How to Expand a School Club: Practical Steps to Grow Membership and Impact

Starting a school club is one thing. Keeping it alive is another. But expanding it-getting more students involved, making it meaningful, and turning it into something the whole school talks about? That’s where most clubs stall. If your club feels stuck, you’re not alone. Most school clubs never grow past a handful of regulars. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Know Why You’re Growing

Before you start handing out flyers or posting on Instagram, ask yourself: why do you want more members? Is it to raise more money for a cause? To host bigger events? To get noticed by the administration? Or just to make it more fun?

Clubs that grow for the right reasons stick. Clubs that grow just to look impressive die fast. If your goal is to help younger students with homework, then every new member should add value to that mission. If your goal is to compete in robotics, then you need people who actually want to build things, not just show up for snacks.

Write down your club’s purpose in one sentence. If you can’t, figure that out first. Then use that sentence to guide every decision: who you recruit, what events you plan, how you talk about the club.

Make It Easy to Join

One of the biggest mistakes clubs make? Making joining feel like a job interview. If someone has to fill out a form, get a teacher’s signature, and wait two weeks for approval, they won’t bother.

Simple is better. Set up a sign-up sheet at lunch. Use a free QR code generator to link to a Google Form. Put a box near the entrance with a pen and a slip of paper that says: “Want to join? Write your name and grade. We’ll text you.”

Don’t gatekeep. You don’t need experience. You don’t need a perfect GPA. You just need someone who cares enough to show up. If a student walks in and says, “I want to help,” let them. They’ll find their role.

Use the Right Spaces

Posting flyers on the bulletin board won’t cut it anymore. Students don’t look there. They’re scrolling on their phones.

Find where they already are. That means:

• Creating a group chat on WhatsApp or Discord
• Posting short videos on TikTok or Instagram Reels showing what your club actually does
• Asking teachers to mention your club during homeroom
• Setting up a table at club fair day with a fun, quick activity-like a puzzle, a mini game, or a photo booth with your club’s theme

One high school debate club grew from 8 to 42 members in two months by posting 30-second videos of members arguing silly topics like “Pizza should be a vegetable.” The school’s principal shared one on the district’s newsletter. That’s how it went viral.

Offer Real Value

Students join clubs for one of three reasons: to have fun, to build skills, or to look good on college apps. If your club only does one of these, you’re leaving two-thirds of the pool untapped.

Here’s how to cover all three:

• Fun: Throw a movie night. Have a themed meeting. Let members pick the snack. Make it feel like hanging out, not homework.
• Skills: Teach something useful. If you’re a coding club, show members how to build a simple app. If you’re a book club, teach them how to write a review. Skills stick. And they get shared.
• College apps: Keep a log of what members do. “Volunteered 15 hours tutoring,” “Led 3 club meetings,” “Designed fundraiser poster.” These are gold for applications. Let members take that list home at the end of the year.

Clubs that give students something they can point to-something real-keep them coming back.

Recruit Through Existing Members

Your current members are your best sales team. But you have to give them the right tools.

Ask them: “Who’s one person you think would love this club?” Then give them a simple script: “Hey, I’m in the [club name]. We’re doing [fun thing] next week. Want to come? No pressure. Just come for 10 minutes and see.”

Offer a small reward-not money, but recognition. “Member of the Month” gets to pick the next meeting’s snack. Or their name goes on a poster in the hallway. People want to feel seen.

One environmental club grew by 60% in a semester because they gave every new member a plant to take home. The rule? “Water it once a week. Bring it back to the next meeting. If it’s alive, you’re in.” It turned recruitment into a game.

Partner With Other Clubs

You don’t have to do everything alone. Team up with clubs that have different strengths.

Art club + environmental club? Paint posters for a clean-up day. Math club + food drive club? Calculate how much food you need to collect. Theater club + literacy club? Put on a short play based on a book you’re reading.

These partnerships do two things: they bring in new people from other groups, and they make your club look more dynamic. Administrators notice that. And they’re more likely to give you space, supplies, or funding.

Track What Works

You can’t grow if you don’t know what’s working. Keep it simple. At the end of each month, ask:

• How many new members joined?
• What event had the most people?
• Who brought in the most friends?
• What did people say they liked most?

Write it down. Not in a fancy spreadsheet. Just a notebook. After three months, you’ll start seeing patterns. Maybe video posts bring in more people than flyers. Maybe Friday afternoons are dead, but Tuesdays are packed.

Use that data. Stop doing what doesn’t work. Double down on what does.

Don’t Burn Out

Growing a club is hard. And if you’re the only one pushing it, you’ll quit. That’s how most clubs die.

Build a leadership team. Even if it’s just two other people. Assign roles: one handles events, one handles social media, one talks to teachers. Rotate them every few months so no one gets tired.

And take breaks. If you’re running every meeting, designing every poster, and answering every text, you’re not leading-you’re doing everything. That’s not sustainable. Let others step up. You’ll be surprised how much they can do.

What Happens When It Grows?

When your club starts to expand, things change. Meetings get louder. You need more supplies. The school might start asking for reports. That’s good. It means you’re doing something right.

But don’t lose your soul. Don’t turn into a club that only cares about numbers. Keep the small moments: the inside jokes, the late-night planning sessions, the student who showed up scared and left smiling.

Clubs that last aren’t the biggest. They’re the ones that make people feel like they belong.