What is the single best idea you can have for your Optimist Club this year? As the new administrative year gets underway, we think of all the ways we may serve our community, increase our fundraising, and share fellowship. We even think about how we can change our outlook so that we will always #chooseoptimism. The best idea that we can have is to plan today to be an Honor Club.
An Optimist Club that achieves Honor Club status is doing all that it can do to build a legacy that will make an impact in its community today and for years to come. By performing service projects, adding members, and reporting its progress to Optimist International, an Optimist Club becomes an integral and uplifting part of its members' lives. Optimist International encourages every club to take the steps to be an Honor Club.
Please watch the video to see what an Optimist Club should do every year to be its best.
As COVID-19 continues to disrupt our daily lives, Optimist Clubs are preparing for the final push of the Optimist International administrative year.
Now is the time to add new members, conduct those favorite service projects in a new way, make donations to the Optimist International Foundation, and the Children's Optimist Foundation of Canada.
Now is the time to show the resilience of a true optimist by making every Optimist Club an Honor Club.
Every year, I write about being an Honor Club. It's a smart goal that Optimist Clubs can embrace
throughout the year. It helps clubs provide more service and recognition in their community and provides a path to sustainability not only for an Optimist Club but also for the umbrella organization, Optimist International.
Many years ago, I attained the recognition of being the president of an Honor Club and over the years, I've watched joyfully as others have earned it too. It saddens me when I hear presidents say they aren't in it for the awards. To me, that simply means that the president is in it for themselves and not for the Optimist Club members they serve today and those who we hope will still belong tomorrow. The president that does not strive to lead an Honor Club is shorting their club and community of the basic steps to succession.
The steps are simple and straightforward. In fact, most Optimist Clubs perform most of the tasks, they just fail to cross the t's and dot the i's for the recognition that accompanies their completion.
Complete the President’s Pride Report and Club Officer-Elect Form
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
Grow Club by Net of +3 in membership
Appoint a Club Foundation Representative and make a non-restricted contribution to the OIF or CCOF
Conduct a Membership Recruitment/Drive such as a NOW Program
Club President or Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Convention (or two other District meetings/conferences)
Be current on District and OI Dues and Fees
Now about that "I don't need any recognition" remark; please think about the car you drive, the restaurant where you choose to eat, the hospital where your child was born, the news feed you read or watch each morning, among many other choices that you make in your daily life. They put their awards front and center at all times. Cars brag about the JD Power award, restaurants receive stars for value and service, hospitals are ranked by a national accreditation association in order to keep you safe, and even your newspaper or channel is enhanced when they have an Emmy-winning broadcaster or Pulitzer prize-winning journalist.
Recognition matters. It gives credibility to the work they do.
Please do your part to make certain that your Optimist Club is an Honor Club and you'll give your club the credibility it needs to recruit new members and perform the good work for many years to come. Thank you.
Has your Optimist Club named someone as an Outstanding Optimist this year?
An Outstanding Optimist is a member of your club or your community that has gone above and beyond in service to others or has provided hope or funding for your club or community to accomplish its goals.
The purposes of recognizing an Outstanding Optimist are quite simple. In addition to giving a well-earned pat on the back to a deserving individual, your Optimist Club may use the opportunity to advance the goals of Optimist International by publishing the award in your local newspaper and on social media. Sharing the optimistic news builds awareness and affinity for your Optimist Club and its causes.
To put it more succinctly, it gets your name out there and as you know, Optimist Clubs need more name recognition.
Plus, awarding someone for doing good in the club or community is a requirement for Honor Club.
Please report your award winner to Optimist International with this form by September 30. Thank you.
At the end of every administrative year, Optimist International asks its Optimist Clubs to report on the activities with which they have been involved throughout the year. The report, available to complete online at www.optimistleaders.org, is called the Club Pride Report.
The Club Pride Report helps clubs identify the steps they have taken to reach Distinguished or Honor Club and it allows the parent organization to combine the activities of its clubs into data that can be shared with others. How do you think we know that each member touches the lives of 35 children each year? Numbers like that are collected along with the number of projects and types of projects that each Optimist Club performs annually to make their community and our world a better place to live.
This is a call to all club presidents to complete the Club Pride Report at your earliest convenience. If you are not a club president, get ahold of your club officers and remind them that this is important. We would like to see it completed by September 30 each year. Thank you.
Optimist International measures the success of its Optimist Clubs based on one achievement: Honor Club.
The Honor Club award means that an Optimist Club is managing itself in a way that will help it succeed far into the future. Earning Honor Club helps your Optimist Club create its legacy and ensures that Optimist International can move forward into the second century of service. Earning Honor Club means hope for the future.
The Honor Club criteria are set forth by the Optimist International Board of Directors in Policy ICD-135. They are:
Earning Distinguished Optimist Club helps Optimist International create its legacy.
