1. B.E.S.T. @ Bates Winter 2015 STARTING AT THE BEGINNING: HOW TO START OR REIMAGINE A STUDENT ORG

2.  Get together with someone you don’t know or haven’t paired with previously  You will have 3 minutes to learn as much about your partner as possible. Here’s the catch:  Person #1: Can only ask questions  Person #2: Cannot say anything and must act out responses silently  Person #1 and #2 will switch for 3 minutes  You will have 2 minutes to silently compile your notes  Each person will present on their partner to the group RE-INTRODUCTIONS

3. 1.Identifying your WHYS 2.Finding Primary Interest and Stakeholders 3.Archiving and Record-Keeping 4.Clarifying your core purpose – Crafting a Mission Statement 5.Defining an intentional name 6.Identifying structure and creating accountability – Drafting your Constitution 7.Seeking secondary interest and advisors 8.Becoming Official – Organizational Review Board PRE-OFFICIAL STEPS:

4.  WHY? Do you think this is important? Who does it serve? What purpose does it serve on campus?  WHY? Is this personally important to you?  WHY? Should this be important for other people?  WHY? Does this matter? Take two minutes to reflect on these. IDENTIFYING YOUR WHYS

5.  Who’s already interested?  Who’s already set to get involved or willing to assist?  Goal: to find people who are equally or almost as passionate about your student group goal as possible  If you already have members: who’s invested and able to help?  To Find: Enter similar spaces, call for interested students FINDING PRIMARY INTEREST AND STAKEHOLDERS

6.  WHY? To pass along key information to future leadership and to make it easier to pass information to the college archives  Options for doing this:  Binder  Electronically – Google Drive ARCHIVING AND RECORD-KEEPING

7.  Goals of a mission statement:  To clarify your purpose and desired outcome  Sometimes to identify the population you are targeting  Clear and Concise  WHAT DO WE DO?  HOW DO WE DO IT?  WHOM DO WE DO IT FOR?  WHAT VALUE ARE WE BRINGING? CLARIFYING YOUR CORE PURPOSE: CRAFTING A MISSION STATEMENT

8.  How can you make sure you are being inclusive and intentional in your groups’ name?  What might your groups’ name symbolize to others? DEFINING AN INTENTIONAL NAME

9.  How can you do this?  Expectations in your club – community guidelines/ norms  Constitution IDENTIFYING STRUCTURE AND CREATING ACCOUNTABILITY

10.  Preamble  Talk about the purpose of your club  Article I: Name  Explain your name  Article II: Purpose  Tell us the purpose of your club, why it is going to be on the Bates campus and what events you plan on doing  Article III: Membership  How do people become members? Who is the club open to?  Article IV: Officers  What’s the leadership of this club going to look like? (i.e. President, Treasurer…)  Article V: Finances  How and why are funds necessary for this club?  Article VI: Amendments  How will you deal with making amendments to this constitution? Do you need a 2/3 vote? ORGANIZATIONAL REVIEW BOARD CONSTITUTION FORMAT:

11.  Rights and responsibilities of members  Officer positions, terms of office, election times and procedures, responsibilities of officers  Number of members you need to have an official vote (quorum requirements) THINGS TO CONSIDER

12.  Reach out to student body to figure out who might be interested in joining your group – emails, personal solicitation, creative ways to get people interested  Would your club benefit from having an advisor and someone in a slightly different position of power? A professor? Staff member?  You can seek out advisors by sending them an email, requesting to meet in person and then meeting with them. Key information to provide them with includes:  Group name, purpose and structure  Why an advisor will be useful to you  Responsibilities or ideas about how an advisor can do to help the club  What kind of time and energy commitment this will require from an advisor SEEKING SECONDARY INTEREST AND ADVISORS

13.  Organizational Review Board  Part of the Bates College Student Government that approves clubs to be formally recognized by the college as a student organizations  Why become official?  Business account in Accounting at Bates  Ability to blueslip and reserve spaces at Bates  Ability to sponsor events  Ability to receive funding from the Bates Student Govt. in budget allocations and co-sponsorships BECOMING OFFICIAL

14.  What they look at:  Submit a list of prospective members (7+) and a constitution the Saturday before the next ORB meeting (email chairperson)  What they care about:  Compliance with Bates College handbook and policies (i.e. non- discrimination)  Clearly articulated purpose, objectives and goals  Demonstrated non-duplications with previously recognized groups in terms of mission/ purpose and similarity  Feasibility of the org’s funding  Local autonomy (no obligation to parent org., national chapter or charter)  Demonstrated sustainability, benefit to members/ campus. Community  You can appeal their decision within 10 days of the ORB ruling THE ORB

15. 1.Creating shared meaning and community guidelines 2.Symbols and Branding 3.Setting up social media 4.Training new leadership - Knowing your resources 5.Identifying and mentoring new leadership POST-OFFICIAL STEPS: