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Thank you for your interest in starting a University of Maryland Alumni Association alumni club! The purpose of the association is to foster a spirit of loyalty and to promote the general welfare of the university. Clubs exist to support the association's goals, and to strengthen the ties between alumni, the community, and the university.
Club leaders are expected to understand their constituency and be able to mobilize them through a series of events/activities that draw alumni in significant numbers and build community in the area. Start-up clubs must demonstrate two years of sustainable activity to be considered for a charter. Only chartered, active alumni clubs receive support from the Alumni Association as follows: annually, support for one event that supports the association's goals, one mailing, and periodic e-mail broadcasts. Clubs may raise their own funds to support their activities. For more information about starting an alumni club and on the guidelines below, send an e-mail to alumni@umd.edu.
Check First: Check the Alumni Association Web site to find out whether there is already a club in your area. If a club does not exist, contact the Alumni Association to determine whether there are at least 1,000 people in your region or constituent group to start a chartered club. This is because, typically, 10% of total alumni are Alumni Association members (people who already have a connection with the university), and only a small fraction of the general population attends events.
Join and Register: You must be an Alumni Association member to organize
a club. You may join
the association online. You must also have registered with the TerpNation. This FREE online community features an Alumni Directory to
help you locate old friends and Permanent Terp E-mail so that your friends can
also find you. For more details and to register, click
here.
Share Your Development Plan with the Association: Schedule a conference
call with the association and be prepared to explain: how you will build the
Maryland community in your area; what you know about alumni in your area; what
events/activities are planned to garner alumni participation in significant numbers
(at least 100 participants); how you will lead your constituents to support the
Alumni Association's strategic
plan; and how you plan to get the required number of signatures (at least 100) for the charter petition. There should be two alumni leaders identified for club start-up. Follow up with your proposal briefly in writing over e-mail.
Prepare your E-mail Communication: The Alumni Association does not provide mailing lists for confidentiality reasons. The association helps start-up clubs access other alumni in their area by e-mail using the Terp Alumni Network. Once your basic plan has been approved, submit your first e-mail message to the association (it will be edited as necessary) at least 30 days before the release date. Make sure your notice includes the date, time, location, contact person, purpose of meeting, and how the club will serve the university and strengthen ties among alumni.
Apply for a Charter: The charter is the official "birth" document of your club, establishes it as an official unit of the University of Maryland Alumni Association and makes the club subject to requirements and eligible for benefits as defined by the Alumni Association. You must submit a petition signed by 100 dues paying Alumni Association members to apply for a charter.
Additional Guidelines for Forming Special Interest (Affiliate) Clubs
In addition, if you are forming a special interest club, to be considered for charter as a recognized affiliate club, the club you are forming must first:
Be deemed of value to and help advance the mission and goals of the alumni association
and the university. The group requesting a charter must explain in their proposal
the primary purpose of their formation that accomplishes this.
Be able to describe a unique contribution that this group brings to the advancement of the alumni association and the university that is not accomplished or included in the mission and purpose of an existing alumni club or other group. For example, an Asian Alumni Club might help with retention and recruitment of Asian students, and seek to increase the giving of Asian alumni.
Be uniquely qualified to reach the population they seek to engage in university advancement.
Be able to bring together alumni in such substantial numbers that its social organization and network reconnects significant numbers of alumni to the university.
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