Start a Chapter
Our input on how best to launch a new chapter is always evolving as our members provide more feedback and ideas in this regard. Here are a number of points to consider and some first steps:
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
We ask that new members wishing to start a chapter take the time to thoroughly review our Purposes (what we are all about) and our web site to ensure that they agree and will operate under our stated purposes, goals and objectives as described therein.
Submit the Questionnaire at the bottom of this page to begin discussions.
BY-LAWS
Currently, we have eight board members, who also hold the positions of officers: president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer; and Directors At Large. Our board holds reglar quarterly or monthly meetings in addition to the local chapter meetings. We have two types of members: full and honourary. Most of us are full members, the cost is a one time fee of $15. The honourary members are those invited to join as life-time members in recognition of their long-standing support. Each Full-Membership chapter should designate one voting member who would represent them at AGMs.
FINANCES
If you chose to contribute to fundraising efforts, we require that all funds raised by our chapters are directed through the national office. This is required by our auditors to ensure we meet the legal and reporting requirements for our donors as a not-for-profit corporation. Currently most chapters also maintain a small bank account for funds that they acquire other than donations, through the sale of books, art items or any other sales to generate funds for local overhead costs. The main point is that when raising funds under the name of CW4WAfghan, the donor has to know that the money flows through our established system. 100% of donor funds goes to Afghanistan via our projects.
Full accounting records must be kept at the local level for any funds not sent on to the National Office. Our auditor may require that we obtain copies of these financial records.
PROJECTS:
The Project Director works closely with our Project Management Committee and Project Coordinator in Kabul, as well as reporting to the Board of Directors on all projects. This committee will designate which project(s) are funded from our pooled resources. This allows us the ability and flexibility to be able to meet the needs of a variety of projects and partners, follow our budgets for the year, and to be able to sustain their programmes over many years. The exception to this norm is when chapters raise funds specifically for one project, like the Breaking Bread (teachers’ salaries) or Libraries for Afghanistan project (funds for books) and submit the funds to use with instructions as to where we should direct the funds. We provide project reports for our chapters and a formal annual report with financial details.
COMMUNICATION
There are two email list serves. One is for all members and supporters, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/w4wafghan This list serve provides news and reports pertaining to Afghan women and is moderated. Posting are not accepted from the general public or members, nor is it a place for discussion...this is for news updates only.
The second list serve is FOR CHAPTER/AFFILATE REPRESENTATIVES ONLY and the address to send email is w4wafghanCA@yahoogroups.com There are currently 19 members on this list. If you decide to proceed, we will send you an invitation to join this group. It is not moderated. We use this list serve to communicate across all chapters and to help keep our work collaborative and to build upon our work together.
Once the chapter is underway, you will arrange to provide contact information for our web site and to be included in our mailouts and other literature (some combination of mailing address (public or not); phone number (public or not); email). See CONTACT US for what others have provided.
OBJECTIVES/VISION/NEXT STEPS
There are several different areas upon which a chapter may choose to focus, including fundraising, education and advocacy or some combination of all three. We wish to remain very grassroots which includes ensuring that you, as a founding chapter representative and all of your local members, are giving of your volunteer time in a way that brings you each rewards and at the same time advances our shared goals. The typical first steps other chapters have taken are to find a venue and spread the word that you would like to hold a founding meeting for a new chapter of CW4WAfghan then gather together a few more supporters to help launch things. Then, bring forward our goals and objectives and discuss as a group how you want to proceed and discuss what you all see as a vision for the chapter. Communicate these discussions with us at the National Office so we can follow the progress and answer any questions that may arise.
The activities range from some groups who meet more regularly, say about once per month, and host a variety of events and presentations throughout the year as a team; to smaller groups with one or two main members who distribute literature, speak at schools or may hold several events each year to raise awareness and/or funds. To begin, you may want to plan a public event for raising awareness or fundraising (slide show, invite a public speaker, provide entertainment, a book reading or film screening, mother’s day tea or sell some products, etc., etc), visit a school, university, community groups and give a presentation; set up a booth at a local event of some kind; or design some other forms of promoting our goals and objectives, including distributing our information bulletins to universities, distributing posters, and so on. We have lots of resources to share with chapters to help promote our work and are open to discussing new ideas and suggestions for expanding on this anytime.
Also see the notes below, our WHATS NEW Calendar of Events for examples of activities undertaken over the years, and the monthly newsletter that outlines many events.
Other suggestions include:
- Build a Media list and begin to nurture an on-going relationship with local media. Ensure coverage of your event if possible with the local media (newspaper, radio, etc.).
- During fundraising events, set up an information booth and have a Sign-in sheet available for attendees to leave contact information if they are interested in joining the group in some capacity or want further information on situation for Afghanistan women.
- Build a Community Contact list of other volunteer or not-for-profit groups in the area, including multicultural or cross-cultural learning centres, refugee service groups, those working on human rights/peace/women's issues or with Afghan women specifically. Begin to network with these groups whenever possible. Suggest certain not-for-profit groups set up information tables at your events and/or join together at peace or not-for-profit fairs to set up information kiosks.
- Keep reading about the issue, attending other Afghan related events, access current information and communicate with other chapters. That will help to continually educate those from the chapter wanting to speak to groups to raise awareness. Join our information list serve at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/w4wafghan.
- Have fun and enjoy the growth everyone will experience!!!
After reviewing the above details on Starting A New Chapter of CW4WAfghan in Canada, please provide the following information via email, fax or mail.
Questionnaire:
- How did you hear about CW4WAfghan?
- What drew you to this issue?
- Are there others in your community with whom you may collaborate?
- What events, activities and or initiatives might interest you?
- What is your short- and long-term vision for a chapter of CW4WAfghan in your area?
- Do you have any specific goals and/or objectives for starting a chapter that may vary (or not) from those already established?
Please send us a short bio along with any questions you may have and we look forward to further discussions with you.
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