STARTING A NEW ALUMNI CHAPTER
Any individual or group may organize an alumni chapter! Simply follow these steps to success!
Get the ball rolling.
Before you move forward, make sure your chapter doesn’t already exist by visiting our active chapter page.
Contact the Nevada Alumni Association at (888) NV ALUMS or nvalumni@unr.edu and ask to be assigned an Alumni Team Liaison. When calling or emailing, please specify which population your chapter will strive to reach.
Consider your target audience. Your Liaison can help you determine how many alumni live in your area (for geographic alumni chapters) and/or share your common bond (for college, heritage or special interest alumni chapters).
Host your first event.
Select a date, time and location for an initial event to gauge interest in the chapter. Keep the first event simple and inexpensive, such as a post-work social at a local establishment.
Determine how you will track RSVPs for your event. You can set up an event page through Facebook. (The bonus of Facebook is that others will be able to see who else is attending, which may encourage additional attendance.) The Nevada Alumni Association can also track RSVPs through online registration.
Draft text for an email blast advertising the first event and submit it to your Liaison. The text should include information about the prospective chapter, why the recipient is being invited to attend, the event’s date, time and location, and a link to your online RSVP site.
Use your initial event to identify whether there is enough interest to form a chapter. Who might the influential people be that can bring others on board? Who might be potential leaders of the chapter? You may want to create and bring an interest form for attendees to fill out and leave behind.
Hammer out the details.
Once you have interested alumni, follow up with a planning meeting to organize the new chapter. Agenda items might include: organization (bylaws, leadership structure), mission (overall purpose of the chapter - social, scholarship, etc.), potential upcoming activities (mixer, fundraiser, speaker, etc.), election of officers, financing the chapter (annual dues).
Make it official.
Complete the Nevada Alumni Association’s New Chapter Application and submit it to your Liaison via email (nvalumni@unr.edu) or fax (775-784-4527).
Your Liaison will let you know the date of the next Alumni Council Executive Committee meeting. The Executive Committee votes on all new chapter applications.
