I live in the Midwest...Minneapolis, MN area...and our problem is similar here.
I'm a Mason, a Shriner an SAL American Legion member, and a pilot. All those groups have a very common problem. We are having a very tough time attracting younger members.
We've talked about it for a few years now, and two things continue to come up;
1. Too many other places for the young people to go, and to spend their money.
2. Young parents are spending much more of their time with the kids at various athletic and social events.
What you say is true of things like the Knights of Columbus, etc. 'Fraternal' organizations
just are no longer in vogue.
That said, there is a real tendency to say 'kids today blah blah blah' and to act as though
the kids ought to change in order to be more interested in the organizations as they are
and as they were in 1948.
It's quite natural for organizations not to want to admit to themselves that they have nothing
to offer. All the guys sitting around the KofC or the Elks Club bar joined up because the
club had something to offer. 25-cent beer, or a place away from the wives or whatever
the motivation. More likely, it had a lot to do with things like opportunities...both professional
and political opportunities were frequently passed to 'lodge brothers' in days of yore
when that was a bit more legal. The Masons always did it. The KofC answered with
the 'Supreme Anchor Club' to counteract the Masons' cronyism.
Oh, everyone will gladly sit around and grouse about how 'kids today' aren't like 'we
were.' But then neither were we.
What fraternal organizations don't 'get' is that they actually have to change and become
something other than what they are if they want to attract new members. Not just what they
do but who they are.
Heck, I'm in my mid-forties, and used to have occasion to go to Knights of Columbus
events with my late father-in-law. Where they'd recruit me like crazy (the Grand Knight
was my age...the next youngest guy was 68). I never had a glimmer of interest in doing
that with my time.
Not because the guys were mostly eligible for Medicare. On the contrary...at EOC events
or CAF events I truly enjoy being around these lively gents who have a lot more living under
their caps than I have. And a couple of years back, Scott, who was then eighteen and the
youngest Ercoupe owner at Mason clearly had a great old time regardless of any 'generation
gap.' Because the organization has some reason to bring us all together.
So I guess my answer to the Shriners, the KofC, the Elks, the Moose, E Clampus Vitus,
the Grange, and all the others who complain about 'no new blood' is to take a good hard look at
yourselves and decide if you really want it. And if you really want it, what are you going
to be able to offer people with different values than your own, and whether you really
are willing to change to do it. And if you really want them around, if they're not actually
going to be like you. You may just decide that you're happy with it the way it
is, and when you've shuffled off this mortal coil, it will have served its purpose.
Greg
