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Are you interested in native plants and want to learn more about them? Looking for like-minded people with whom to share ideas? Our chapters are the place to start.
But maybe there is not a chapter near you. Then why not start your own?
Chapters play a vital role in helping to further the goals of the Native Plant Society of Texas, promoting an understanding, appreciation and wider use of the native plants of Texas.
Chapters around our state offer programs that help to educate the community, as well as our members, about the rich botanical heritage of Texas and their specific area. Chapter activities include regular or specially scheduled speaker programs, exchanges of plants and ideas, field trips, seminars on plant propagation and identification, planting projects around public buildings and the development of plant lists.
An advantage to getting involved with a chapter is the opportunity to meet and work with others with similar interests, both locally and at the state level. Longtime members value the friendships that develop within an organization devoted to a shared goal. Whether budding amateur gardeners or professionals in the field, our members have information, experiences and enthusiasm to share.
Each chapter operates semi-autonomously, yet all have the built-in advantage of administrative support and the nonprofit status of an established 501(c)(3) organization. Each chapter also has representation on the State Board: the chapter president (or another individual selected by the membership of that chapter) serves as a director on the State Board.
What are the criteria to be a chapter?
You may form an official chapter by attracting a minimum of 10 memberships (a family membership, though more than one person, counts only as one membership) who join the state organization and choose to affiliate with your chapter.
Once you have reached a minimum of 10 memberships, the next step is to ask the State Board to formally accept the chapter. If at all possible, try to time the formation of your chapter to coincide with an upcoming State Board meeting so as not to delay access to organization resources. The board meets four times a year—always at 10 a.m. the third Saturday in January, April, July and at some time during the state symposium in October.
What kind of start up help will the chapter receive?
The state organization will offer numerous resources to your new chapter.
A state officer—the Vice President-Chapter Liaison—is designated specifically to help you start your new chapter. To find out who that person is and how to contact him or her, check our website or call the State Office.
Once the State Board accepts your new chapter, then the chapter will receive $200 in startup funds—money you’ll probably need to help defray expenses from a public kickoff event you’ll need to have.
Also, each fiscal quarter, the State Ofice will rebate to your chapter 15 percent of all dues received from your members during the previous quarter. Each chapter must file a quarterly financial report before its rebate will be sent. The State Office will supply your chapter with such outreach materials as membership brochures, past copies of our state magazine and other membership materials.
Chapter leaders can access a private website, which offers an array of resources, including current membership rosters, email addresses of members, the downloadable state Administrative Handbook (including the state bylaws and standing rules), an adaptable set of chapter bylaws, information on chapter financial reports, downloadable versions of our state logo and much more. Access to LeaderWeb requires a username and password, which are assigned to each chapter.
What are the steps involved in starting a chapter?
Contact the State Office to let them know your plans to start a chapter. Also contact the VP-Chapter Liaison to let her know your plans. The VP-Chapter Liaison will serve as your resource for getting the chapter up and running and also can call on a member or members nearby to help you.
The structure of chapters varies across the state, depending on the region and the talents and needs of the chapter members themselves.
A proven formula to starting a new chapter is to plan an organizational meeting and then a larger public kickoff meeting featuring a prominent speaker. But you have to take a few steps before you can hold either of those.
First, gather names (and contact information, preferably email addresses) of anyone and everyone in your area who might be interested in joining a chapter. You probably already have started this step, but you’ll need to build on it. The state office can supply you with a list of any of our members in your vicinity who might not already be affiliated with another chapter. You might wish to contact those within reasonable driving distance for help in organizing the meeting.
Make contacts with any resource people available locally: extension agents, teachers, garden clubs, park and nature center administrators and the environmental or gardening editors of any local newspapers.
Then, host a meeting of everyone you can gather together interested in forming a chapter. You might call this the steering committee. Create a sign-in sheet for all attendees, with spaces for name, address, phone numbers and email addresses.
If those in attendance are not already members of the Society, have them complete a membership application (complete with new chapter name, see below) and give you or a designated person a check for the appropriate membership fee. (Mail those applications and checks to the state office the next day so they can be processed as quickly as possible.)
Decide on a chapter name. A short name is good, but the name should reflect the community you live in. You can use your city name, your county name or choose some regional name, particularly if you will be trying to draw members in from several communities. Here is list of current chapter names.
