Starting an Organization

How to get started

1. The very first thing you should try to do is get a friend that's also very interested in the environment to work with you. For example, my best friend (Hoda) had the idea to start an environmental club, and she immediately got me on board with it. Thus, she is President and I'm her trusty VP.
2. Name your club! It can be very straight to the point, like ours, or something fun. You can come up with an acronym and find words to fit it. Just be creative, and pick something that you like, so you'll be excited to tell EVERYONE about it!
3. Pick what you're going to do. A good way to do this is to look for some flaws in your community and create projects based around these flaws. Examples are:
   • Lack of bike lanes or sidewalks
   • No recycling bins in schools or public areas
   • A pathetic recycling program
   • Under-usage of renewable resources like solar and wind power
   • A bill in your city/state/country that you want passed/not passed
   • An under-environmentally-educated community
   These projects don't have to be exact, as discussing them with your club is going to be one of things you'll want to do. Your projects should include multiple aspects, so that if something falls through or is more difficult than you planned, there's always something else to do. Also, by tackling the situation different ways, success is more likely. Plus you'll have more jobs for your members to do, so if you let them pick, they'll be more likely to enjoy what they're doing. Some things you might want to try, depending on your project, include:
   • Writing letters (it sounds really boring, but if the group works on it together it won't be so bad, plus most letters you'll want to write already have a template online that you just need to add your name to -- more on that later)
   • Rallies
   • Making posters
   • Making recycling bins out of cardboard boxes (you can leave these in public places, where you're allowed to, and pick them up routinely to empty into your personal recycling bin, or take to the city recycling center)
   • Park clean-ups
   • YouTube skits
   • Inviting speakers to your school
   • Add an environmental section to your school newsletter
   • Make a petition
   The details really don't matter yet, though. Just get a general idea of something to get the brainstorming started at your first meeting.
4. Schedule your meeting. Try to pick a place that's going to be pretty close to where most of your members live. It also needs to be somewhere with tables that you can sit at, and that won't mind a bunch of people just coming in. We normally have our meetings at the library, restaurants, or parks (if the weather is good). You can also try having it at member's houses. Try to avoid anywhere that's going to find a way to charge you. Also, you might want to check with your library. Ours has meeting rooms that are available on first-come, first-serve basis, which we are normally able to access just fine. Some libraries may not have this, though, and if they don't, a library is probably not the best place for a meeting, unless you've already planned to dedicate the meeting to research. Next, when you pick a day, try to choose one that generally does not have many conflicts. It depends on the community you live in, but in ours we try to avoid Sunday and Wednesday because of church, Saturday since there's always new conflicts, and Monday because of activities. Amongst our members, Thursday is generally the best day, but this will vary for everyone. For now, just pick the time best for you and your VP and schedule it, so that you have something to direct your new members to. When you pick the time, try to pick a time people can get there. Seven in the evening or later gives people time to get off from work, although, depending on the length of your meeting, this could be too late for some people. Try not to let your meetings run past nine. When deciding on how long you want your meeting to be, consider how often you want to meet. Once a week, twice a month, or once a month are all good options. If you meet once a week and stay focused, an hour should be fine. Our group normally has weekly, hour-and-a-half meetings, but that has a lot to do with the fact that people view club meetings also as a time to socialize. The stricter you run your club, the shorter your meetings can be.
5. Get members! Now that you have your first meeting planned, you need some attendants. We passed around a sign-up sheet with name, phone number, and email in our classes. Another effective method is to post an event on Facebook. You can also be more casual and just text, message, or call some of your friends up. Try to get at least five actual attendants -- it's very likely that you may have to sign 20 people up before you get this far.

