The Club Leadership Team

Together Everyone Achieves More

There's an old African adage that says it takes a village to raise a child. That same idea is true for 4-H clubs as it is rare for even the most dedicated adult volunteer to be successful working alone. A 4-H club leadership team includes a good mix of MCE Volunteers (at least two), other adult and teen volunteers, elected club officers and more.

Organizational Leader Every team needs a captain and the organizational leader is usually that person. Ideally, the organizational leader is a captain with the club president, the co-captain. The Organizational Leader has the responsibility of seeing that the club meets on a regular basis (at least six times per year), that meetings are interesting and fun (more about that in the next section) and that members and parents receive timely communication about club activities. The Organizational Leader is usually the liaison between the club and the 4-H Office and is responsible for processing member enrollment forms and other reports in a timely manner.

Project Leader The primary purpose of this position is to assist members in selecting and completing 4-H projects. Most clubs have more than one project leader with each person serving as the expert in a certain project area. Project leaders will sometimes arrange a workshop for club members enrolled in the same project area, at a time other than the regular monthly meeting. A project workshop is an excellent method of helping members make progress toward project completion and is especially valuable when no one in the member's family has experience in the project area. Teens with project experience often make excellent project leaders.

Activity Leader As the name implies, this person is responsible for planning and conducting club activities including field trips, service learning projects (every club is expected to do at least one per year) and fund raising activities. The activity leader is also often responsible for seeing that a game or other social activity is conducted at each meeting and refreshments are available. Larger clubs often have several activity leaders with each focusing on different activities. This is a great job for teen volunteers.

Club Officers Elected officers are an important part of the club leadership team. The ultimate goal of every 4-H club should have maximum leadership by the youth with a minimum of adult supervision and guidance. The amount of leadership the officers are able to provide will vary greatly by their age, maturity and experience. Newer clubs and those with younger members will need to depend on adults for guidance at first but members must be allowed to grow into their jobs and assume more responsibility as the time progresses for the club to be truly successful.

Officers should be elected not appointed. The use of a secret ballot is a good technique to avoid hurt feelings. Larger clubs may want to consider using a Nominations Committee to develop a slate of officers based on experience, ability and willingness to serve. While other members can still be nominated at the meeting, those members proposed by the committee are often elected. Some clubs try to find a â€œjobâ€ for every member and create a variety of minor offices or committee assignments. But most often the primary club officers include the president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and reporter.

Officers of 4-H clubs usually handle the traditional duties of that office. The club president conducts the business meeting and assists the organizational leader in all club activities. The vice president conducts business meetings in the absence of the president and is often chair of the program committee. The secretary records the minutes of the business meeting and handles correspondence. The treasurer is responsible for accounting for the club's money and to prepare an annual financial report. The reporter's job is to provide a monthly report of the club's activities for the monthly 4-H newsletter. More information on the duties of club officers can be found in the Officer's Handbook (4-H 278).

Volunteer Quick Reference

Learning Check

Every member of the Club Leadership Team is important to the success of the club. The Organizational Leader is often considered the captain of the team and the liaison with the local 4-H Office. Processing member and volunteer enrollment forms is an important task of this leader. What do you think is the organizational leader's most time consuming task?

Club officers are a vital part of the leadership team. When possible, club officers should be allowed to conduct the meeting with a minimum of input from adults. Conducting club meetings is an excellent way to help members develop leadership skills. What have you found to work best in preparing club officers to conduct successful meetings?

There are no state dues and most 4-H units do not charge a registration fee. Some clubs charge dues and use the money for club purposes. If a club collects dues, the fee must not be so high as to keep members from joining. We have been considering proposing a small registration fee to cover expenses related to the newsletter, insurance and other incidental costs. What do you think of this idea?

Online Learning Community

Please share your thoughts with other 4-H volunteers by responding to one of the Learning Check questions. You can post a message to the Online Learning Community discussion board and see what other volunteers think. You must post a message to complete this lesson.

Password: 4-H Vol

Next Lesson

Click on Registering Members to move to the next lesson after you have posted a message to the Online Learning Community in response to a Learning Check question/comment above. Thanks!

For more information, contact Lisa Dennis

Last updated: 06/14/2009