A publication of Cosmopolitan International Register Now! 2010 opics International SPRING 2010 T Convention Gettysburg, PA July 28 - 31 THE CLUB THAT FIGHTS DIABETES www.cosmopolitan.org COSMO FROM THE EDITOR Sheila Anderson COSMOTopics EDITOR Do you know the secret to getting people to stay a Sheila Anderson member? What’s your Club’s purpose? Do you freeze [email protected] up when someone asks you “what is Cosmopolitan?” GRAPHIC DESIGNER How does membership impact our bottom line? Rockford Cosmopolitan Club Member What’s the difference between branding and Peter Brodeski, Opus Creative Studio, Inc. marketing? What’s being done to bring awareness [email protected] to our organization? Is chocolate the food of the Gods? What Clubs have net member increases? What Club chartered in 1969? How is the COSMOPOLITAN INTERNATIONAL Emerald City Club doing after its first year? Do you know diabetes? What OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS lessons were learned by PIP Tom Stone? All these questions are answered PRESIDENT in this issue of Topics. Prepare to learn! Melvina Newman [email protected] PRESIDENT-ELECT And speaking of learning, what better way to learn more about the history Richard Greer of our America than to come to Gettysburg, PA, for our International [email protected] Convention July 28-July 31. This year the kids program is back! What a VP FOR FINANCE Phil Hanson great experience for them to see the battlefields of the Civil War. There’s [email protected] plenty for all of us to do. You’ll find one moving tribute after another to VP FOR MARKETING Sheila Anderson the men who fought on the famous battlefield. However, Gettysburg is [email protected] more than just a battlefield. There are museums, a winery, Hersheypark, VP FOR MEMBERSHIP AND NEW CLUBS Boyd’s Bear Country, and Outlet Shoppes. So come and explore all that Brian Duckett [email protected] awaits you in Gettysburg…and this issue of Topics! JUDGE ADVOCATE Jim McVay [email protected] EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MISSION STATEMENT Kevin Harmon The mission of Cosmopolitan International is to contribute [email protected] to community well-being through charitable donations and volunteer service with special emphasis on supporting FEDERATION GOVERNORS efforts to prevent and find a cure for diabetes. CAPITAL L. J. Smith CORNBELT Wayne Hinkley MID-STATES Rita Smith 3 Fireside Chat, Kevin Harmon MO-KAN Susie Bartlett 4 Full Steam Ahead, Melvina Newman NORTH CENTRAL Bill Keck SOUTHWESTERN Virgil Graham 6 Review Our Story, Richard Greer WESTERN CANADA Jack Ostoforoff 7 Strength In Numbers: The Sequel, Brian Duckett 8 Budget Picture, Phil Hanson INTERNATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 9 Branding versus Marketing, Sheila Anderson 10 Mission: Recognition, Sheila Anderson 7341 West 80th Street, PO Box 4588 Overland Park, KS 66204-0588 14 Healthy Choices 17 Know & Tell P. 913.648.4330 or 800.648.4331 18 Out and About F. 913.648.4630 www.cosmopolitan.org 22 Categories of Recognized Programs Email: [email protected] 23 In Memoriam 23 Cosmo Brick Club COSMOTopics is published four times a year. The $9 subscription is added 24 Do You Know Diabetes?, Rita A. Smith side to the annual dues by Cosmopolitan 25 Governor News International, Inc. Third class non-profit 26 Beware of Big Cosmos Asking Favors postage paid at Pontiac, IL. 28 2010 International Convention POSTMASTER Send change of address to: 30 2010 International Convention Schedule COSMOTopics, PO Box 4588, Overland 31 2010 International Convention Registration Form Park, KS 66204-5088 in 2 COSMOTopics | spring 2010 The Club that Fights Diabetes Fireside Chat embership. Let’s face it, fun either. They let all the members join in. membership is a focal point There aren’t many “cliques” in these Clubs. of Cosmopolitan and has Anyone is welcome and encouraged been for some time. We to attend, work, laugh, fund raise, laugh have made great strides in some more, pitch in and last and most Mmembership growth the last few years, but importantly…have fun. Is this your Club that the strides are really more like baby steps. I am describing? These growing Clubs also Increasing our membership is tantamount have purpose. Paying dues to come have to securing our future as a Club. More a meal and listen to a speaker or have a importantly it is the only way we can ensure business meeting and see the gang on a that our legacy remains strong. It is through regular basis is in the end boring. You can Kevin Harmon a vibrant membership that we can sustain go to the corner pub or restaurant regularly Executive Director research, treatment