Distinguished Club Program FAQ

• A new qualifying requirement that the Club Success Plan be completed and submitted by September 30.
• A Smedley level in the Distinguished Club Program with minimum eligibility requirements of membership of 25 members and all 10 Distinguished Club Program Goals.

Requirements
Level	Club Success Plan	Membership as of June 30th	Goals
Distinguished	Submitted September 30*	20 total members or net growth of 3**	5
Select Distinguished	Submitted September 30*	20 total members or net growth of 5**	7
President's Distinguished	Submitted September 30*	20 total members**	9
Smedley Distinguished	Submitted September 30*	25 total members**	10

* For newly chartered clubs, the due date is 90 days after charter date. Clubs that charter after April 1st will automatically receive credit for submitting the Club Success Plan for their charter program year.
** Total member count consists of renewing, dual, new, charter, and reinstated members. Transfer members do not count toward this total.

The new Smedley Distinguished level and the requirement for the Club Success Plan to be submitted will remain in place until the Toastmasters International Board of Directors approves additional changes to the program.

At the beginning of each month, updates to the Dashboard pause while World Headquarters works to complete the previous month's submissions. While we pause Dashboard updates, Daily Reports still update every day. The Dashboard will refresh daily again once the last month’s work is complete, typically on the second Friday of the month. Busier times, like renewals or year-end, may extend the pause.

Once processing for year-end is complete and Distinguished statuses are finalized. An email is sent to the outgoing Club President in August to notify the club if they earned a Distinguished Club Program award from the previous program year.

Distinguished Club Program Awards are sent to the club mailing address on file. Award distribution begins in September.

The Club Success Plan is integral to a club’s quality. It is a helpful resource for the Club Executive Committee and club members to strategically plan and map out how the club will achieve its desired goals within the Distinguished Club Program.

The new program requirements and Smedley status go into effect for the 2025-2026 program year. Previous years' DCP achievements are static and will not be modified to align with new program changes.

Please ensure that your Area meets the qualifying requirements to become Distinguished. Areas must have at least four paid clubs in the club base* along with no net club loss and at least 75 percent completion of the Area Visit Reports before the Area can qualify to participate in the Distinguished Area Program.

You can review these requirements in the District Recognition Program.

*Provisional District must have at least three clubs in the club base.

The club base is calculated as the number of paid clubs as of July 1. If a club submits their April renewals payment after July 1, it may cause the club base to increase. If a suspended club reinstates, this may also lead to an increase of the club base. Distinguished levels are based on a percentage of the club base, and can change due to a base increase.

A member's awards will remain in their profile to reflect their achievements; however, clubs are limited to credit in the Distinguished Club Program for one award type per member per program year. As an example: Pat Smith receives a Level 1 award in Presentation Mastery in July. Their club receives credit toward a goal. Later in the year, they earn Level 2 in Presentation Mastery. Their club receives credit toward a goal for this award, too. However, in the same Toastmasters program year, Pat earns a second Level and a second Level 2 but both are in Dynamic Leadership; for these awards, their club does not receive credit toward Distinguished Club goals.

After the member's progress has been approved in Base Camp, the award will need to be submitted in Club Central by navigating to Submit Education Awards. After the award has been submitted in Club Central, it will reflect in the Distinguished Performance Reports within 24 hours.

Yes! If a member completes both Level 4 and Level 5 in a program year, these awards will fulfill the requirements for both goals 5 and 6.

On March 25, 2020, the Board of Directors decided that clubs will not be able to receive credit for the ALS in the 2020-2021 program year. You can find the letter sent to District Leaders and Club Officers here.

Yes, they will count until June 30, 2021. You can find the letter sent to District Leaders and Club Officers here.

As stated in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan manual, World Headquarters cannot make any changes to awards that have already been submitted.

Submitting Information to World Headquarters

Documents and payments must be received by World Headquarters by midnight, Mountain Time, on the deadline date even if the deadline falls on a weekend or holiday. Because no changes may be made after documents are received, club officers should be careful to submit accurate information. Be aware that it is your responsibility as the sender to ensure the successful transmission of any document or payment. World Headquarters is not responsible for any illegible or incomplete documents it receives, for fax machine malfunctions or failures, or for busy signals.

