Chapters Monthly 4/1/2012
Issue 3
Summer Schedule Wizard Rock the Vote:
The election season is here! Check out the Harry and the Potters or a Whomping Willows tour stops near you! Coming up soon, you'll have the opportunity to sign up for a concert date at which you will register new voters. Stay tuned for more information as the campaign season progresses. And remember - the HPA is a non-partisan organization. That means that we advocate for issues. NOT candidates. Questions? Email chapter@thehpalliance.org.
Accio Books: Launching at LeakyCon this year, Accio Books will span August and September. It is our annual book drive. We know this is awkward timing for our school chapters, so start planning now! You can get in touch with libraries, book stores and your university now to start planning for a September campaign. As we know more about our main donation site, we'll let you know but in the meantime the important part of Accio Books remains the same - collect books!
SARA
KITZIA
SARA@THEHPALLIANCE.ORG
KITZIA@THEHPALLIANCE.ORG
Chapters Director
Staff
Ssara@ HRIMA
kitzia@ DANIELLE
SHRIMA@ thehpalliance.org
DANIELLE@ thehpalliance.org
THEHPALLIANCE.ORG
THEHPALLIANCE.ORG
Staff
Staff
BECCA
PAM
BECCA@ shrima@
PAM@ danielleg@
THEHPALLIANCE.ORG thehpalliance.org
Staff
thehpalliance.org Community Prefect
KATIE
ARIELLE
KATIET@THEHPALLIANCE.OR
becca@
ARIELLE@
G thehpalliance.org
thehpalliance.org THEHPALLIANCE.ORG
THETHEHPALLIANCE.ORG
pam@
Staff
University Prefect
STEPH
ANNA
STEPHANIE@
arielle@ ANNA@
katiet@
thehpalliance.org THEHPALLIANCE.ORG Staff
THEHPALLIANCE.ORG thehpalliance.org High School Prefect
stephanie@
anna@
thehpalliance.org
thehpalliance.org
Letter from the Editor It is with a sad heart that I must bid you farewell. I've sincerely enjoyed working with our chapters. You guys are the spirit of the HPA, representing our drive to empower and engage our communities using the words, themes, characters and ideas of our favorite story. It has been incredible to watch the chapters program grow over the past few years. I have learned so much from all of you about the power of community engagement, the spirit of love and commitment to an idea. I will still be a member of the Harry Potter Alliance Senior Staff. You can always reach me at sara@thehpalliance.org, but I will be now handing over the reigns of the chapter program to our very esteemed Becca Simpson, who will be taking on the role of Chapters Manager. I have loved working with all of you so much, and I hope that you will stay in touch. I know that I'm leaving you in great hands - but I'm going to miss working with all of you. I wish you the best of luck as the chapters program continues to grow. I know I'm going to see amazing things come from you all. Sincerely, Sara Danver Chapters Director until June 1, 2012.
Summer Plans for Community Chapters Summer is on the way, and HPA is going to be busier than ever. Since school will not be in session, school chapters will get a nice summer break. However, for community chapters there is plenty to do. Got an idea for a great fundraiser? Use it in June for our month of fundraising for HPA. It could be something small like just asking people to donate, or an event like a bake sale. This is a month away, so there is ample time for brainstorming and planning. We also have an election coming up this year, and Wrock the Vote is coming back. Check the calendar to see if there is a concert in your area. If so, go to the show, and register people to vote. Even if there isn’t a show in your area, you can still register people. High school seniors will be able to vote in the next election. Before school is out, you can try to register them. If a friend is going to college in another state, you can try to interest him or her in an absentee ballot or register them for the state they will be living in. And if you have friends that are moving or getting married, they will need to reregister, too. Put the word out that you’re doing voter registration, and people will come to you. If you haven’t done voter registration before, all the information is right here http://www.eac.gov/voter_resources/register_to_vote.aspx . Read it through and you’ll be all ready for summer. And last, but certainly not least, Accio Books is coming back in August for two whole months of book collecting awesome. And you can start planning now. Libraries book up months in advance. You can start calling to find a venue for your book drive. Maybe have an event surrounding your book collection like a Harry Potter trivia day or other games. With all this time to plan your book drive, this year’s Accio Books should prove to be a huge success. And don’t forget, chapters can also do their own projects this summer. Lots of charities have crafts projects. You can choose one and have a crafts day with your chapter in a park or on the beach. Speaking of beaches, if your chapter is environmentally friendly, you might want to look into a beach clean-up day. Chapters can cater their summer projects to members’ interests. With so much to do, things are definitely heating up for HPA this summer.
