| Type | Service |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1925 |
| Location | Indianapolis, Indiana, USA |
| Origins | Sacramento, California, USA |
| Key people |
Annie Lewandowski, President Mike Downs, Director |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Focus | Leadership, Character Building, Caring, and Inclusiveness |
| Method | Community service |
| Revenue | US$3,087,066 (2010)[1] |
| Members | 260,000 (2010) [1] |
| Motto | Caring - Our Way of Life |
| Website | http://slp.kiwanis.org/KeyClub/home.aspx |
Key Club International is the oldest and largest[2] service program for high school students. It is a student-led organization whose goal is to teach leadership through serving others. Key Club International is a part of the Kiwanis International family of service-leadership programs. Many local Key Clubs are sponsored by a local Kiwanis club.
The organization was started by California State Commissioner of Schools Albert C. Olney, and vocational education teacher Frank C. Vincent, who together worked to establish the first Key Club at Sacramento High School in California, on May 7, 1925. Female students were first admitted in 1976, eleven years before women were admitted to the sponsoring organization, Kiwanis International.
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Key Club tries to offer a range of services to its members: leadership development, study-abroad opportunities, vocational guidance, college scholarships, a subscription to the Key Club magazine, and liability insurance.
In 2002, Key Club officially adopted caring, character building, inclusiveness, and leadership as the core values of the organization.
At Key Club International's first convention in 1946, the organization was given the responsibility of instituting a program that would bring together all Key Club's direct members' efforts and energies into an area that would truly make an International impact. This tradition is still followed through the development of the Major Emphasis (ME) and its Theme.
"Children: Their Future, Our Focus" is Key Club International's Major Emphasis theme. Officially, any project conducted by members or clubs that serve needy children locally or globally is considered a project of the Major Emphasis. The three service partners of Key Club International are paramount to the organization's success in serving children. These partnerships include the US Fund for UNICEF, March of Dimes, and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Key Clubs contribute to a global organizational total of more than 12 million hours of hands-on service and millions of dollars donated to the aforementioned partners and other programs.
Recently, the Kiwanis International has dedicated itself to eliminating the risk of Maternal/Neonatal Tetanus (MNT) from the face of the earth. The disease plagues mothers and newborns in 40 countries worldwide, and while an effective vaccine has been developed, MNT claims nearly 100,000 lives each year. As part of the Kiwanis International mission to end MNT, Key Club International has pledged all proceeds from its members' Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF projects to the $110 million funding gap the Kiwanis International Foundation is working to correct.
The Service Initiative is a program encouraging hands on service to children aimed towards a common goal. It is changed every two years by the International Board of Trustees.
The 2004-2006 Service Initiative was Child Safety: Water, Bike and Car Safety where Key Clubbers participated in different educational events to try to spread safe habits to prevent accidental deaths.
The 2006-2008 Service Initiative was "High Five for Health." It is aimed at reducing childhood obesity and fighting a rising trend that appears to increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
The 2008-2010 Service Initiative is "Live 2 Learn." It is focused on 5-9 year old youth, with the main goals of promoting education and building literary skills.
In 2011, the Service Initiative concept was abolished by a vote of the Key Club International Board. It was decided that the freedom of selecting any project in keeping with the theme of "Children: Their Future, Our Focus" would allow for greater success for member clubs and their dedications to service.
During the first week of November - Kiwanis Family Month - Key Clubs worldwide celebrate Key Club Week. In seven days, Key Clubs are encouraged to grow and serve through themed days like "Show Your K in Every Way; Konnect the Ks; Kudos to the Key Players" and more. The week has been designed to become the organization's primary membership drive worldwide with the belief that more members will translate to more service and even greater results in serving the children of the world.
The Key Club District organization is patterned after the original Florida District and its parent Kiwanis districts. These organizations hold their own annual conventions for fellowship, to coordinate the efforts of individual clubs, to exchange ideas on Key Clubbing, and to recognize outstanding service of clubs or individuals with appropriate awards.