and education in and have a meal while getting to know the diabetes as well as a host of important and other regulars, listen to the talk and people worthwhile local causes. watch and then not even have to pay dues. So that is not what gets people to stay with It seems every International and Federation Cosmo. meeting that I have attended focuses on membership in some fashion. But let’s get What really makes people want to stay real. From the beginning we have missed is what made them want to join in the first the boat, so to speak, on membership. It place. To keep a member you need a has been said and proven that as a group Club that engages them as friends, that we can fundraise better than anyone. It has has fun, has goals, and encourages open also been pointed out that if we spent as thought and new ideas as well as lets the much time and effort on our membership new member have a place in the Club that drives as we do on our fundraising efforts we they and the Club are both comfortable would probably be the biggest Service Club with. I wrote in the last Topics about the idea out there, instead of one of the smallest. I of finding a new members “hot button.” agree with that analysis. That means pointing the new member to a The growing committee or activity within the Club that In the last few years the International Boards fulfills their need. People join a club for one have put together some strategies that of three reasons. They want to develop a plainly work when it comes to attraction of skill, they want to help others or they want and vibrant members. You have heard it before but I am to meet other people. It is up to the sponsor chatting about holding a Membership Event or Membership Chair to find that hot button for your Club that has the same planning and then provide an avenue to embrace Clubs have a and execution as a big fundraiser. I am their need. That does not mean immediately chatting about using the Great People Who guiding an accountant to being the next Should Be Cosmopolitans form to identify Treasurer. It means introducing the new prospects for the event. I am chatting about member that happens to be a golfer to the purpose and highlighting the accomplishments of your other golfers in your club. You get the idea. Club and the tremendous achievements locally and internationally that Cosmo has The Clubs that are on the move are those use it to their been part of during the event. And I am that have a sense of purpose above the chatting about making it a fun and exciting routine meetings. That purpose can be time. Your Board is continuing the quest by as simple as a volunteer opportunity or as adding on additional plans on how to retain complex as the establishment of a diabetes advantage in members. education center at the local health clinic. It is why you exist as a Club. Without that Since this is a fireside chat, let’s do some purpose you can quickly wither or at the membership more chatting. Let’s talk about the least fall into a rut. The growing and vibrant successful Clubs. The Clubs that are growing Clubs have a purpose and use it to their each of the last several years and identify advantage in membership growth and growth and what makes them grow. And then let’s chat retention. about what keeps them strong and their members engaged or the retention aspect If your Club does not fit the criteria described of membership. above then at the next board meeting begin retention. a dialogue about formulating change. If The growing Clubs are the Clubs that have your Club does fit the above criteria, then fun and embrace camaraderie in their by all means schedule a Membership Event. membership. They aren’t exclusive in their You have new members waiting. The Club that Fights Diabetes COSMOTopics | spring 2010 3 Full Steam Ahead IMAGE - It isn’t everything - but it IS important!! What’s your opinion of big cities and then small towns? In music, is it rock and roll or classical? In politics is it Democrats or Republicans? It didn’t take you long to answer those community and concerned about helping questions. Each one creates an instant others and the one common goal that impression. Your opinion, whether positive unites all of our clubs within Cosmopolitan Melvina or negative, springs to mind as soon as you International is supporting causes that hear each word. You may have lived in a fight diabetes. Cosmopolitan selected a Newman small town once. It was pleasant, peaceful disease that will certainly need our help International President and friendly. You probably think that is the for a long time with the current statistics of way all small towns are.