Club Guidelines & Tips

The following sections are a summary of this document which contains more detailed information about creating and managing clubs.

Purpose

To inform the clubs of Albany High School club rules, and to compile tips from other clubs as means of advice for the upcoming 2019-20 year.

Communication

Every club must have someone (preferably the president) in the Club Announcements Email Chain and the Club Announcements Remind. You receive important information about Club Rush, International Food Day, Club Yearbook Pictures, and more! Typically emails will be used to send more important announcements such as information regarding signups for upcoming events, while remind texts will be sent out for friendly reminders, mainly logistics. If you are not receiving either of these, please contact the Commissioner of Clubs Arts & Diversity to be added. As always, feel free to ask questions anytime!

Paperwork

Ms. Pope has all club related forms in the bookroom (located next to the attendance office). She is available until 1:30 PM every school day (unless otherwise informed). She’s incredibly amazing so be sure to thank her for all she does!

Form Types

Club Charter Form

This is to get your club registered officially as a club.

Fundraiser Approval Form

This is to get your fundraiser approved by leadership.

Be sure to check the calendar in the book room to see available dates for your event, then write down your club on that date to reserve the day for your sale. After, fill out the fundraiser approval form and turn in two weeks before your fundraiser date so it may be approved.

How to hold a fundraiser:

• Decide on a date and time. Fundraisers on campus may only be held after school, with only a few exceptions that must first run through leadership. Make sure to check the calendar in the book room to see available dates for your event.

• Any fundraisers outside of the school associated with Albany High MUST have your club advisor present. Be sure to get a permit from the city as well.

• Ensure all the paperwork (see above for explanation on fundraiser forms) is done at least two weeks in advance so your sale may be approved by ASB. You can find out whether it is approved or not by checking the “club approvals” section of the Leadership Board (located next to main office on first floor long hallway).

• Get your passes! If you hold your fundraiser directly after school, two people may be excused about ten minutes early to set up. Passes must be requested from the attendance office beforehand and a table for your fundraiser will be provided if you ask for it from the main office. Be sure to wipe down the table before you return it to the main office after your sale.

• Take your promotional flyers down after the event is over. Failure to do so will hold your club under review.

Reimbursement Form

This is to get a reimbursement for any club purchases made. The money will come out of your club’s bank account affiliated through the school. If you purchase online, the order must be shipped to Albany High.

For example: Let’s say Magdalena from Bake Club is in charge of making lemon cupcakes for their upcoming bake sale after school. To get reimbursed from the club, Magdalena would purchase the ingredients with her own money, then go to the bookroom and pick up a reimbursement form. She would then fill it out and attach the receipts to get reimbursed, then turn the form with attached receipts back into book room. Ms. Pope would then write her a reimbursement check.

Minutes

This form must be completed every time a club meeting is held. It states the time of your meeting, the topics you covered, and who attended. If there is not enough room on the form to record everyone who attended, please attach a separate attendance sheet that you can make. Turn in meeting minutes to book room.

Tips: The point is that the school needs to see that your club is actually doing stuff. The school is also audited by the state through these minutes. If you do anything money associated during your meeting, this is extremely important to cover! Please include it in the description portion of the form. One form per meeting please! Try to be as accurate as possible, but we don’t need every detail on every single thing you did at the meeting, just the main points.

Deposit Form

This is to deposit money into your club bank account. Please be as detailed as possible. The most crucial part is the section dealing with money, so if you don’t remember how many brownies or cupcakes you sold don’t worry too much, just try to get as close as possible! Please be accurate with all money related portions.

Activity Group Receipt

This is for group items sold, for example club t-shirts, stickers, etc. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask Ms. Pope herself in the bookroom and don’t forget she is only on campus until 1:30 PM!

Club Meetings

Club meetings are typically held during lunch, but you may also have meetings after school as long as your club advisor (or substitute advisor) is present.

Please end your meetings on time so members will not be late to their next class.

Please respect your club advisor and clean up their classroom after your meeting.

Tips: Have meaningful meetings. Many clubs often plan out an agenda in advance to make the most out of our short lunch times.

