Service organisation decline, part 1

I have been a member of a few not for profit, or NFP, organisations: interest, sport, professional, and community groups. But I am not currently a member of any service organisations. 

Service organisations are those which were - theoretically - set up to do good in the community. Rotary was founded as a pot-luck lunch club in Chicago where a lawyer, "a tailor, an engineer, and a coal supplier" which moved each week to another member's house (Tamayo, 2018, p. xiii) "hence the name 'Rotary'". The model was set, way back in 1905, with every member being in a different trade, so Rotarians could network across communities. Rotary started in New Zealand in the 1920s (New Zealand History, 2026). Another American service organisation, Lions, was another Chicago-born idea of the early 20th century, establishing clubs in New Zealand later, in the 1950s (Lions Clubs, 2026; Tamayo, 2018). The Masonic Lodge is the eldest: 1717 marked the founding of the first 'grand lodge' in the UK (Freemasons New Zealand, 2026), with the first New Zealand branch being officially established in 1890.

In Aotearoa, to the best of my knowledge, there are no homegrown service organisations. We have imported these from elsewhere: largely the USA with Rotary and Lions; and the UK with the Masonic Lodge. Menz Sheds arrived here from Aussie (but I feel this is more of an interest group, rather than a service organisation; Te Ara, 2026). I became a member of Rotary some years ago because they said they wanted to make change, and were actively recruiting younger members and women. However, I left because I found the organisation - despite saying they sought change - too old-fashioned; fighting change every step of the way. I was unable to effect anything meaningful, so left. My mother was a member of the gendered arm of Lions, Lionesses: however, her local branch was forced into closure as it was literally dying out. I think my grandfather, a great-great grandfather and a great-great-great, were members of the Masonic Lodge. 

I have been idly noting for over twenty years the decline of service organisations, and recently I got to more actively wondering exactly what is driving the decline. I have a few vague thoughts based on my own experience: that (a) existing members want the organisations to stay in their current cultural shape, resisting modernisation; (b) that this shape is too rigid for a diffuse society; (c) the organisations' original networking purpose is outdated. However, I have not yet gone looking for any supporting evidence; now it is time to see what the experts have to say.

From my reading, it seems that part of that rigidity due to the shape of society at the time these organisations were created: they are a societal reflection. Service groups flourished at a time with a division of labour: women worked at home; men went out to work. Flanked by two world wars and a great depression, members could network over lunch, with organisational membership being "cosmopolitan [due to] their global reach" (Tamayo, 2018, p. xvi). A man - and it was a man - in provincial Maine could connect with a man in provincial New Zealand. Today 67% of all New Zealand women also work outside the home, alongside 75% of men (Ministry of Women, 2026).

And today we have the internet and digital media as a societal bridge. Perhaps Tim Berners-Lee's protocol has filled the service group-sized space. 

Even in the US where many service organisations originated, significant "social, cultural, and economic changes" are "contributing to a decline in volunteerism" (Conway, 2024, p. 11), so this is not only happening in New Zealand.  Along with increasing secularity, families today are smaller, both parents may work, or may parent alone without "the time, labor, or fiscal resources" to donate; and we tend to spend more "free time alone and at home", not necessarily wanting to network with people outside our families (p. 11). Do we have less 'free' time? Or is there more we want to put into our free time? 

There are interesting questions. I will continue to explore. 

Sam

References:

Conway, A. L. (2024). Serving the Nation: Volunteer Management from an Anthropological Perspective [Master's thesis, California State University]. https://scholarworks.calstate.edu/downloads/41687t01c

Freemasons New Zealand. (2026). History. https://freemasonsnz.org/history

Lions Clubs. (2026). History of Lions Clubs. https://www.lionsclubs.org.nz/about/history-lions-nz

Ministry of Women. (2026). Labour market participation. Manatū Wāhine. https://www.women.govt.nz/women-and-work/labour-market-participation

New Zealand History. (2026). First Rotary club in New Zealand founded: 7 June 1921. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/first-rotary-club-new-zealand-founded

Tamayo, D. (2018). Volunteers as a Community of Practice: Rotary and Lions Clubs, the Mexican Middle Classes, and the Post-Revolutionary State, 1920s-1960s [Doctoral thesis, University of California]. https://escholarship.org/content/qt6ds9m3b3/qt6ds9m3b3_noSplash_9fe8ce200da731f05c191571e8b1b082.pdf

Te Ara. (2026). Mental health community organisations: MENZSHED New Zealand. https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/29430/mental-health-community-organisations-menzshed-new-zealand