Attitude Is Everything
By Governor Tom Ganse

Happy New Year to you! I hope your holiday season was enjoyable and brought you needed rest and precious time with loved ones.

We often hear the gloomy reports about membership loss and obstacles to Kiwanis success. Personally, I believe the only obstacles to Kiwanis success are unsuccessful attitudes and the belief that our challenges are somebody else's responsibility to overcome. We have no shortage of people willing to offer great ideas to overcome our obstacles, but when asked to step up and help implement them, they become silent rather quickly.

We've all heard the story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. If not, it goes like this:

"There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done."

And so it goes where we see Kiwanis and clubs continue to struggle. It is very difficult for me to accept what the Kiwanis doomsday prophets have to say when I see new clubs like Toano and Old Town Winchester nearly double their membership within the first two years. Or when I see a club like Williamsburg organized with 25 members, grow to 200+ members over the course of the next few decades, while sponsoring two additional new clubs within their community. Thanks to their positive attitude, the total Kiwanis presence in the greater Williamsburg area exceeds 350. Folks, that means there are more Kiwanians in the Williamsburg area than there are in over two-thirds of the Divisions in the Capital District!

It is difficult for me to believe we can't succeed when I see Divisions like 19 and 23 continue to grow, year after year. While the doomsday prophets are telling us it can't be done, clubs from Dover, Delaware to Grundy, Virginia and many places in between are adding new members by the dozens. How does this happen, you ask? With one small change to the structure of that last sentence: How does this happen, you ask?! Positive attitudes are contagious.

Membership is not the only area where we are experiencing substantial success.

• During the first quarter of this administrative year, we have chartered 12 new Service Leadership Program clubs, keeping us on track to meet our Strategic Plan goal of 48 new SLP clubs.
• We have already met our goal for new Aktion Clubs and have several more in work.
• CAPNET is back as a communication tool throughout the District.
• We now have a world class, modern website (www.capitaldistrictkiwanis.org).
• The Capital Builder has gone from three paper issues per year to six as it evolved into an electronically circulated PDF file that can be distributed locally, as requested. (Note: We will continue to explore the viability of returning to 12 issues, as we monitor the response to the new "Mini-Builder". Incidentally, producing and mailing a traditional monthly Capital Builder would cost nearly $60,000, or about one third of the entire operating budget.)
• And finally, our combined net loss for the first two months of the administrative year (December figures are not yet available as I write this) is barely a third of the historical average during the last 15 years. The fact is, had we completed the two planned new club organizations that stalled out this past quarter, we would be solidly in the black as we go into the time of year when we traditionally experience month-to-month net growth.

Other signs of success include:

• We are one of only eight Districts to exceed the Kiwanis International Foundation per capita goal for the Annual Club Gift Campaign. Thank you all, especially the Lieutenant Governors and District Chair PLG Neal Behan for your efforts!
• We can also be proud of our International Understanding Committee, chaired by Dr. Raga Elim, for gaining worldwide attention for their Initiative for Africa. Please consider supporting this committee with a generous donation.
• Our Growth Team's Monday Morning Messages by Past Trustee Jack White are now being heard as far away as New Zealand.
• Six of eight Regional Growth Summits are complete, and those results are helping us determine where to invest our resources for optimal results.
• Clubs have begun their strategic planning processes under the tutelage of the Leadership Development Committee and respective Lieutenant Governors. This valuable tool is essential to identifying what resources clubs need to succeed in their unique communities, and therefore, where we as a District staff need to focus so we can better support you, the club and individual member.

Today truly is a GREAT day to be a Kiwanian in the Capital District! Not only CAN we succeed, we ARE succeeding. What are YOU doing to contribute?