Key Club exists on more than 5,000 high school campuses, primarily in the United States and Canada. It has grown internationally to the Caribbean nations, Central and South America, and most recently to Asia and Australia. Clubs exist in Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Germany, Guadeloupe, Italy, Jamaica, Malaysia, Martinique, Netherlands-Antilles, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Panama, Philippines, Singapore, South Corea, St. Lucia, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turksand Caicos Islands, and the United States of America.[3]
Key Club International is an organization of individual Key Clubs and is funded by nominal dues paid by every member. Its officers are high school leaders elected by the members at district and international conventions.
Blue, Gold and White
Each color symbolized an aspect of the Key Club International objectives:
"Key Club is an international student-led organization which provides its members with opportunities to provide service, build character, and develop leadership."
"We are caring and competent servant leaders transforming communities world-wide."
The core values of Key Club International are "Leadership, Character Building, Caring, and Inclusiveness."
The motto of Key Club is "Caring—Our Way of Life" changed from the original "We Build" in 1978 to better convey members' reasons for helping others.
The Objectives of Key Club are listed below. The sixfold sixth objective of Key Club incorporates the Six Permanent Objects of Kiwanis International as adopted in 1924:
The organization maintains strong partnerships with UNICEF, AYUSA Global Youth Exchange, the March of Dimes, and Children's Miracle Network Telethon. Through the partnership with UNICEF, a major initiative was launched in the summer of 2005 to address HIV/AIDS education and prevention in Kenya.[4]
I pledge, on my honor,
to uphold the Objects of Key Club International;
to build my home, school and community;
to serve my nation and God;
and combat all forces which tend to undermine these institutions.[4]
Key Club International encompasses all clubs within the organization's 33 organized districts and in foreign countries that are not included in any specific district. Key Club International is led by the International Board of Trustees, which is typically composed of the International President, International Vice-President, and 11 International Trustees (Trustees being assigned to three districts and also assigned to serve on various committees within the board). Furthermore, the International Council is composed of the International Board as well as the District Governor from each of the 33 organized Districts.
A Key Club district is normally defined by state or nation and tends to match a similar Kiwanis district. Each district is chaired by a governor, elected by delegates to an annual convention. The district is divided into divisions which tend to, but do not necessarily match Kiwanis divisions.
Each District and District-in-Formation is led by a group of students comprising the District Board of Trustees. The Executive District Board includes the Governor, Secretary, Treasurer (or Secretary-Treasurer), and Editor. Each District Board also includes one Lieutenant Governor per division to serve the geographically smaller areas. Whereas one Governor may oversee the operations of an entire district (often the size of one or more states in the United States or a nation in the Caribbean), Lieutenant Governors oversee areas typically including only 5-10 clubs. All officers are elected by the students they serve.
The district convention ("DCON") is held each year in each district. Key Club members, advisers, Kiwanis members, and guests attend. A convention center has been required to host all members for general sessions. Activities have included: forums (or workshops), which are facilitated by lieutenant governors, district executive officers, and sponsoring adults; an awards ceremony, the Governor's Ball, and a keynote speaker. Caucuses have been held to elect the new District Executive Officers for the upcoming service year.
Many districts have elected to brand their conventions differently to better reflect the events' goals. For example, district convention is referred to as "District Leadership Training Conference" in the New York District, as "District Educational Convention" in the New England District, "District Convention/Leadership Conference" in the Pennsylvania District, and "District Leadership Conference" in the Missouri-Arkansas District.
Districts are divided into multiple smaller geographic regions. Each division is made up of several clubs and is led by a single lieutenant governor.
A Lieutenant Governor is elected to lead and represent each of the divisions in a district. The Lieutenant Governor serves as a liaison between the clubs in their division, and the district board. They must also visit each of their clubs, publish a monthly divisional newsletter, hold a monthly Divisional Council Meeting, contact their clubs, district executive board, and Kiwanians. In addition, a Lieutenant Governor may initiate community service projects to help the members become more involved.
The Lt. Governor is responsible for oversight of four to sixteen high school Key Clubs. They are elected near the end of the incumbent Lt. Governor's term at a conclave of all the clubs in the division.
