US$600,000 will help bring more students into Key Club and the GLC Master Class.
The Kiwanis International family and the Kiwanis Children’s Fund are proud to announce that the Andrew Carnegie Foundation has awarded a US$600,000 grant to help us expand and enhance Key Club over the next two years. This historic grant — the largest ever awarded to Key Club — will fund efforts to charter new clubs in high-growth districts and double the size of the Global Leadership Certificate (GLC) Master Class.
Executive Director of Kiwanis Youth Programs Michelle Study-Campbell says, “We are thrilled for the opportunity to expand Key Club International and to provide more opportunities for students across the country. Thanks to the Carnegie Foundation’s investment in Key Club International, more students will have the chance to learn leadership skills through meaningful service — skills that prepare them to be civically engaged and informed community leaders.”
Growing Key Club
With this grant, Key Club will hire dedicated field-based specialists whose full-time job will be chartering new clubs in Key Club’s fastest growing districts. These specialists will work shoulder to shoulder with local Kiwanis volunteers toward the goal of 22,000 new Key Club members in two years — enough to conduct an estimated 1 million additional hours of community service.
Research shows that students who take part in structured service and leadership programs in high school are more likely to vote, volunteer and stay civically engaged well into adulthood, and those benefits grow the longer a student stays involved. Key Club’s own numbers tell a similar story: In the organization’s 2025 survey of members, 96% of students said Key Club gave them meaningful service opportunities, and 89% said it helped them grow as a leader.
Key Club currently is present in about 15% of U.S. high schools. That leaves students in over 26,000 schools without access to the kind of hands-on leadership experience Kiwanis has supported for a century. This grant is intended to help more students and communities benefit from the growth, engagement and fulfillment that Key Club provides.
Doubling the GLC Master Class
This grant will also allow the GLC Master Class to grow from 50 to 100 students per year in 2027 and 2028. Demand for the master class — the in-person culmination of a free, 40-course online program grounded in Key Club’s core values of leadership and service — consistently has exceeded its 50-person capacity at the Key Club International convention.
For each student who takes part in the GLC Master Class, the grant will provide scholarships to cover up to 50% of convention costs. In the 2025 Key Club member survey, students identified conventions and global service events as among the experiences they most want but have the least access to. This grant will help alleviate the financial barrier to these opportunities.
The Carnegie Corporation grant is not just an exciting development for Key Club — it’s an opportunity for the entire Kiwanis family.