Kiwanis International Facts
Kiwanis International Facts
The first Kiwanis club was organized in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
on January 21, 1915. A year later the Kiwanis Club of Hamilton, Ontario,
Canada, was chartered, and Kiwanis International grew rapidly into a leading
service club in these two founding nations. In 1962, worldwide expansion
was approved, and today Kiwanis clubs are active in every part of the world.
Motto
"We Build."
Number of clubs and members
There are more than 8,500 Kiwanis clubs with more than 315,000 members
in and geographic areas.
Type of membership
Active or retired business and professional men and women.
The "average" Kiwanian
The average Kiwanis member is 55.1 years old, a college graduate,
married, and a homeowner. He or she is an owner or manager of a firm in
the $25 million or less range.
Women in Kiwanis
Membership was opened to women in 1987. There are now more than
51,000 women members, and 1 in 7 club presidents is a woman.
Kiwanis youth organizations
Kiwanis International sponsors several service clubs for young people:
Circle K International has 10,800 members
on 560 university and college campuses; Key
Club International has 194,000 members in 4,574 high schools; and Builders
Clubs have been organized in 2,000 junior high and middle schools.
Kiwanis service
In one year, Kiwanis clubs sponsored 147,000 service projects. To
do so, Kiwanians raised and spent almost $70 million and contributed 6.2
million hours of volunteer time.
Kiwanis' continuing service emphasis is called "Young Children: Priority One," which focuses on the special needs of children from prenatal development to age 5. Projects conducted as part of the "Young Children: Priority One" service emphasis involved $14.3 million and 1.3 million volunteer hours.
In 1994, Kiwanis launched its first Worldwide Service Project, a $75
million campaign in partnership with UNICEF to eliminate iodine deficiency
disorders by the year 2000. Iodine deficiency is rare in areas where iodized
salt is used, but in other parts of the world, IDD is the leading cause
of preventable mental and physical retardation. As many as 1.5 billion
people are at risk, especially young children.
Copyright 1997 Kiwanis International
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Last revised February 24, 2005
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