The first meeting

1. Make an agenda. So that your meeting doesn't go astray for too long, plan out everything you need to get done. If people get off topic and you still have a bunch to do, this can help you to get back on track. For your first meeting, the agenda should include:
   • Introduction. Some of your members may be totally new to this environmental thing, so you want to make sure everyone knows what you're doing. Tell them that your club is about the environment, which is currently a very important issue (here you can insert all your depressing facts about dying polar bears, logged rainforests, droughts that are causing starvation, etc.), and that the goal is to try to make a difference in your community (or city, state, country, WORLD!). At each of your meetings you discuss how you are going to solve these issues, and then you take action by executing the ideas you've come up with! It's going to be really fun doing this with everyone, and you're really excited, and hope they are too! You meet (weekly, biweekly, monthly) on (Thursdays, Fridays, Tuesdays, Saturdays, etc.) from (7:00-8:00, during school lunch, right after school, midnight-3:00 AM, etc.) at (the library, Starbucks, the lake, somewhere different every week, a haunted house, in the middle of the school track, etc.). From now on, members should try to bring with them (a folder, a pencil, colored paper, markers, stickers, chocolate chip cookies, a penguin, your grandma's polar bear rug, whatever you are going to need every time -- just like you HAVE to bring that pencil to math or you have DETENTION!) Feel free to add pizzazz and your own ideas, just make sure your members now what they're doing.
   • Calendar. Get each of your members to tell you what days and times DO NOT work for them, where they CAN NOT meet, and how often they're willing to attend. When you know what people can't do, you can figure out a day, time, location, and frequency that works for everyone. Sometimes this will be difficult or impossible, so consider switching up the times and places of the meetings however often you need to make it so that everyone can attend. Plan at least a month ahead, as people need to be able to know so that they don't plan over your meeting.
   • Carpool list. Some of your members could have some issues finding transportation to the meetings, for whatever reason. This may even be the main reason a lot more people can't come to your meeting. A great way to solve this is to create a carpool list. Have members sign up in groups of 3-5 (depending on their car capacities) based on their neighborhoods. If you don't have a lot of members yet, some of the groups may end up a little spread out, but this is often still more efficient than everyone driving separate. Allow each group to negotiate who does what on their own. If anyone can bike or walk to meetings, that's even better! However, they may want to sign up for a group in the event of bad weather.
   • Projects. Get started working on your projects. Get your group to brainstorm together plans to make each thing work. Don't spend too long brainstorming. If you feel stuck, just go with what you have, and start planning. Further down, I have resources that may be a huge help in some of your projects, so don't worry if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Break up each project and let each member pick a job. Some members can team up if they want, but just make sure everything's claimed. Or, you may want to work on the whole project together, step by step. Assign to everyone what they need to be working on, and get going with what you have!
   • Homework. If you don't have a lot to work on immediately (most likely because of lack of resources), but still have some time, there's one more thing you should do before you start socializing. Yes, I know that H-word is never appreciated, but environmental homework doesn't have to be bad. What we normally do is have our members record three environmentally friendly acts they did this week, and they should be a new habit, not something routine. Instead of saying, "I recycled my paper," if that's what you normally do, try getting your next door neighbor to start recycling too! Being a great example is one of the best ways to help the environment. Don't work your members too hard, though, or else they'll quit. We only assign extra homework if there's not a lot already assigned with projects. If you already assigned your members jobs on the projects, that can be their homework. Whatever you choose to do, make sure everyone knows that you would appreciate it to be completed by the next meeting. This isn't school, so there aren't grades, and they won't get kicked out either, but to keep the club moving homework needs to get done. Things come up and people for get, so try to keep your temper if it doesn't happen!
2. Be there early. Try to get to your meeting half an hour early, so that members can meet you there and you can find/claim whatever space you need. You may also need time to setup, depending on what you've planned.
3. Bring snacks. Unless you're meeting in a library, you'll probably want some snacks. Bring things that are delicious and good for thinking -- chocolate is supposed to be good for stimulating thought! Because you're being eco-friendly here, avoid things with lots of packaging. Organic food is really cool too! If you're going to be outside or away from water fountains, you'll need water. We normally guide against bottles, but it can be unavoidable. You can always bring a water jug and cups if you have room, instead, or tell your members to bring their own water in a reusable bottle.
4. Follow your agenda! All that's left is to follow what you decided to do on your agenda. Most likely your members will start up some conversations, order will be impossible to keep, and not everything will get done like you thought. That's ok though, as long as you've gotten somewhere! Try not to leave until all your members have safely left too, unless you have someone/something waiting on you.

After the meeting

1. Talk about it. Discuss with your VP how the meeting went. There may be some things you want to do different next time. You can also discuss it with your parents -- they will often have brilliant ideas based on their past experiences.
2. Take action. While talking with your VP, start doing something. Get your homework done, plan the next meeting, research for your projects, and then plan something. Outline your letters, write that petition, start organizing your rally, or gather the materials for the posters. A lot of times the bulk of the work is going to wind up being left for you and your VP, so take responsibility and get it done!
3. Get more members and announce the next meeting. Having made your calendar, now you're going to want to do a bit more recruiting. Continue with whatever method has been working for you and maybe try out some more. You can put up flyers on your church or library bulletins with the times, add it to your school announcements, or call up some more friends. Also, at least two days before your next meeting if you meet weekly, four days if you meet biweekly, or a week if you meet monthly, call up all your members to remind them and confirm their attendance. By giving them a heads up you can work out any transportation kinks that come up. You may want to split the calling load with your VP.