Keeping In Touch Over The Summer Summer vacation is almost here! Don’t want to completely take a break from your chapter? Here are some ideas to keep your chapter going over the summer months:
HPA Campaigns - The HPA has a few campaigns coming up this summer. If your members live close, perhaps you can get together and do something for the campaigns. If not, you can spread the word via the internet. Of course, you can always participate in HPA campaigns as an individual. Online - The default method for keeping in touch online is usually e-mail. Encourage your chapter members to keep an eye out for chapter-related e-mails. If you know your members aren’t likely to read/respond to e-mails, find out if they would check a Facebook group or some other social networking site. Maybe you could do something similar to a Galleon Day update, update everyone on what is going on at the HPA and ask a question at the end. You could keep it all HPA related, or ask something totally random and silly. Keeping in touch doesn’t have to be all business; chapters should have fun too! Offline - If you live close together, try to have summer meetups. You can have a chapter meeting or do something related to a HPA campaign. On the other hand, you can also do something more social. Have a picnic or go to a movie! Planning Ahead - If you are able to keep in touch with your chapter over the summer, this would be a good opportunity to plan ahead a bit. See what your chapter members would be interested in working on in the fall. Back to school time can be hectic, so it’ll be helpful to get a bit of a head start as far as your HPA chapter is concerned.
What Chapter Organizers Have Learned Here are some things that Janae Phillips from the University of Arizona Chapter learned in her first year as a CO. (From the blog located at http://hpachapters.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lessons-from-year-one )
Lessons from Year One I am quickly approaching the end of my first year as a Chapter Organizer, and I wanted to share some of the things I have learned in that time, in hopes that it will benefit anyone who is a new CO! Here are just a few of the lessons I learned in this journey of starting a chapter. 1. Don't Be Afraid to Talk About It Unfortunately, publicly announcing your love of Harry Potter can be met with mixed reactions, and equally unfortunate is the tendency for others to giggle when I say "Harry Potter Alliance". It's easy for one to feel a bit embarrassed talking about it, but I have learned that more often than not people respect passion, and if you explain what the HPA does, they will respect what we do. If you want your chapter to succeed, you must become a broken record. Talk about HPA to anyone who will listen -- you never know who it is that's listening. Doing this has led my chapter to features in our university newspaper, university award nominations, and even being integrated into our university's Admissions pitch at high school talks in the area, all because the right people happened to be sitting in the room when I decided to talk about who we are and what we do. 2. Use Your Campus Resources This will probably apply most for those who are university chapters, but holds true for community and high school chapters as well. Never forget that your campus probably has many resources available for you, most of which are severely underutilized. My chapter went through the process of official club recognition on our campus, and this has given us access to fundraising opportunities, free room reservations, listservs, etc. Plus, making yourself known to the people who help run your campus gives your club exposure and legitimacy. 3. Do What Works for You The HPA gives you a lot of room to design your chapter in a way that works best for your constituents. Don't be afraid to experiment. When we realized how quickly word of our chapter was spreading, we decided to divide the group into Houses, each with a social theme (i.e. Gryffindor works on Equality issues, Hufflepuff on Self Esteem, etc.). This allows us to accomplish more in our short amount of time, but more importantly makes it easier for every member to get involved. Of course this system may not work as well if your chapter only has 10 people. Do what's right for you. 4. Don't Underestimate Your Members This is the biggest piece of advice I would give to anyone starting or running a chapter. We designed our chapter to be very flexible for our members, anticipating that members would prefer to have a less "stressful" commitment, but when we asked for feedback at our last meeting they told us the complete opposite -- they'd prefer to have a stronger sense of membership and culture, a strong sense of community. They wanted more events and more socials and more requirements. This was the biggest thing I learned from this year, to not underestimate how much your members want to participate. Don't be afraid to really create a strong organization. As I head into my second year (and elections!), I'm excited to see how our chapter will grow next, and I'm so glad I made the leap of faith in starting this whole venture.