Talk:Lions Clubs International

Key questions, not just for Lions but for all service clubs:

• Who is membership open to (religious affiliations, gender, etc.)? Membership is open to any individual (in the United States; clubs in other countries may have informal rules of which individuals are or are not invited to join, but there are no official requirements for membership.)
• How does one become a member? By invitation from current Lion member, although it would be highly unlikely that a request to join would be denied.
• Obligations of members? Participation in club activities, most being community service activities, and payment of established club dues. Individual clubs may set specific requirements (e.g., three service projects each month, 75% attendance, etc.)
• Organizational structure (autonomy of local clubs, etc.).
• Political views, if relevant (e.g. Rotarians, at least in Australia, are known to be politically conservative). Members (at least in the US) span the political spectrum. Politics is generally a taboo subject, as the focus of the association is on community service.
• Question: Does anyone know which club holds the most members?

Answers:

• There are requirements for membership. Membership is open to men and women of the age of majority where they live (18 in the U.S.), who are of good moral character.
• Membership is by invitation and while it is likely that a request to join will yield an invitation, there is no guarantee of this. Furthermore, someone who has been a Lion, but whose membership was dropped due to nonpayment of dues or not in good standing for any other reason, will find themselves ineligible for membership or reinstatement.
• Generally, members are expected to give of their "time, talents and treasury" in helping the club achieve its objects. Meeting attendance requirements vary widely, dues are established locally, though the International and District components of the total dues structure is outside of local control.
• Local clubs are chartered by, and operate under the jurisdiction of, Lions Clubs International. Each club, however, is autonomous and is answerable only to its members. Clubs failing to meet the requirements for continuing membership in the International Association of Lions Clubs do face the possibility of losing their charter. However, they are give many opportunities to work through the issues impairing their status as a club in good standing.
• Each club is governed by its members, subject to the policies of its district/multiple district. Each club has a panel of officers and a board of directors. Heierarchy is organized into:
  • Clubs, with club presidents and Board of Directors elected by members. (Similar to US City structure) Generally limited to a single city, although large cities may have multiple clubs.
  • Zones, with Zone Chairmen elected by delegates from the clubs in that zone. (Similar to US County structure) Typically consists of several cities in the same geographic area within the district, i.e. Northern clubs, southeastern clubs, etc.
    • Zone Chairs are appointed by the District Governors, as are Region Chairs and other District officials. These officials have no authority over the clubs they stand ready to assist, other than to certify whether or not the club meets the criteria for continued membership in LCI.
  • Districts, with District Governors elected by delegates from the clubs in that district. (Similar to US states) Some districts are joined with others as a Multiple District, which has a Chairman and other officers (Governors of the Districts within the Multiple District). Districts generally consist of the clubs within a single state, although states with a large number of clubs may be designated a Multiple District, with several Districts within the state.
  • The International Association, with an International Board and International Directors elected by delegates from the districts in their constituency. International officers (president, etc.) are elected by delegates from all the districts in the association.
• Each club is autonomous, but is subject to the policies of the association. The club's charter may be revoked if it fails to comply with association policies.
• from the Lions Clubs Purposes: "To Provide a forum for the open discussion of all matters of public interest; provided, however, that partisan politics and sectarian religion shall not be debated by club members."hdonagher (talk) 22:43, 9 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Speaking as a Lion, I would like to say, "nice article." However, there is one small problem with images linked to that page. They are pictures taken of LCIF logos. LCIF actively enforces its copyrights, and they might consider these images copy vios. Please let me know. If there isn't a problem, I will certainly look forward to using them on my user page. Cheers,  :) Dlohcierekim 22:09, 7 August 2006 (UTC)Reply

It would be good if we could restrict the article to references from sources outside of the Lions' own website. It might even be that using Lions website references for a Lions article might contravene some Wikipedia policy or other. Someone will undoubtedly be along soon to confirm this... --Cheesy Mike 18:35, 14 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

Note that the references to LCI's own web site no longer work. This is due to a recent upgrade to the LCI website which failed to observe best practices regarding redirects to content within the new framework. All documents on the new site are of a .php or a .pdf nature. Any link ending with .shtml (the old model) will redirect to the main page.hdonagher (talk) 22:43, 9 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Beware: these people are an NWO outfit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.55.230.103 (talk) 00:22, 28 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

What the heck does this mean? hdonagher (talk) 22:43, 9 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Can you say more? References? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.160.58.76 (talk) 03:11, 15 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

I assume the poster is talking about the New World Order conspiracy theories. I came to this page wondering about why Lions Clubs are included in conspiracy theories, it would be nice to have a little about it. If you look at the following page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_imprints_of_The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion

It says there;

"According to Freedom House 2006 report, Saudi "textbook for boys for Tenth Grade on Hadith and Islamic Culture contains a lesson on the "Zionist Movement." It is a curious blend of wild conspiracy theories about Masonic Lodges, Rotary Clubs, and Lions Clubs with antisemitic invective"

I know a fair bit about conspiracy theories myself, but have not heard of Lions Clubs in any theory I have read, so if anything is added to this article about that, it should be very minimal in my opinion.