Future meetings

1. Do what works. Keep following the basic format you've come up with for your meetings. People like habit.
2. Make a website. If you have a websavvy group member, they may be willing to help you create a website. If not you still can do it! Try creating a blog at wordpress.com, and make sure you tell your members to keep them updated! You may also want to make a Facebook group or cause or a Twitter account for your club. These things will make it easy for members to stay updated with what's happening, without having to call you up every five seconds. It will also help for recruiting purposes.
3. Make t-shirts! Have a logo, slogan, and t-shirt design contest. Many people love to show what they support by wearing the shirt. You can get the shirts professionally made through a company like ACME, or, to cut costs, make it on your own. You can scan the design on your computer, print it out on iron-on paper, and iron it onto plain shirts. Or, your club can get together and make the shirts with fabric markers or paint. Do whatever you can to make it work for your members, and to make it fun! You don't want this to be much of an expense, so try to keep the shirts under $15 each. If you want, you can sell them at a higher price than they cost for a fundraiser for your club.
4. Hand-outs! Something fun is to hand out stickers and information packets. These really can be anything -- for example, Hoda got a ton of stickers and pamphlets about the horrors of KFC chicken from PETA (yes -- that very same controversial one). They were bright and effective. At the beginning of each meeting we would give everyone a sticker (it sounds like a little kid thing, but really it's fun, and you can put it on your binders and stuff to show support), and we stuck the chicken pamphlets in a bunch of the classrooms at school. I know, I know, they are crazy animal killers. It's still a great way to get people into the green movement, though, and it's better than nothing. If you're interested in getting some free stickers of your own, you can go here to sign up. I'm just warning you, though, that the video they have is very, very, depressing. Honestly, you don't want to watch it. Anyways, if you're not so into the PETA thing, you can also make your own stickers, pamphlets, etc. Just make them bright with some crazy drawings that make people pay attention!
5. Do something BIG! A rally, petition, environmental week at school, park cleanup, anything that will get you out of your little meeting room and into the world! Leadership takes confidence and organization, so think everything through so that you won't be nervous. I've got some great links for this below (under Other ideas).
6. Get media coverage. Once your club has done something noticeable (and in a lot of towns just getting a few recycling bins in school is enough to get youth in the paper), make sure the world knows! If your newspaper hasn't added you already, you may want to stop by the office. Your state newspaper may not take it, but your local town newspaper will most likely eat up the information! They love this kind of stuff. Have a meeting somewhere near the newspaper office so that during part of it you can walk over and talk to them. You can invite them to your next big event, or they may just want to get some pictures and quotes from you. Don't expect it immediately -- sometimes it takes weeks to get this kind of stuff in the paper, since it's not necessarily breaking news.

   Other ideas

   Is this plan not working for you, or do you just want to expand on it? Here are some great sites:
   

   Do Something

   Dosomething.org provides many ideas for projects on every issue. Look for project ideas, volunteer opportunities, and evening funding for your projects. You can register your club and get people online to join in with your cause. They have articles about how to start a rally, host an event, make a petition, everything!

   Youth Venture

   Youth Venture is the first place to start in creating your organization. They have every last detail you need, including ideas, laws, and articles, and it is arranged in a very understandable step by step format. They also will give you $1000 for everything you need once you get going. You'll want to work on your "venture" in the company of your other group members so that you can make the right decisions. This site also has details on starting petitions, rallies, etc.

   New Leader's Initiative

   Each year, the Brower Youth Awards are given to young environmental leaders. You could possibly be a candidate for this, if you keep your club up! This website also has support and ways to get involved.

   It's Getting Hot in Here...

   To see what other youth have been thinking, and for more resources for your project, check out itsgettinghotinhere.org. This is also a GREAT resource for your research, as it has all the most important environmental news, and is updated multiple times a day.

   Power Shift 2009

   Power Shift is one of my favorite resources. It's got lots of templates for letters and phone calls you can make to your representatives, senators, and the president. They've got everything worked out so that you have to do virtually no thinking to get your point effectively across. They also have articles on how to write letters to the editor and other media information. This is the site you need to be looking at if your group is working on anything related to laws and legislation.

   Greenpeace

   Greenpeace is very well known -- if you haven't heard of them yet, make sure you check them out! They also have tons of letters you can send and phone calls you can make. Once again, it's very easy to contact all the politicians in the world (literally) through Greenpeace.

   Other great resources

   When you're working on your projects, you're going to need information. These are some of my favorite sites that I recommend you check out.
   • Solar Power Rocks
   • National Geographic
   • Avaaz
   • more coming soon! :)
   Good luck with your group! It may not feel like you've done a lot at first, but you'd be amazed by how much your effort helps! It causes people you don't even know to be inspired.