Kiwanis International Facts

• Kiwanis was organized in Detroit, Michigan, USA, on January 21, 1915.

• Kiwanis focuses on the needs of ordinary people and children to create extraordinary life-changing moments.

• Kiwanis and its Service Leadership Programs boast a membership of more than 600,000 men, women, and youth in nearly 16,000 clubs in more than 70 countries and geographic areas.

• Members of Kiwanis and its Service Leadership Programs volunteer more than 21 million hours and invest more than $113 million in their communities around the world.

• Kiwanis is taking itself from a good organization to a truly great organization that defines excellence for service and leadership and builds leaders through service opportunities.

• Kiwanis International is the only service organization that builds leaders at every level—from the youngest Kiwanis Kids all the way through several youth programs and adult programs.

• Kiwanis’ impact on the world will be measured by the 10 million young leaders it nurtures, rather than by the number of members it attracts.

• Kiwanis continues its service emphasis of “Young Children: Priority One,” which focuses on the special needs of children from prenatal development to age 5. In a typical year, “Young Children: Priority One” service projects involve more than US$14 million and 1 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. IDD projects have been funded in 95 nations. Kiwanis International Foundation has raised nearly $100 million to eliminate IDD worldwide.

• Kiwanis One Day occurs annually during the first weekend of April.  It is an opportunity to unite Kiwanis-family members from around the globe and their communities in a dedicated day of action devoted to hands-on community service projects.