Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time.

Kiwanis International is a service organization that supports children and young adults around the world. Kiwanis was founded in 1915 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kiwanis members in over 8,400 clubs around the world provide millions of hours of community service each year.

Club service projects often are linked to the Kiwanis program, "Young Children: Priority One." Other service projects help the elderly, promote literacy, support youth sports, and support specific persons in need. Worldwide, the entire Kiwanis family is committed to eliminating the devastating effects of iodine deficiency disorders (IDD), the world's leading preventable cause of mental retardation.

Kiwanis is divided into districts, and each district is divided into divisions. We are in the Illinois-Eastern Iowa district (I-I) in Division 8. The special service project for our district is Spastic Paralysis. Every year Kiwanians throughout the district raise thousands of dollars for research of diseases of the central nervous system. International and District officers provide support to club officers. Also, the Division, District, and International levels sponsor events such as dinners and conventions where we can meet and share ideas with other Kiwanians from all over the world!

In addition, Kiwanis plays a special role in developing future generations of leaders by sponsoring Builders Clubs in middle school and junior highs, Key Clubs in high schools, and Circle K clubs at the collegiate level.

All club business for eKiwanis is completed via the internet: through email lists, a chat room, and the website. No weekly meetings are held at a particular location; they are held only in a chat room, so you can join in from any computer! Other than that, eKiwanis is exactly the same as traditional clubs - dedicated to service.

No minimum attendance at projects, chats, or events is required for a member. That's the beauty! You decide when you want to participate and what you want to do according to your schedule. Chats are for fun and to decide what to do next so you'll want to chat in on as many as you can. Sign up only for the projects you want to do and have time for. The only commitment we ask is that you show up when you sign up or find someone to go in your place so we don't let the charity organizations down when they are counting on our help. If you'd like to take on some more responsibility, there are many positions available in the club and many committees to take part in for more fun! We encourage every member to be on at least one committee to help shape the group. Committees meet approximately once a month via a chat or in-person.

Typically, a few email messages a week. Generally these are reminders of upcoming events and chats and then recaps/minutes of those events and chats. If you sign up for events or join a committee, you should expect a few additional email messages each week.

We schedule a variety of service projects throughout each month and plan a social event or "Face-2-Face" get together approximately every month. Some projects and events will occur on weeknights and some on weekends. Some will be held in the city and others in the suburbs. We attempt to provide a variety of events, times, and locations to accommodate everyone's schedules. We encourage you to help coordinate a project or event in a location or at a time convenient for you!

Dues are $50 bi-annually every April and October. For those joining mid-way through the fiscal year, the bi-annual dues are prorated. Kiwanis International also offers a discount to those who were in a Kiwanis Sponsored Youth organization (K-Kids, Builder's Club, Key Club, Circle K, etc) and are under the age of 25.

You can either mail a check to our Treasurer or send the money via PayPal to paypal@ekiwanis.org. Note a small convenience fee will be charged when paying with PayPal.

Print and fill out the Kiwanis International Member Application. Then send it and and a check for your pro-rated dues to eKiwanis Club of Greater Chicago. For the address of where to send the information, email information@ekiwanis.org.