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Starting, or helping
to start a local chapter of the Society for Amateur Scientists
could be the most important thing you can do to further your
interest in science.
To be successful, the organizers of the
chapter must commit to putting in about ten hours between them
per week. Starting a local chapter takes planning and hard work.
Fortunately, the financial needs are quite modest.
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Requirements for a local
chapter:
- Three officers: a President, a Secretary,
and a Treasurer.
- Members of your chapter be members of
the national organization.
- If you collect dues to help provide services
for your members (a newsletter, for instance, or postage costs
related to publicity, phone calls, etc.) we request you send
10 percent to the national office in Rhode Island to help defray
the costs of our assistance and to help us provide similar services
to other struggling chapters.
- A roster of your members (you may e-mail
this), a yearly financial statement, including copies of all
bank statements for our accountants to review. This is essential
for the national organization to maintain it's non-profit status.
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Here is what the national office of SAS can provide a fledgling local chapter:
- A charter, officially affiliating you
with a nationally recognized non-profit scientific and educational
organization. That would enable your chapter to enjoy all the
benefits of non-profit status, without any of the work usually
required to obtain that status. Benefits include being able to
solicit donations as tax-deductible and access to non-profit
bulk mailing rates.
- Credibility of association with a name
non-profit organization: As SAS gains name recognition and we
continue to grow your chapter will gain credibility by its association
with the national organization.
- An organizational structure: We will provide
you with Bylaws and guidelines by which to run your organization.
- Assistance in finding a meeting place:
We will contact any university, museum, or other institution
you request to negotiate a regular meeting place. The names of
eminent scientists on our masthead do much to smooth the way
in this regard.
- Detailed "How to"s of publicity
seeking, and outreach work. How to get your Chapter noticed by
the news media, generate free publicity, and attract new members.
- Contact information for all members in
your area. As SAS grows through our national media efforts, new
members in your area will join. We will steer them directly to
you.
- Publication of your chapters existence,
activities, statistics etc. on our Web page.
- Detailed "How To"s about publishing
a brief newsletter, should you desire to do so, for your members.
Also, "How To"s about organizing and running meetings,
finding speakers and programs, organizing experiments, avoiding
political infighting, and generally making your local chapter
a success.
- As SAS continues to grow and other chapters
are founded in near, but outside, your area, we will help you
connect with these chapters so that you may all share resources.
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In order to protect
our non-profit status, we have to reserve the right to revoke
a local chapter's charter without prior notice and for any reason
whatsoever.
Please take a day or so to reconsider the
prospects of starting a local chapter. In our view it is better
that a region not be served by an SAS chapter, rather than it
be served badly by one. Remember, if you start a local chapter
you will be our representative in your area and it will reflect
on the national organization.
Are you resolute in putting in 5 to 10
hours a week? There will be many disappointments. There will
be small successes along the way and over time these small successes
will be knitted together into a successful organization. But
you must take a long-term view and be committed to making the
chapter a success even if it takes a year or more to develop
a viable organization.
Tell us of your
interest in starting an SAS Local Chapter.
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