Visit dashboards.toastmasters.org. Type the number of the club you want to find in the box in the upper left of the screen and then click the magnifying glass. 

DCP reports are updated daily, however they may not reflect the current month’s data until the previous month has closed for business. For exact dates, please check the month-end closing schedule.

Membership base is defined in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan as the number of paid members the club had on June 30 of the previous Toastmasters year.

Membership-to-date is is defined in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan as the current number of paid members a club has at a given time. Transfer members are not counted into this total.

Net growth is defined in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan as Net growth occurs when the total members at year-end (June 30) exceeds the membership base. This includes new, dual or reinstated members.

Only new, dual, and reinstated members count towards DCP goals 7 and 8.

The deadline is 11:59 p.m. MT on June 30. There is no grace period; all information must be received by World Headquarters by this time.

• Visit dashboards.toastmasters.org
• Type the number of the club you want to find in the box in the upper left of the screen and then click the magnifying glass
• Click Daily Reports on the left navigation bar
• Click Educational Achievements (current year) or click Educational Achievements Archive for previous program years

Educational achievements are updated daily however the current month’s data may not yet be reflected if the previous month has not yet closed for business. For exact dates, please check the month-end closing schedule. If you suspect the DCP report is inaccurate, contact the Education Services team at +1 720-439-5050, or contact us by email.

Perhaps your club did not qualify; please review the qualifying requirement as listed in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan. If you suspect the DCP report is inaccurate, contact the Club and Member Support team at +1 720-439-5050, or contact us by email.

Yes, please review Goal 9 in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan.

Whether your club elects annually or semi-annually, the submission deadlines are listed under goal 10 in the Distinguished Club Program and Club Success Plan.

One list needs to be submitted on time. If your club elects officers annually, you need to submit your officer list by June 30 of the current year for it to count as a point toward next year’s DCP. For example, in order for a club that elects annually to receive on-time credit for submitting its officer list for the 2019-2020 DCP year, the officers need to turn in their list by June 30, 2019. If the club is semi-annual, they have two opportunities to earn DCP credit: The first deadline is June 30 of the previous year and the second deadline is December 31 of the current year.

Please reference the Club Status Guide to see how the club status affects different areas of the Toastmasters program.

The charter submission fulfills the DCP requirement for submitting an on-time club officer list for the year. New clubs that charter between July 1 and September 30 receive partial credit toward the goal for submitting an on-time officer list. To earn full credit, new clubs must submit dues for either the April or October renewal period by the due dates of April 1 and October 1, respectively. New clubs that charter between October 1 and June 30 will automatically receive credit for both the on-time submission of the officer list and the on-time renewals for one dues period.

Please note that membership dues must be paid by all clubs chartered during the program year, which is separate from the DCP requirement and credit. Club officers will receive notification of prorated membership dues renewal amounts that are payable by April 1 or October 1, depending on the club’s charter month.

	Requirement		Other Opportunities
Charter Date	On-time Club Officer List	On-time Dues Payment	On-time Club Officer List	On-time Dues Payment
July 1 - September 30	Credit Granted	Submit a completed dues renewal payment no later than October 1 or April 1, or at both times.	Clubs with semiannual elections that charter at this time may also submit this list for the December-June term, due December 31.	Clubs will have 2 opportunities to submit a completed dues renewal: October 1 and April 1.
October 1 - December 31	Credit Granted	Credit Granted	Clubs with semiannual elections that charter at this time will also receive credit toward the second officer-list requirement.	Upon notification, all clubs must pay the prorated dues for the next renewal period.
January 1 - March 31	Credit Granted	Credit Granted	Regardless of elections frequency, clubs that charter at this time must hold elections April-June and report results by June 30 for the term beginning July 1.	Upon notification, all clubs must pay the prorated dues for the next renewal period.
April 1 - June 30	Credit Granted	Credit Granted	All clubs that charter at this time will receive credit toward the June 30 officer-list requirement, as well.	Upon notification, all clubs must pay the prorated dues for the next renewal period.