Archive:New Chapter Welcome Email

Hi (((NAME))),

Good to hear from you. We're very excited to hear of your interest in creating a chapter. It would be great to have a chapter at (((UNI_NAME))).

SFC chapters are basically autonomous, but benefit from some coordination and resources from the national organization. You have lots of options for how to structure your group and what to focus on. Some groups build tech, others promote awareness on campus, others focus on research and advocacy. I'm sure you've thought a bit about this already―so I am interested in hearing your thoughts!

For some ideas, check out our Year One program, which helps new chapters get up and running: http://wiki.freeculture.org/Year_one We can also sign you up for the mailing list if you like.

Generally, the first step to starting a chapter is to hold your first meeting. Check with your administrators about starting a campus organization and let us know if you need any documentation from us to help you move it forward. To build to group up, you'll need a small kernel of like-minded folks. They're not hard to find―inquire with professors who can likely point you to students with similar interests. Once you have a few folks, you can brainstorm about what kinds of work you want to do and how best to attract new group members.

When you're ready to be listed on the SFC site, let us know. We'll help walk you through the technical details of chapter sign-up.

Feel free to write back and let me know how it progresses!