Give each person at the meeting defined responsibilities. Find out who will be willing to serve as what officer. If you don’t complete a full slate of officers to be offered later at the organizational meeting, then let the empty slot ride until your organizational meeting when you will have more new members to choose from.
It’s important at this point to have someone dedicated to publicity, so notices of meetings will be printed and aired on every available media outlet—newspapers, radio, TV, cable and any others. This person will need Internet access, because most media outlets these days rely on emailed information.
Also at this meeting, you will need to decide on a meeting date and location for your organizational meeting. Give yourself a couple of weeks, if possible, to have time to notify as many potential members as possible and to get newspaper announcements published.
Before your organizational meeting, notify all the people whose names you have gathered as contacts and invite them to attend the organizational meeting of the brand-new chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas. Ask them to bring their gardening friends. Send press releases about the meeting to every media outlet in your membership area. Also notify the state webmaster of your upcoming meeting so the notice can be publicized.
At the organizational meeting, if you have reached your minimum of 10 memberships, you can go ahead and elect officers so people can start carrying out their duties officially. If you do not yet have your 10 minimum memberships, then you will want to delay elections until you have reached at least that goal. It’s also a good idea to serve refreshments, because it helps people relax a little and begin the bonding process that will be so important in forming a strong chapter.
At every meeting, if a new person attends, give him or her an opportunity to join the Society. Always have membership brochures on hand, and offer to gather and mail applications with their checks to the State Office. Be prepared to tell potential new members at these meetings why native plants are important.
Begin deciding on a regular meeting time, date and location for your chapter. If other chapters are nearby, consider meeting on a different day than when those chapters meet, in case their members want to visit your chapter or vice versa. Most chapters meet monthly, but the frequency of your meetings will be up to your chapter. Some meet every other month; some don’t meet in summer; some don’t meet in December. Chapters should decide what they need.
Look for a meeting room that is free of charge, if possible, because your chapter funds will be limited until you have time for fund-raisers. Locations to search include fellowship or parish halls of local churches; community centers; nature centers, botanical gardens, local parks, public libraries, museums or businesses (especially nurseries) with meeting rooms; community rooms of local banks; county or city annex buildings; or meeting rooms in buildings owned by other nonprofit organizations.
Besides officer elections and discussing regular meeting times, the organizational meeting is the time to start planning a large, public kickoff event. Brainstorm on locations for the kickoff. You will need to find a room, preferably free of charge, large enough to hold at least 50 people (larger if you live in a metropolitan area).
You also can brainstorm about a speaker for the kickoff. The VP-Chapter Liaison will be able to offer you some ideas for a speaker, too. Once you contact the speaker, find out if he or she requires an honorarium and, if so, how much. Be resourceful in finding ways to pay for a speaker—ask for donations from members, assign members to seek sponsorships from local businesses or even ask nearby chapters to help sponsor the program. (Keep track of all donations and expenses. Your treasurer will need to report these on the quarterly report.)
Set a date for the kickoff, along with a couple of backup dates, in case the speaker you choose or the location you need isn’t available. You’ll probably need to hold one or two more meetings to keep everything coordinated. Assure new members that once the chapter is up and running, meetings will be no more than once monthly. Take advantage of email to keep everyone informed of developments and progress and to seek input between meetings.
As soon as possible, settle on a date, location, time and speaker. Give yourself plenty of time to get the event well-organized and to generate plenty of publicity. A minimum advance time would be four weeks, though two months would be ideal.
During this time of planning for your new chapter events, be aware that the exact sequence of events might vary, depending on your region and your set of local resources. You might get your beginning 10 or more memberships, then go before the State Board for approval, then hold your organizational meeting, followed by a big kickoff event. Or, if the State Board meeting is a couple of months away, you might go ahead with the organizational meeting and your kickoff, then seek formal board approval.
The basic idea is that at some point in the process of forming the chapter, you must get at least that minimum number of memberships, get State Board approval, hold an organizational meeting at which you elect officers and hold a big kickoff event for the public to attract a rush of new members.
Your chapter might start small or it might start large. Many factors affect a chapter’s size. Don’t be afraid to organize with a small group. A formally organized group that meets regularly will attract new members more easily than a group still in the planning phase.
Just get started!
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