The Distinguished Club criteria are set forth by the Optimist International Board of Directors in Policy ICD-135. In addition to earning an Honor Club recognition, they must also:
Meet Honor Club requirements
Add Net + 15 in membership OR Build one or more new Clubs OR Increase by Net + 8 and build two or more JOOI Clubs
With 30 days remaining in the Optimist International administrative year, it's time to focus on making the first century of optimism the best it can be. Won't you finish the year strong and start the celebration of 100 years of Optimism as an Honor or Distinguished Optimist Club?
March 31 marked the midpoint of the Optimist Club and Optimist International administrative year. It's a good time to track your Optimist Club's progress toward being an Honor Club.
Each year, Optimist Club presidents set out to make a difference in their club and community by producing the best programs and conducting the best projects. To do so requires people, money, creativity, and passion. To do so well also requires some administrative duties.
For as long as I can remember, and that's over thirty years now, Optimist Clubs have been working their way to Honor Club as a way to memorialize their annual achievements.
When an Optimist Club earns the Honor Club recognition, it meets all the criteria of being relevant and enduring in its community and we have hope that its work will continue on for many years to come.
Please click on the picture to enlarge and download and monitor your Optimist Club's path to success.
Here are the eight steps to Honor Club:
Complete three or more service projects each year
Complete the Club (President's) Pride Report and Club Officer-Elect Form
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
Grow Club by Net of +3 in membership
Appoint a Club Foundation Representative and make a non-restricted contribution to the OIF or CCOF
Conduct a Membership Recruitment Drive such as a NOW Program
Club President or Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Convention (or two other District meetings/conferences)
Be current on District and OI Dues and Fees
Add one more step and be a Distinguished Optimist Club:
Add Net + 15 in membership OR Build one or more new Clubs OR
Increase by Net + 8 and build two or more JOOI Club
Please do your part to make certain that your Optimist Club is an Honor Club. There are still six months to make it happen!
As president, Jim Kondrasuk declared the 2016-2017 Optimist International administrative year to be the Year of the Honor Club. In the Pacific Northwest District, three Optimist Clubs completed the challenge.
PNW District Optimist Clubs earning the Honor Club recognition in 2016-2017 were:
It's that time of year when we look forward to a new Optimist Club and District administration. It's time to finish the paperwork that declares your Optimist Club to be an Honor Club, install new officers, and begin again on October 1.
But wait, that means there are still six days in this year! What is the motivation to finish strong?
The motivation for every Optimist Club member should be intrinsic. We know deep inside that a strong Optimist Club is good for our community, the children and ourselves. We feel it every time we host a Halloween or Christmas party, sponsor a sports team, put on a scholarship contest, or share fellowship with our colleagues at an Optimist Club meeting, among other things.
We know that we make a difference by being part of an Optimist Club and that little intrinsic motivation that we feel is called hope. We share hope for the future and we celebrate our hope as we meet our challenges and goals with others as a member of an Optimist Club. That is why every year, as we finish the Optimist International administrative year, we look forward to the next with even more optimism. We know that the next one will be the very best ever.
Finish strong, my Optimist Club friends, so that you may start the new year even stronger.
Optimist Club and District leaders recently received their latest edition of the Leadership Hotline for September. It showed our current Optimist International President, Jim Kondrasuk, encouraging all members to do all they can to help their Optimist Club achieve Honor Club, a must for all Optimist Clubs to be successful far into the future.
It also showed the Optimist International President-designate, Nick Prillaman, promoting an Optimist Strong Conference. Now, I have no idea what an Optimist Strong Conference is, but according to the message, your lieutenant governor does and can share all the information with you.
This post is being shared as a caution.
In 2016-2017, Optimist Clubs in the PNW District received very little communication from the District leaders. If we are to move forward in 2017-2018, that must change. We can't be left on the sidelines to wonder what Optimist International is promoting. The District is essential in the trickle-down communication method that is used by the parent organization.
In Optimist International, districts serve as an administrative arm of Optimist International. That means they provide leadership, assistance, and above all, communication from the top down. The district helps clubs apply incentives and encouragement that emanates from Optimist International in order to help the club, district, and organization grow in membership and service.
The district must be careful not to pursue issues that take away from the ability for Optimist Clubs to grow and serve their local communities. If district leaders will only follow the model given by Optimist International, and add some regional camaraderie and local enthusiasm, we will grow as a district and the organization will benefit as equally as those communities we serve. That begins with communication.
So tell us, please, what is an Optimist Strong Conference? And what do I have to do to participate?
If you've been an Optimist Club president or secretary/treasurer before, you probably know it as the President's Pride report; but this important report now has a new name, one that is reflective of the collective achievements of every Optimist Club member.
What is it? The Club Pride Report.
