aquafina water for about a buck twenty-nine. Drink it until you have somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 a bottle left (note: this also will work with half a 12-oz. can of soda or a couple of ounces of designer coffee). Now hold the bottle up to the light and look deeply into the remaining liquid. What do you see?

I see Lieutenant Governors being reimbursed for all required club assist visits, along with critical Club Support Committee regional representatives. I see these people getting reimbursed for supporting required District functions, including their own training. I see teams of trained growth experts meeting with your clubs within a week of being requested. I see a world-class and professionally maintained web presence for our District and any club that can send an e-mail with an attached image, or even just fax text and mail photos. I see wide distribution of modern training materials such as CDs or interactive DVDs. I see newspaper and magazine ads for Kiwanis in targeted District publications. I see Kiwanis billboards alongside highways. I see TV ads and hear radio ads. I see restored reimbursement for District officers tending to official business. And no, I’m not wearing rose-colored glasses.

What, you may ask, am I looking at that enables me to see those things? What I am looking at is the equivalent of $0.50. If we all gave up one bottle of water every three months, or one soda every other month, or one cup of Starbucks coffee every six months and invested that in our District, we would generate roughly $40,000 during the first year. That money would be invested in areas that would provide immediate benefit to our clubs – things like training regional experts for membership growth and retention, and reimbursing their expenses for assisting your clubs; things like training materials, whether they be print, electronic, or web-based; things like essential communication tools such as a modern, cutting-edge website that will attract younger members. These critical resources, this investment in our future, would result in net gains in membership through more effective recruiting and retention.

During the second year, we would have several hundred more Kiwanians making that same occasional sacrifice/investment. For example, a District of 7500 would generate an additional $45,000. Again, this money would be reinvested in recapitalizing our resources and support for clubs and members. Eighty-five hundred members would yield $51,000, and none of these figures include the increased dues revenues. For example, 8500 members at $16.00 per member is $136,000, or another $24,000 above the current dues revenue based on 7,000 members. When reinvested wisely, these numbers continue to grow exponentially to the point where we can buy or at least underwrite advertising and promotional venues in targeted areas where Kiwanis should be growing. Just in case I lost you with the math, 8500 members at $22 per year yields an additional $75,000 in that year alone, over a 7,000 member district paying $16 per year and drinking the six-dollar difference.

What am I really proposing here – a dues increase? Maybe, but not as a foregone conclusion. Our Board could actually take action to recommend the House of Delegates approve a dues increase effective October 1, 2008, but I do not support that. We have a Finance Committee, so what I do propose is tasking them to make a recommendation on how best to find this initial $40,000. It won’t do much good to rob Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes, but we need to look at all alternatives first. Examples might include defined assessments, new member add fees, administrative fundraisers, reallocating unexpended monies, tapping our reserves, etc…, but ultimately, we need to come to grips with the fact that membership losses and steady inflation over the last eight years have drastically eroded our ability to sustain ourselves.

You know the axioms: “There is no such thing as a free lunch,” “You get what you pay for,” “You gotta spend money to make money.” etcetera. So why do we think we can maintain, much less increase the level of support the District can offer our clubs in the face of these declining revenues and inflationary realities? Previous efforts largely focused on reducing expenditures to keep our budget balanced. Over the years, these cuts have accumulated to the point that we are no longer able to support our clubs at the level they need and deserve.

These actions beg the question, “What do I get for my dues?” That’s a common question, and a darn good one, too. If you’re talking about International dues, the answer might be, “Of the roughly $62 paid to International, $8 is for the Kiwanis magazine that includes all sorts of good information to help you learn more about Kiwanis – if you read it, about $12 is for liability insurance to cover you whenever you are participating in a Kiwanis project, and the remaining $42, which are your actual dues, goes toward overhead to administer the organization and provide resources such as training for your TAG Team members, promotional materials like the new Media Tool Kit and Graphics Standards manual to help us reinforce a uniform awareness of Kiwanis, and more.”

If you’re talking about District dues, the answer might be, “Less and less each year.” This is basic math folks. Even disregarding the decline in revenues due to the decline in membership, inflation alone since our last dues increase accounts for roughly a 30% effective reduction in buying power. You can see this very clearly by examining the graph below. You can also put it in context by reviewing the comparative table beside it.

Let me summarize this topic by making a couple of points very clear:
- I do not advocate panic increases in dues as a way of recovering from questionable fiscal policy.
- I do not advocate dues increases simply to make up for a shortfall, whether perceived or real.
- I do advocate dues increases when the Finance Committee and Board of Trustees can present our members with a sound business case to justify them, including an accounting for how the increased revenues will be spent.
- I do advocate dues increases as a necessary acknowledgement of inflation, but only as justified by my previous point.
-I do advocate investing in our future, even if it requires increased dues to raise the necessary capital.

What is this District’s business plan? Can you find it on the web? If not, why not? Your personal information is available to members on the District website, why shouldn’t District finances also be available to members? After all, it’s your money, isn’t it?

Hoping things pick up does not sound like a very viable plan to me. Let’s work with our Finance Committee to develop a proposal, to determine how much we need to invest and for what purpose, and to identify options for raising that revenue. Let’s brief our Board of Trustees so the Board can make an informed investment decision this November. Then let’s get the word out and explain to our members “what’s in it for them.” Give them a few months to provide feedback to the Trustees and then have the Board incorporate any necessary adjustments before sending it to the House of Delegates in 2008 for their approval. Let’s do this together!

See you next month when I present a proposed strategic plan for the District! – TG