Promoting

There are two main ways clubs can promote their meetings and events:

Announcements

To be included in the morning announcements, fill out the online submission form on the school website by 2pm the day before you would like your announcement to run. The form is located in the top right corner of the Daily Bulletin, marked as “Submit an Item for the Daily Bulletin.” Complete the form accordingly. IMPORTANT: A teacher or faculty member must approve ahead of time your exact announcement WORD FOR WORD before it can be submitted to the Daily Bulletin. Failure to do so will result in your club being placed under review.

Flyers and Posters

All flyers/posters must be hung up with BLUE masking/painter’s tape only and must be school appropriate. If your event is over, please take your flyers/posters down. Failure to do so will put your club under review and fundraisers/events may no longer be approved. Also, you may only have five 8.5 x 11 flyers per floor associated with your club. The art building counts as a separate floor. Larger posters must first be approved by ASB.

Other than that, be creative! You can make an Instagram account, Facebook page, personal flyers, or even just spread through word of mouth to promote your club meetings and events.

Club Rush

When: September 12th, 2018!

In order to participate you must:

• Attend the president’s meeting and sign in on the sign in sheet (September 5th).

• Fill out the Club Charter form and have it turned into the bookroom by September 7th at 9 am.

• Fill out the Google Form posted on the Facebook page to request two passes to leave five minutes early from fourth period on 9/12 to set up for Club Rush.

Tips

Come prepared! Whether with posters, food, sign up sheets, pens, or even a fancy tablecloth, do come prepared! Work together with your officer board to ease the workload and prep yourselves to recruit members! You may also seek advice from your club alumni, or ask other clubs.

Club Rush is optional, so if you’d like to participate sign up at the President’s Meeting (9/7)! If you do not sign up here, email Elizabeth Ding at the latest the Friday (9/7) before Club Rush.

Please make sure to clean up after yourselves after the event, and ensure no litter associated with your club is found around campus! Keep our campus clean.

International Food Day

This is a fundraising opportunity for your club and will be on April 1, 2020. This lunchtime activity is where the clubs of AHS can sell food to AHS students during lunch in the courtyard. More info later in the year, so stay tuned for updates!

General (but helpful!) Club Tips

• Ensure the president delegates tasks. While this may seem obvious, it's much easier said than done. It isn't the job of the president to do every task the club requires!

• Turn in your paperwork (fundraiser approval forms, reimbursement forms, etc) on time! it isn't a good idea to be behind, as this puts your club at risk of shutting down.

• Hold meetings regularly, whether weekly, bimonthly, monthly, etc. -

• Take advantage of Club Rush (9/12) and International Food Day (4/1)! -

• Communicate with your members! Many clubs often use a Facebook group or an Instagram account. These also great ways to keep in touch with club alumni.

• If you have questions, contact the Commissioner of Clubs, Arts & Diversity or anyone on leadership. It's better to ask than to assume — this will work out better for yourself, your club, and the school!

• Hold meetings with your board/officers/club leaders regularly, or have some solid way to communicate. Many clubs use Facebook Messenger, text, or Google Hangouts. This eases the workload off of the president and builds other officers in terms of leadership as well.

• Communicate with your club advisor! If that teacher is out on the day your club meets, you must find a different teacher to sub in, or find a different classroom with a teacher present. Be sure you thank your advisor regularly for overseeing your club!

• If you would like to start a club in the middle of the year, that’s fine. Just get the club charter form in the bookroom and follow the appropriate steps. You will just miss Club Rush.

• Club charters must be filled out every year if a club would like to continue that year. If you or a majority of your board are seniors, make sure you train underclassmen to lead the club after you graduate! A lot of strong clubs die out because of this problem. Make sure to look at the long run!

• Recommended: have a good PR; good ads; especially with new clubs, PR is essential! If you’d like some posters or flyers or a logo perhaps ask a student who is taking art, or graphic design. (Maybe even ask Art Club??)

• Recommended: have roles like President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer well established. Though the club charter form requires you to have these positions, this is just for official purposes. Within your club, officers can be organized whichever way best suits your club, whether with co-presidents, general leaders, etc. Additionally, clubs may also choose to add other positions if desired (for example, having a specific officer for publicity, and so on), they simply won’t be reported as officers on the club charter form.

• Reach out! Don’t just hold club meetings and stay in the classroom. Feel free to search for community events and brainstorm/take action on how your club and its purpose can contribute to Albany!

• Lastly, remember that as a club, you are representing Albany High! We hold our clubs to a high standard and take pride in our strong club culture.