The Optimist Club Pride Report serves as a quick annual review of the activities of each Optimist Club and it is a requirement for the designation of Honor Club.
It is easy to complete and can be done online at optimistleaders.org . Log in and click on "Reports" on the right side of the screen. On the next screen, select the Club Pride Report. This report is due online by September 30.
You may also submit hard copies of the form via fax or mail. Click here to download a copy of the Club Pride Report. While this may seem an easier option for some, the report may not show as completed until well after September 30 as mailed forms are accepted later in order for staff to enter them by hand.
Please finish this step towards Honor Club and then check off that the rest are complete too.
As a reminder, the steps to Honor Club are:
Complete three or more service projects each year
Complete the President’s Club Pride Report and Club Officer-Elect Form
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
Grow Club by Net of +3 in membership
Appoint a Club Foundation Representative and make a non-restricted contribution to the OIF or CCOF
Conduct a Membership Recruitment/Drive (i.e. NOW) Program
Club President or Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Convention (or two other District meetings/conferences)
Optimist International and President Jim Kondrasuk are encouraging Optimist Clubs to become Honor Clubs. In addition to declaring the 2016-2017 administrative year to be "The Year of the Honor Club," they are adding an extra incentive in the fourth quarter of the year.
The incentive will reward every Optimist Club a free registration to the 100th Optimist International Convention in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
To earn this reward, an Optimist Club must be an Honor Club or better and add 5 new members between July 1, 2017 and September 30, 2017.
Doing so will make your club stronger!
It's rather obvious that more members will allow your club extra hands to do more projects in your community. Being an Honor Club proves that your club is practicing excellent administrative practices as well.
Optimist International President Jim Kondrasuk has declared the 2016-2017 administrative year to be the Year of the Honor Club.
What's this? Isn't every year the year of the Honor Club?
Each year, less than 25% of all Optimist Clubs earn the Honor Club recognition, so that means even fewer go on to receive the Distinguished Club designation. We can do better than that!
Clubs that meet the Honor Club designation have completed the minimum steps to ensure their Optimist Club is healthy and growing to serve future generations. Clubs that earn the Distinguished Club designation have served not only their club and community, but they have also expanded the reach of Optimist International by starting a new Optimist Club or adding fifteen or more new members to their club, equivalent to starting a new Optimist Club.
In an effort to encourage more Optimist Clubs to seek the best in administration, community service and growth, President Jim created a Goal Setting Plan for 2016-2017. In case this is the first time that you have seen this plan, be assured, March is as good a time to get started as October. There's plenty of time to make your Optimist Club an Honor Club.
Click on the pictures to enlarge and print. Here are the eight steps to Honor Club:
Complete three or more service projects each year
Complete the President’s Pride Report and Club Officer-Elect Form
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
Grow Club by Net of +3 in membership
Appoint a Club Foundation Representative and make a non-restricted contribution to the OIF or CCOF
Conduct a Membership Recruitment/Drive such as a NOW Program
Club President or Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Convention (or two other District meetings/conferences)
Be current on District and OI Dues and Fees
Add one more step and be a Distinguished Optimist Club:
Add Net + 15 in membership OR Build one or more new Clubs OR
Increase by Net + 8 and build two or more JOOI Club
Please do your part to make certain that your Optimist Club is an Honor Club.
Together we can make our communities and our organization healthy, vital and brimming with optimism. Together we can.
For more years than I can remember, Optimist International has measured the success of an Optimist Club based on one recognition: Honor Club.
The Honor Club criteria has been adjusted over time, but its award has always meant that an Optimist Club is managing itself in a way that will help it succeed far into the future. Earning Honor Club helps your Optimist Club create its legacy.
The Honor Club criteria are set forth by the Optimist International Board of Directors in Policy ICD-135. They are:
Complete three or more service projects each year
Complete the President’s Pride Report and Club Officer-Elect Form
Earning Distinguished Optimist Club helps Optimist International create its legacy.
The Distinguished Club criteria are set forth by the Optimist International Board of Directors in Policy ICD-135. In addition to earning an Honor Club recognition, they must also:
Meet Honor Club requirements
Add Net + 15 in membership OR Build one or more new Clubs OR Increase by Net + 8 and build two or more JOOI Clubs
Many Optimist Club members say they do not do what they do for an award. They appreciate the smiles on the faces of the children they serve and enjoy the cameraderie of their fellow members in service. I get it; that in itself is a reward. However, it is selfish to think that way for it serves only those who can participate today.
We must rid ourselves of that selfish thinking so that Optimist Clubs will be able to serve others well into the future. It's up to you to ensure that your Optimist Club is providing the best service to its community and members by demonstrating excellence in administration, service and growth through the Honor Club Recognition Program. Don't wait - start today.
