Forming as an Official College Chapter

Creating an official chapter of The Facing Project on your campus can be beneficial in many ways. For starters, it can ensure that a Facing Project happens in your community each year, connecting people through stories to continue to strengthen community.

If you are interested in starting an official chapter of The Facing Project on your campus, email howdy@facingproject.com and let us know.

The following includes everything you need to know to get the ball rolling toward making Facing a permanent fixture on your campus and within your community.

Goals of The Facing Project Chapter:

Student-led chapters work to support the mission of The Facing Project by connecting people through stories to strengthen communities. This follows the same model outlined throughout The Facing Project Toolkit; however, establishing as a chapter ensures continual Facing Projects occur on your campus and within your community. An executive committee of student leaders and their members of writers and artists work with non-profit agencies, other student organizations, and/or academic departments to lead and support various Facing Projects on a variety of topics.

National Dues:

  • $1,500 for the inaugural year*
  • $500 annual dues each year after

*If you have hosted a Facing Project on your campus before starting an official chapter, the inaugural year dues for the chapter will only be $500.

Becoming Official on Your Campus:

New chapters of an organization are required to submit paperwork through an Office of Student Life or an Office of Student Activities to become recognized by the college/university. Each campus has a different process. We suggest you contact officials at your institution to learn more about the required submission forms. You may be asked to submit a constitution at the time of application. Temple University has a great template that will walk you through items to consider for a college chapter constitution: https://studentactivities.temple.edu/how-write-constitution. Your institution may have something similar that you will want to follow.

Appointing a Faculty/Staff Advisor:

The Facing Project requires all chapters to have an advisor, who must be an employee of the college or university. Because The Facing Project aligns well with goals of English Departments, Journalism Departments, Theatre Departments, and Offices of Community Engagement/Service-Learning, those departments will be a good start to find an advisor if you don’t have one in mind.

I’m Faculty/Staff, How Do I Start a Chapter?

Faculty or staff members can play an important role in the development of a Facing Project chapter. You could serve as the faculty or staff advisor to the chapter or reach out to students you know who may be interested. If no students on your campus are organizing a chapter, you could hold an interest meeting to get students involved and help them explore the institution’s requirements for starting an official student organization.

Establishing an Executive Committee:

To be an official chapter, you must develop an executive committee which should consist of at least three student leaders and one faculty/staff member:

  • President
  • Vice President
  • Secretary
  • Advisor (faculty/staff)

If your organization begins to raise funds, you will need to include a Treasurer as well. Some institutions may allow you to have a Student Government Representative. Additionally, one of the executive committee officers MUST be an underclassman to ensure the sustainability of the chapter beyond the first year.