Organizing a New Club

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Organizing a New Club

• Empowering people to make a difference in their
  own life and the lives of others

2
Organizing a New Club
Learning Objectives

• To recognize the steps of new club organization
• To recognize the varied methods to complete these
  steps

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Review of Club Types

• Traditional Lions Clubs
• New Century Lions Clubs
• Campus Lions Clubs
• Lioness Lions Clubs
• Leo Lions Clubs

4
Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research
• 4 Promote the New Club to the Community
• 5 Recruit Charter Members
• 6 Develop the New Club
• 7 Apply for a Charter or Club Branch

5
Determine Areas of Opportunity

• Lions clubs may be formed in many areas with
  adequate population
• Communities that do not have a Lions club
• Communities that could benefit from additional
  clubs

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Determine Areas of Opportunity

• Are there groups within your district, such as
  young adults, that have not been successfully
  recruited by existing clubs?
• Consider recruiting them into a new club where
  they may feel more comfortable.

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Determine Areas of Opportunity

• Existing groups may form a Lions club
• Young adult friends could form a New Century
  Lions club
• University students could benefit from a Campus
  Lions club
• A group of people concerned about a specific
  environmental need could form a club
• Cultural or ethnic communities could form a
  neighborhood club

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Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team

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Develop Your Extension Team
Once the potential locations have been
identified, meet with the following Lions

• District extension chairperson
• District campus club chairperson
• District leadership
• Potential sponsor club members

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Develop Your Extension Team

• The team will need to include Lions who are
  willing to
• research the new club sites
• recruit charter members
• conduct public relations activities
• serve as Guiding Lions

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Develop Your Extension Team

• These Lions should meet to prioritize locations
  to be developed and begin a prospect list.
• Materials are available from Lions Clubs
  International to provide guidance and training
  for each function.

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Develop Your Extension Team

• Lions who can help!
• Your multiple district extension chairperson is
  available to help guide you through the new club
  organization process.
• Contact Lions Clubs International to find Lions
  who have completed the Certified Guiding Lion
  course in your district

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Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research

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Conduct Site Development Research

• Research the areas of opportunity!
• Contact community leaders to identify needs in
  the community
• Gather community information from social
  agencies and public officials
• Identify community leaders who could be
  prospective members

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Conduct Site Development Research

• Get ready to recruit charter members!
• Schedule dates for recruiting and secure a
  meeting place for training recruiters, if needed
• Secure a meeting place for the informational
  meeting
• Have volunteers prepared to follow-up each lead
• Appoint Lions to serve as Guiding Lions

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Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research
• 4 Promote the New Club to the Community

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Promote the New Club to the Community

• During the recruiting stage and throughout the
  new club development, assign a member to work
  with the local media to promote membership in the
  new club and benefits of a Lions club to the
  community.
• Sample press releases, flyers and other
  materials are available from Lions Clubs
  International.

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Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research
• 4 Promote the New Club to the Community
• 5 Recruit Charter Members

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Recruit Charter Members

• Four Methods of Recruitment
• Canvassing community leaders
• Recommendation based recruiting
• Group conversion
• Branch development

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Recruit Charter Members

• Canvassing - A small team of Lions quickly and
  effectively recruit community leaders by making
  personal visits. Using this positive enthusiastic
  approach, they present the benefits of becoming a
  member to quality community minded individuals.

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Recruit Charter Members

• Recommendation Based Recruiting Focused
  recruiting of people who have been recommended by
  current members or community leaders as potential
  charter members. The personal recommendation
  shows respect for the prospect.

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Recruit Charter Members

• Group conversion Meeting with an
  established group of people who have a common
  interest in providing humanitarian service as
  Lions.

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Recruit Charter Members

• Branch Development Recruiting a small core
  of people who join an existing parent club with
  the intention of launching an independent
  project. As the number of members grow, they can
  become a new club.

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Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research
• 4 Promote the New Club to the Community
• 5 Recruit Charter Members
• 6 Develop the New Club

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Develop the New Club

• Once charter members are recruited and other
  potential members are contacted, these
  individuals can begin to develop their new club.

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Develop the New Club

• The First Meeting (or informational meeting)
• The purpose of the first meeting is to inform
  about Lions clubs activities, discuss group
  interests and to build the club membership.

• Include
• Short presentation of the history of Lions
• Summary of Lions activities in the district
• Explanation that the members of the club
  determine the club activities
• Discussion of possible club projects

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Develop the New Club

• The First Meeting (or informational meeting)
• Include (Continued)
• Discussion of possible needs within the community
  that club projects could address
• The charter fees and dues for membership and the
  benefits of membership
• Selection of the time and date for the next
  meeting
• Ask the participants to bring other interested
  individuals

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Develop the New Club

• Important
• Follow-up with a letter or phone call before the
  next meeting.

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Develop the New Club
The Second Meeting (or organizational meeting)
The purpose of the second meeting is to
determine the direction of the group and begin to
plan the first project.

• Topics to discuss
• Continue discussion of possible projects and, if
  possible, chose a project that may be easily
  accomplished by the group
• Ask for volunteers for project tasks

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Develop the New Club

• The Second Meeting (or organizational meeting)
• Topics to discuss (Continued)
• If more then 20 people have been recruited,
  collect charter fees and complete the new club
  application
• If fewer than 20 people have been recruited,
  collect entrance fees to join the existing club
  as a branch member and complete the branch
  application
• Set the time and date for the next meeting and a
  timeline for the project to begin

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Develop the New Club

• Important
• Follow-up with a letter or phone call before the
  next meeting.

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Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research
• 4 Promote the New Club to the Community
• 5 Recruit Charter Members
• 6 Develop the New Club
• 7 Apply for a Charter or Club Branch

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Apply for a Charter or Club Branch

• Applying for a New Club Charter
• Complete the Application for Lions Club Charter,
  with signatures of the district governor, the
  sponsoring club officers and the new club
  officers
• Include the Report of Charter Members with 20
  charter members
• Include the appropriate charter fees
• Send the application to the New Clubs and
  Marketing Department at Lions Clubs International

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Apply for a Charter or Club Branch

• Applying for a Club Branch
• Complete the Notification of Club Branch Form.
• Include the Branch Member Update Form, listing at
  least 2 branch members.
• Send the forms to the parent club for approval.
• The parent club then sends the forms to the New
  Clubs and Marketing Department at Lions Clubs
  International.
• The branch should continue to recruit new members
  until 20 members are reached and the group can
  apply for a charter.

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Review Steps to Organizing a New Club

• 1 Determine Areas of Opportunity
• 2 Develop Your Extension Team
• 3 Conduct Site Development Research
• 4 Promote the New Club to the Community
• 5 Recruit Charter Members
• 6 Develop the New Club
• 7 Apply for a Charter or Club Branch

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Organizing a New Club

• Brings new people and ideas to our association
• Provides communities with added community service
• Keeps our association vital and progressive
• Serves its community for years to come

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Organizing a New Club

• Contact newclubs_at_lionsclubs.org for more
  information about organizing new clubs
• To be released in 2006-07, revised publication
  New Club Extension, A Guide for Organizing New
  Lions Clubs