At the end of each Toastmasters program year, every club receives a rating based on its performance against 10 specific goals: the Distinguished Club Program. A club that meets all 10 goals earns the highest possible rating, President's Distinguished. This is the club excellence award: the recognition that an entire officer team, working in coordination with engaged and motivated members, delivered an exceptional program year.
Earning President's Distinguished is not easy. It requires growth across multiple dimensions simultaneously, educational achievement, membership expansion, and operational excellence. Most clubs in Toastmasters International's network of over 14,000 clubs do not achieve it in a given year. Those that do have every reason to celebrate, and every officer who contributed deserves individual recognition for making it happen.
This guide covers the DCP in complete detail: all 10 goals, strategies for achieving President's Distinguished status, how clubs celebrate the award, and how digital credentials from IssueBadge.com let individual officers carry this collective achievement into their professional lives.
The Distinguished Club Program (DCP) is Toastmasters International's annual performance framework for clubs. It measures health across three broad areas: educational achievement, membership growth, and officer training. The program year runs from July 1 through June 30.
DCP status levels:
| Status | Goals Met | Recognition |
|---|---|---|
| Distinguished | 5–6 goals | Certificate from Toastmasters International |
| Select Distinguished | 7–8 goals | Certificate from Toastmasters International |
| President's Distinguished | 9–10 goals | Certificate + Banner Ribbon + District recognition |
Clubs that don't meet 5 goals receive no DCP award for the year. A club that achieved President's Distinguished in the prior year but falls to 4 goals the following year effectively lost a year of progress, which is why consistent, strategic planning across officer teams is so important.
Here are all 10 DCP goals, with context on what drives each:
Clubs that achieve President's Distinguished consistently share several strategic practices:
The VP Education should complete an Annual Club Success Plan in the first two weeks of the program year, mapping every member's current Pathways status and projecting when each DCP educational goal will be achieved. Without this plan, clubs discover in May that they've missed a goal they could have met in February.
Goal 5, one member earning the DTM, is the hardest DCP goal because it requires someone to be on the DTM path already and close to completion. The VP Education and President should identify at the start of the year whether any member is within striking distance of DTM eligibility and support them directly.
Four new members is achievable, but requires consistent recruitment effort. Clubs that rely on chance visitors rarely hit Goal 6. Intentional outreach, workplace club presentations, open house meetings, social media presence, guest speaker events, is the difference.
Goals 8 and 9 are entirely within the officer team's control. Missing officer training is one of the most avoidable DCP failures, and yet it happens every year to clubs that don't prioritize it. Put training dates on the officer calendar in July and treat them as immovable.
At the December executive committee meeting, do a formal DCP review: which goals are complete, which are in progress, which are at risk. Adjust plans and priorities based on where you stand. Clubs that wait until April to do this review often find it's too late to save goals they could have achieved with earlier attention.
When a club achieves President's Distinguished status, Toastmasters International:
The certificate and banner ribbon are the physical evidence of the achievement, displayed at meetings, referenced in the club's history, and shared with pride.
The President's Distinguished award goes to the club as an entity. But clubs are made up of people, and every officer on that year's team contributed to the achievement. Recognizing individual contributions to a President's Distinguished year is both fair and strategically valuable for motivation and retention.
At the Installation Meeting where the outgoing officer team is honored, specifically acknowledge the President's Distinguished achievement and name every officer who served during the award year. Some clubs present each officer with a supplementary "President's Distinguished Year" certificate alongside their individual officer service certificate.
IssueBadge.com makes it straightforward to issue a special digital credential to every officer who served on a President's Distinguished Club year. The badge can be designed to acknowledge both the individual's officer role and the club's achievement:
"Served as [Office] of [Club Name] Toastmasters during the 2025–2026 program year, in which the club achieved President's Distinguished status, Toastmasters International's highest club excellence award, by meeting all 10 Distinguished Club Program goals. This recognition documents exceptional organizational leadership and collective achievement in member education and club growth."
For a President or VP Education whose leadership was most directly responsible for the achievement, this digital badge is a particularly meaningful professional credential, evidence of successful organizational leadership against a defined, measurable set of performance criteria.
For professionals who served as officers on a President's Distinguished Club year, this achievement documents several things that are valuable in any leadership context:
These are genuine, demonstrable leadership competencies. The President's Distinguished Club achievement is the documented proof.
The Toastmasters President's Distinguished Club award is the recognition for a year of exceptional collective performance, when an officer team and its members worked in coordinated pursuit of 10 distinct excellence goals and delivered on all of them. It is among the most complete organizational performance achievements available in any volunteer leadership context.
Clubs that earn this award deserve to celebrate it fully, with a proper recognition ceremony, individual officer appreciation, and the digital credentials that let every person who contributed carry this achievement forward in their professional life. IssueBadge.com makes all of that possible.
IssueBadge.com helps Toastmasters clubs issue digital badges for President's Distinguished years, officer service, Pathways completions, and every other achievement that deserves to be seen. Start recognizing your members' contributions professionally.
Get Started at IssueBadge.comThe Distinguished Club Program (DCP) is Toastmasters International's annual club health assessment system. It measures club performance across 10 goals covering educational achievement, membership growth, and officer training. Clubs that meet 5–6 goals earn "Distinguished" status; 7–8 goals earn "Select Distinguished"; and 9–10 goals earn "President's Distinguished", the highest club-level recognition.
The 10 DCP goals are: (1) 2 members complete Level 1, (2) 2 members complete Level 2, (3) 1 member completes Level 3 or above, (4) 1 member completes a Pathways path, (5) 1 member earns the DTM, (6) 4 new members added, (7) No lapse in minimum membership, (8) Officers trained in the first half, (9) Officers trained in the second half, (10) Annual Business Meeting held on time.
Clubs typically celebrate President's Distinguished status at the year-end Installation Meeting, with recognition from district leadership. Many clubs also issue digital badges via platforms like IssueBadge.com to all officer team members who served during the award year, creating a shareable credential that documents each person's contribution.
While the Distinguished Club award is given to the club as an organization, the achievement reflects the collective effort of every officer and member. Officers from a President's Distinguished Club can reference the achievement on their resumes and LinkedIn profiles as evidence of exceptional organizational leadership. The VP Education and President benefit most directly, as their roles most directly drive DCP performance.