KEY CLUB ADVISOR
Getting Started
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Out of the blue, you’ve been drafted into the ranks
of Key Club Advisers. Whether it is by choice or an
assignment given to you by your principal, you are
left wondering what the role of the adviser is and
just exactly what is
Key Club???
Key Club International is the oldest and
largest service program for high school
students. It is a student-led organization
whose goal is to teach leadership through
helping. Key Club International is a part of
the Kiwanis International family of serviceleadership programs. Many local Key Clubs
are sponsored by a local Kiwanis club.
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Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers
dedicated to improving the world one child
and one community at a time. Their members
help shelter the homeless, feed the hungry,
mentor the disadvantaged, and care for the
sick. We develop youth as leaders, build
playgrounds, raise funds for pediatric
research, and more. Working together,
members achieve what one person cannot
accomplish alone.
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Each Key Club member is expected to do at least
50 service hours per year, which equals more than
12 million hours of service annually.
UNICEF, March of Dimes, Kids Against Hunger, Boys’
and Girls’ Clubs, and Children’s Miracle Network
are all preferred charities. Key Club members
provide fundraising support for each of these
groups.

The Kiwanis family, of which Key Club is a
part, includes Kiwanis members, or
Kiwanians, and all of Kiwanis’ Service
Leadership Programs, which provide
service and leadership opportunities for
young people and adults with disabilities
around the world. These groups include:

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Elementary school students. Kiwanis Kids
(www.kiwaniskids.org) provides three programs—K-Kids,
Terrific Kids and Bring Up Grades—for students ages 6–12.
In each, lessons of leadership and self-development are
introduced through learning to plan, set goals, work with
others and celebrate successes.
Teens. Kiwanis offers three meaningful, interactive programs
that allow students to discover their own leadership
potential—Builders Club (www.buildersclub.org), exclusively
for middle and junior high school students ages 12–14; Key
Club (www.keyclub.org), the largest high school service club
in the world for ages 14–18; and Key Leader (www.keyleader.org), a weekend leadership experience for students
age 14–18.
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Young adults. Circle K International (www.circlek.org) is
the premiere university and college service organization
in the world, with clubs on more than 500 campuses in 17
nations. In Europe, Kiwanis Junior gives young adults a
chance to volunteer for their communities.
Adults living with disabilities. Aktion Club
(www.aktionclub.org) is the only community service club
for these adult citizens, providing members an
opportunity to develop initiative and leadership skills in
serving their communities, while enabling integration into
society.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
Mission statement
Key Club is an international student-led
organization which provides its members
with opportunities to provide service,
build character and develop leadership.
Key Clubs are made up of caring and
competent servant leaders dedicated to
transforming communities worldwide.

The core values of Key Club International
are leadership, character building, caring
and inclusiveness. The motto is:
“Caring–Our Way of Life”
Objects
To develop initiative and leadership.
 To provide experience in living and
working together.
 To serve the school and community.
 To cooperate with the school principal.
 To prepare for useful citizenship.

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To accept and promote the following ideals:
 To
give primacy to the human and spiritual, rather than to the
material values of life.
 To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human
relationships.
 To promote the adoption and application of higher standards in
scholarship, sportsmanship and social contacts.
 To develop, by precept and example, a more intelligent,
aggressive, and serviceable citizenship.
 To provide a practical means to form enduring friendships, to
render unselfish service and to build better communities.
 To cooperate in creating and maintaining that sound public opinion
and high idealism which makes possible the increase of
righteousness, justice, patriotism and good will.
WHAT KEY CLUB DOES

Key Club International is the high school
organization sponsored by. Kiwanis International .
Key Club assists Kiwanis in carrying out its mission to
serve the children of the world. High school student
members of Key Club perform acts of service in
their communities, such as cleaning up parks,
collecting clothing and organizing food drives. They
also learn leadership skills by running meetings,
planning projects and holding elected leadership
positions at the club, district and international levels.

Key Club International brings together all Key
Club's members' efforts and energies into an area
that makes an international impact through the
Major Emphasis, "Children: Their Future, Our Focus.”
The Major Emphasis unites Key Clubs under the
banner of service that deals with the most important
part of our community, our youth.

The Key Club service initiative is the hands-on
element of the Major Emphasis. All of the hands-on
service provided to children by Key Club
International members is directed to a single area
of need, to make a substantial impact. The current
service initiative, The Eliminate Project, allows Key
Clubbers to join forces with Kiwanis International
and UNICEF to eliminate maternal and neonatal
tetanus worldwide.
HOW KEY CLUB WORKS
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Key Club International is a self-governing, student-led
organization. Each year, Key Club members elect their
student officers at club, district and international levels
during club meetings and district and international
conventions.
Key Club members receive guidance and support from
adult volunteers, including Kiwanis advisors, faculty
advisors and district administrators. Additionally, the
Key Club International staff trains and assists the district
governors and international board members.
The organization is funded by nominal dues paid by
every member.
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The international, district and club levels
operate under a set of bylaws that spell out
their respective policies. You can find the
International Bylaws in the Key Club Guidebook,
the official guide for Key Club, which is
updated and posted online every May.

There is almost no limit to the scope and nature
of Key Club service projects. The Key Club
website (www.keyclub.org), Key Club
magazine, and conventions all offer ideas for
service opportunities. Better yet, begin by
looking around your school for existing needs.

Many clubs utilize a point system in which
members earn points for attending
meetings and projects. A best practice is
the 50-hour rule: Every Key Club member
should be willing to undertake 50 hours
of service each year. Throughout the
organization, millions of service hours are
volunteered annually.

In an all-male or all-female school, it is
permissible to have a club that is either all
male or all female. In a co-ed enrollment, U.S.
and Canadian schools are at risk of being in
violation of existing federal and
state/provincial laws prohibiting discrimination
based upon gender. Clubs need a minimum of
fifteen members with no more than half of the
members graduating in a single year.
ADVISORS TERMS
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DCON, KCI, Key Leader, PCM—learning to speak
Key Club is sort of like learning a foreign language.
In order to be an effective adviser, it is important to
have a working knowledge of the specifics of the
organization. For a glossary of terms, go to:
http://www.keyclub.org/Libraries/Administrator_and_
Advisor_Resources/Guide_KeyClub_Terms_and_Defini
tions_for_Advisors.sflb.ashx