What is Service Leadership?

Kiwanis International empowers people at every stage of life to become competent, capable, and compassionate leaders by helping them learn to help others. Through its Service Leadership Programs, Kiwanis teaches young leaders new ways to change the world by serving one child and one community at a time.

We define Service Leadership as the next step beyond service learning. Once a young person fully understands the concept of learning by helping others, he or she begins to grow personally as a leader.

The Service Leadership concept is based on the philosophy of Servant Leadership, a term coined by Robert K. Greenleaf to define a leader who is servant first. “It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first,” Greenleaf wrote. “Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.”

Service is at the heart of every Kiwanis International club, no matter where in the world it’s located. Kiwanis members stage nearly 150,000 service projects, devote more than 6 million hours of service and raise nearly US$100 million every year for communities, families and projects. Key Club members pitch in 12 million hours of service each year, and CKI members another 500,000 hours of service! Aktion Club members donate another 92,000 hours of service every year. Add it all up, and that’s more than 18 million hours of service every year!