1917 - The Beginning
Chicago business leader Melvin Jones asked a simple and world-changingquestion – what if people made a commitment to improving their communities? More than a century later, Lions International is the largest service club organization in the world, with more than 1.4 million members in 49,000 clubs acting on the same simple idea – when Lions come together for the good of humanity, there’s nothing we can’t achieve.
1920 - Going International
Just three years after our founding, Lions became international when we established the first club in Canada. Mexico followed in 1927. In the 1950s and 1960s, international growth accelerated, with new clubs in Europe, Asia and Africa.
1925 - Saving Sight
Helen Keller addressed the Lions Clubs International Convention in Cedar Point,
Ohio, USA, and challenged Lions to become “knights of the blind.” Since then, we have worked tirelessly to aid those who are blind or visually impaired.
1945 Uniting Nations
We were one of the first nongovernmental organizations invited to assist in
the drafting of the United Nations Charter. We host an annual Lions Day with the United Nations to continue our partnership and identify global solutions to the challenges facing humanity.
1957 - Organizing Youth Programs
We started the Leo program to provide the young people of the world with an opportunity to serve and lead with Lions. There are approximately 190,000 Leos and 7,600 Leo clubs in more than 150 countries worldwide.
1968 - Establishing Our Foundation
Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF) assists Lions with global and large-scale humanitarian projects. Through our global Foundation, Lions have received more than US$1 billion in grants to help meet the needs of their local and global communities.
1990 - Launching SightFirst
Through the support of LCIF, Lions are restoring sight and preventing blindness on a global scale with the SightFirst program. Launched in 1990, Lions have raised more than US$372 million for this initiative that targets the major causes of blindness.
2017 - Celebrating Our Centennial
Lions celebrate a century of service by serving more than 250 million people around the world through a special Centennial Service Challenge.
2018 - Rallying Around Global Causes
Lions unite to support the global causes of vision, hunger, the environment, childhood cancer and diabetes. LCIF launches Campaign 100: LCIF Empowering Service to raise US$300 million to increase the service impact of Lions around the world.
2022 - Campaign 100
LCIF successfully completes the largest fundraising campaign in the organization’s history, raising more than US325 million and exceeding its US$300 million goal. This amazing success will enable LCIF to continue to support grant-worthy projects and empower Lions to improve health and well-being, strengthen our communities, and support those in need around the world
