How to Help
Join
The most immediate way to help make a difference in your community is by joining your local Optimist Club. The time you commit to the club and its activities is totally up to you—whether it’s three hours or 300 hundred hours, every moment you contribute is positively affecting the lives of local kids and teens. As a bonus, you have the opportunity to meet incredible individuals and build lasting friendships with fellow members.
Membership
New Member Process Fee: $15.00 Membership Fee: $69.00 (Annually)
Volunteer
If you aren’t quite ready to become an Optimist member, but want to volunteer at an activity, Optimist Clubs provide a variety of opportunities. You can be a judge at the Oratorical or Essay contests. Or, if you enjoy sports, help out at the Tri-Star Sports Contests.
Donate
There are a variety of ways to make a donation:
You can make a difference by making a tax-deductible contribution to your local Optimist Club or to a specific youth program. Your donation can be monetary (through a sponsorship) or in providing prizes such as trophies or T-shirts for an athletic activity.
You can become a Friend of Optimists if:
- you don’t have the time to fully commit to be a member, or
- there isn’t an Optimist club near you.
For a $100 annual membership fee, Friend of Optimists enjoy all the same benefits of a regular member (except for voting). $40 of your fee goes directly to the Optimist club of your choice to support youth programs in your community.
The Optimist International Foundation (OIF), a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization, also accepts donations to help support youth scholarship awards and programs. OIF offers a variety of donation programs.