This theory is rediculous. The Lions were the first NGO durning the formation of the United Nations after WWII and supported the creation of the UN. This was not unusual during the period following the most devistating war in history. Many people were hoping for a more peaceful world after that conflict. The Lions sponsor a Peace Poster contest each year open to children around the world. The grand prize winner gets to go to UN headquarters and display the winning poster at UN Day. Whatever you think of how the UN has worked out since its founding right after WWII, the Lions are not part of any New World Order conspiricy.

Forkhandles (talk) 21:08, 24 June 2010 (UTC)Reply

The section providing dates of entry for various countries and regions has China listed twice, once in 1926 and again when the PRC legalized them in 2002. What became of the 1926 club? Did it move with the ROC government to Taiwan? If not, does anyone know when the Taiwan Lions Club joined? I'm pretty sure that club has been around a long time, and it was in the news a few years back when the LCI forced them to change their name and there was quite a bit of wrangling over what the new name would be. Readin (talk) 04:03, 6 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

Anyone know when the Taiwan Lions Club came into existence? According to this, it was at least 50 years old in 2002. Readin (talk) 04:06, 6 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

I notice that the External Links Section of this article contains links to specific areas within LCI's site and links to a very select list of other Lions projects, mostly in Australia. Should we feel free to add links to Lions Projects from anywhere? For example, I have a list of links to projects of MD4 (California). Or would a long list of Lions Clubs projects be better served having their own page, as I've seen sometimes in other areas of Wikipedia? Thanks.hdonagher (talk) 04:43, 20 January 2008 (UTC)Reply

The article reads in large measure as an advertisment and as praise for the club. It needs editting. Fremte (talk) 18:45, 11 March 2008 (UTC)Reply

I read the article, but could see no examples of peacock terms. Also, given that the Lions only do charitable work, the tone is unavoidable. Such blanket banners are of limited use unless accompanied by specific examples on the talk page, and I don't see that here. I am removing these banners. I am not a member of the Lions, although I am familiar with their work. HairyWombat (talk) 20:06, 1 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Agreed, you are right to remove them. I do caution against those who seek to sanitise the article though. For example, a previous editor had added well-referenced information about male-only clubs, which was subsequently removed from the article. I won't begin to presume this was done by someone who wanted to portray the Lions in a more positive light, but articles should seek to show a balanced view and we should therefore guard against any bias. --Biker Biker (talk) 22:35, 1 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

And yet, still the comments about Lions being anti-female remain... While they do have some historical accuracy, and even some validity among SOME older individual members, they do not reflect a philosophy which is particularly common or widely held. Around the world, Lioness Clubs are being reabsorbed into their Lions Clubs, forming their own Lions Clubs, or continuing to operate (as THEY choose), and there are even Clubs which are completely female (Lakeshore Lions - Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, as one example)! Women hold any number and level of Club offices, including local executive, District, Zone and International. What is written here is of historic interest, but is in no way an accurate reflection of Lionism, its beliefs, or its policies. Whatever happened to the requirement for a balanced viewpoint? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.253.49.115 (talk) 00:31, 26 July 2010 (UTC)Reply

I removed this section. On examination, the single reference supporting it was misinterpreted - the survey said that Lions was the best NGO to work with. That qualifier was missed out, and with it, it hardly seems interesting or appropriate for the wiki entry.Electrosaurus (talk) 16:01, 2 November 2009 (UTC)Reply

I looked up this article curious to find out why/how the Lions Clubs are so named, rather than (say) the Tigers Clubs or Giraffes Club. Unless I missed it in my quick scan through the article, there doesn't appear to be an explanation..? 212.84.100.97 (talk) 14:13, 8 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

I can only point you to some additional history[1] from "The World's Oldest Lions Club." DonWW (talk) 01:45, 7 July 2010 (UTC)Reply

As a Lion for many years, I have read that this is the story of how the name Lions was used for the organization: Melvin Jones called for a meeting of people interested in his idea of a new service oriented club. This consisted of individuals, but also of some small existing businessmen clubs in the Chicago area. One of these clubs was named the Lions Club. Since the Lion, both as an animal and a symbol is widely known to the public it was decided to use that name for the new organization. By the way, the two Lions on the logo represent one Lion looking back (the past) to what has been accomplished and the other looking forward (the future) to what can be accomplished.

I have a pic of what is believed to be the first three women to join the Lions Club (It was announced as such on the evening). I'd happily share it, but I'd first have to talk to the people in the pic. I'd just like to know if it would be appreciated on this page. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.167.139.196 (talk) 09:41, 4 August 2010 (UTC)Reply

Sure that would be great. Norma Paulus was inducted in 1981 but revoked shortly thereafter. RevelationDirect (talk) 04:41, 9 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

Technically, Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan were given honorary memberships in 1925.