The Lt. Governor's role on the District Board is to act as a representative of his or her governing division. They make up the majority composition of the board with up to sixty plus members. Changes and adoption of policies are debated by the board and can be approved by a simple majority vote.
In California during the twenties, adults were concerned with the pernicious side of high school fraternities and sought some means of replacing them with more wholesome activity for youth.[5]
Two men in the Sacramento Kiwanis club, who were high school administrators, approached their club with the idea of a junior service club in the high school, to be patterned after Kiwanis to hold luncheon meetings. Through this group in the high school, the Kiwanis club hoped to provide vocational guidance, first to boys who had decided upon their future occupation, and then to the entire school. The plan was presented to the Board of Education, and following its approval, the first Key Club meeting was held early in May 1925.
The club held weekly luncheons in the school, where Kiwanians came to speak to the group on various vocations. Key Club members attended Kiwanis meetings as guests of the club to enhance further the value of Key Club membership by bringing high school students into constant contact with the business and professional men of the community. As the experience of the Key Club grew, a noticeable trend toward expanding the original purpose and activity was found possible, and the club was soon a complete service organization for the whole school. It also offered a social program to balance its service activities.
Through contact with the Sacramento Key Club and Kiwanis Club, other Kiwanis groups soon became interested in the activity and sponsored similar organizations in their own communities. Such information was sent out and principals in various parts of the country were responsible for organizing similar groups in their own schools with the help of their local Kiwanis clubs. Practically all Key Club expansion which took place during the next fifteen years was accomplished in this way. By that time fifty clubs were functioning in California, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington.
In 1939 the first plan for combining individual local Key Clubs into federated groups was developed in Florida. With Kiwanis counsel, a convention of existing clubs was held, a state association formed, and officers elected. The purpose of the State Association was to promote an exchange of ideas concerning the Key Club activity and to expand the number of Key Clubs. Conventions were held each succeeding year, and when the International Constitution and Bylaws were adopted in 1946, the Florida Association became the first Key Club district.
Florida was instrumental also in promoting the formation of an International Association of Key Clubs to perform for the entire country what the Florida Association had done for Key Clubs in that state. In 1943, at the invitation of the Florida boys, Key Clubbers from clubs in Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee were in attendance at the annual convention of the State Association held in Sanford, Florida. The representatives voted to form an International Association of Key Clubs and elected Malcolm Lewis of West Palm Beach, Florida, as first President.
Three formative years followed, during which the outlines of the present Key Club International organization were drawn. Lewis served one year and was followed in office by Eddie Richardson of Ft. Lauderdale, and Roger Keller of New Orleans. Keller presided over the third annual convention in New Orleans on April 27, 1946, at which time delegates from all parts of the country approved the Constitution and Bylaws, officially launching Key Club International.
The Key Club was early recognized as a local Kiwanis project, and no attempt was made to control its overall organization. In 1942 the Kiwanis International Board of Trustees recommended Key Club to all Kiwanis clubs. In 1944 a special Kiwanis International Committee on Sponsored Youth Organizations was formed to look after Key Club work. Finally, in 1946, a separate Key Club Department was created in the International Office of Kiwanis International to serve as a clearing house for Key Club information, to keep the records and handle correspondence of the organization, to provide effective liaison between Key Clubs and Kiwanis, and to conduct the annual International conventions. Now the Key Club Department also handles a monthly publication—KEYNOTER—which was first issued in May 1946. The Kiwanis International Committee on Key Clubs was formed on January 1, 1949.
Key Club International now includes 33 formal districts, including the California-Nevada-Hawaii District Key Club International, its largest, and one District-in-Formation.
As of May 2011, Key Club International included more than 255,000 members, making it responsible for approximately 50% of Kiwanis International Family membership.
Key Club International itself employs three full-time staff members and utilizes the services of the nearly 120 more specialists employed by Kiwanis International. All work at International Headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
International President
International Vice President
International Trustees
District Websites
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