Optimist Clubs are recognized each year by Optimist International based on one measurement: Honor Club. Some clubs achieve Honor Club and thenk do just a little bit more; they are called Distinguished Clubs.
The Special Recognition Awards Hotline for the 2015-2016 administrative year (October 1, 2015-September 30, 2016) was released today.
We salute those clubs in the PNW District for that earned Distinguished and Honor recognition. Distinguished Club
Lebanon, OR
Tacoma-West, WA
Each year, the Optimist International President chooses a theme. It's an internal message crafted to help the members of the organization derive meaning and purpose to the year ahead. International President Jim Kondrasuk has chosen the phrase "Together We Can."
The Governor of each District does the same. He or she delivers a message that will unite the District in service. Governor Rick Matkin has explained his motto "Live the Creed."
While these slogans help motivate our clubs and members, they don't provide the goal. International President Jim has made the goal very simple: 100% Honor Clubs. In fact, he's declared 2016-2017 to be the year of the Honor Club. Watch his first video to learn more.
In order to prepare for success in the 2016-2017 Optimist year, following are the steps to Honor Club.
Please note - there are new requirements and these requirements will be in place for at least five years as determined by the Optimist International Board of Directors.
Honor Club
Complete three or more service projects each year
Complete the President’s Pride Report and Club Officer-Elect Form
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
Grow Club by Net of +3 in membership
Appoint a Club Foundation Representative and make a non-restricted contribution to the OIF or CCOF
Conduct a Membership Recruitment/Drive (i.(e) NOW) Program
Club President or Club President-Elect (or two Designees) attend District Convention (or two other District meetings/conferences)
Be current on District and OI Dues and Fees
Distinguished Club
Meet Honor Club Criteria plus one of the following:
Add Net + 15 in membership OR Build one or more new Clubs OR Increase by Net + 8 and build two or more JOOI Clubs
Start now and you'll find it is not that hard to make your Optimist Club an Honor Club.
Another Optimist International administrative year is about to come to a close. Only hours remain to make your Optimist Club an Honor Club. Please do so.
Finish and submit your President's Pride Report. Certify that you have recognized a member of your club or community as an outstanding optimist. Pay your dues, if you haven't already. And finally, add one more new member. Do that last one even if you are already above the required quota.
You see, each year begins fresh on October 1. The only way to recognize the superior work that you have given to your community is to make the Honor Club goal by September 30.
Today is the day that all of that hard work comes to a close. We thank you for your service to your club and community and most of all, we thank you for making the right steps to ensure your Optimist Club will be around many years from now still serving the youth of your community.
The PNW District woke up this morning in 28th place of all Optimist International Districts. We can do better than that!
It takes your help to make our District and your Optimist Club as strong as it can be. The minimum effort is called Honor Club and it's not too late to make it. Here are the Honor Club requirements for 2015-2016:
Complete at least three service projects a year (submit President's Pride Report)
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
We've already reminded you that it is crunch time - the last few days to accomplish your goals for the 2015-2016 Optimist International administrative year. We hope for most of you that the main goal is to be an Honor Club.
Honor Club is the minimum that any Optimist Club should strive for each year. It ensures that your members are being served by fiscally sound record-keeping and that your community is being served with projects it needs.
The requirements for Honor Club in the 2015-2016 administrative year are:
Complete at least three service projects a year (submit President's Pride Report)
Recognize a Club member or local community individual
For those Optimist Clubs that want to do a little bit more, the Distinguished Club recognition includes:
Meet Honor Club requirements
Charter a new Optimist Club OR
Add net 15 new members to your Optimist Club
The purpose of this post is to remind your club to submit its President's Pride Report.
The President's Pride Report may be found at www.optimistleaders.org and submitted online by the club president. Alternatively, you may download a President's Pride form here and submit it via fax or mail. Be sure to have it done by September 30, 2016!
For those Optimist Clubs that want to do a little bit more, the Distinguished Club recognition includes:
Meet Honor Club requirements
Charter a new Optimist Club OR
Add net 15 new members to your Optimist Club
I've heard it said that less than 25% of all Optimist Clubs are Honor Clubs. If Optimist International is to reach 100,000 members by its 100th anniversary, we must do better than that. Each Optimist Club and each Optimist Club member must take it upon themselves to complete the minimum requirements.
Following the trend, 25% of the Optimist Clubs in the PNW District are on track for Honor Club through membership growth at this time. They are:
SFU, BC +2
Vancouver, BC +1
Vancouver-North Shore, BC +1
Meridian, ID +1
McCall, ID +2
Nampa, ID +1
Albany, OR +4
Lebanon, OR (Distinguished) +15
Portland-Northeast, OR +2
Portland-Peninsula, OR +6
Roseburg, OR +6
Issaquah, WA +1
So let's do it. Let's make the llama happy. Make your Optimist Club an HONOR CLUB.
