15 Steps to Get Your Chapter Started
1. Determine your motivation and goals
Creating a CCL chapter or campaign is a big undertaking. What motivates you to do it? Do you have the time to do it? What do you hope to accomplish? Outline some initial goals that you’d like to pursue, such as:
Starting a chapter or campaign
Lobbying your member of Congress
Publishing an op-ed
Attending a CCL conference
Supporting a state carbon price campaign
Support CCL climate advocacy work
2. Register your Student Organization
Even though you don’t need to be an official student organization in order to meet as a group and run your campaign, being official on campus will help you get resources like funding, priority in booking rooms, and access to the student activities fair. Check out your school website for information about becoming a club, likely under Student Affairs, Student Activities, Student Orgs, Campus Life, or something similar. If you can’t find the information, contact your Student Activities Coordinator directly. Then be sure to fill out the paperwork and other requirements for becoming a club. These requirements will vary depending on your school. Knowing the extent of requirements will help you plan your semester goals.
3. Find a faculty or staff mentor
A faculty or staff mentor is often required for starting a student organization and is extremely useful as an advisor who can point you to resources at your school. Someone concerned about climate change—such as an environmental studies professor or the sustainability director—is a natural fit. Meet with this person early on to talk about your goals and strategies.
4. Register as a CCL Chapter
Have the CCL regional coordinator (click here for a list) or higher ed coordinator fill out a CCL group update form so that you can also be an official CCL chapter.
5. Research
Research your school’s past actions and positions on climate change related issues to help make your plans. Does the school have a climate action plan? Who is the sustainability director? Is there a sustainability committee? What are the other environmental groups on campus?
Knowing your President’s position on climate action enables you to shape the dialogue about carbon pricing with a focus on their concerns, as well as to commend them on the efforts they have made. Additionally, knowing if there are other groups on campus working on environmental issues provides you with potential resources for support and members. Maybe you can host a collaborative event together?
6. Meet with the sustainability director
Your sustainability director is the source of all things sustainability related on campus. It is important that you develop a positive relationship with this person who is an important resource both for getting involved on campus and for starting your path to climate action. Questions your sustainability director may have answers to include: What has the school accomplished on climate change? What are its climate plans/commitments for the future? In what ways can the college improve in terms of climate action? What planned sustainability events and activities can we be a part of? What events can we start or host? Who are potential allies among the faculty, staff and students?
7. Meet with leaders of other campus groups
There are likely many groups on campus already that can help you grow your presence on campus. These groups are primarily environmental groups and, potentially, political groups. Make connections with students leading these groups early! If your school has a club database, you can find clubs and contacts there. These groups might be good resources and allies for campus environmental events, and are likely to have a community of students who would be interested in joining your chapter. These connections can help you find your core members, and give you a start to your member roster.
8. Talk to your local CCL leaders
Get in touch with the group leader of the local CCL chapter as well as the regional coordinator. They will be thrilled that you are starting a group on campus and will do anything to help you. They can give you information about your member of Congress, the lobbying efforts they have already done, potential resources and support to develop your campus chapter, and even help with lobbying workshops or tabling events!
9. Review your goals
Once you have gathered information, review your goals and figure out what’s realistic. What will you be able to accomplish in a semester or two? Having too many goals can be overwhelming and, even after setting your goals, you may find that some things are currently out of reach. Or, you may find that some goals were easier than you had expected.
10. Create an action plan
Use the Action Plan Template to create a timeline of steps you’ll need to take in order to reach your goals. Planning for events in advance will make things much less stressful! Create a month by month plan of major events and actions, then a week by week plan of your group’s meetings. Make note of important dates like the first day of class, holidays, last day of class, and exams and plan your meetings around those dates.
Plugging into existing campus events is an easy way to start your plan. Some examples might be a Campus Sustainability Day or Earth Day event in the Spring. Such events are great times to table, host a presentation or film showing, or organize actions like a rally. Talk to your sustainability director at least one month in advance to be part of the planning process.
You can also plan around CCL’s events, such as Congressional Education Day. This day occurs in the after the fall midterm elections, when CCL returns to Capitol Hill to lobby all representatives, new and old. A good idea could be to plan to lobby your representatives around this time! CCL also hosts regional conferences throughout the fall and spring, and the national conference in Washington D.C. in June.
Another option is to attend local and state events. Just because you are a campus CCL chapter doesn’t mean you can’t go beyond CCL and your campus! Encourage your chapter members and community to vote during upcoming elections and hold a registration campaign. Stay in touch with other environmental groups in your community, such as 350.org, League of Conservation Voters or Sierra Club. If you have an environmental studies department, participate in their events and opportunities. Attending events of other groups will help you build a coalition and make it easier to get support for your chapter events!
11. increase your social media presence
An instagram account is a great way to provide current and potential members with a place to learn more about your chapter, as well as to keep updated on group meetings and events. It can also be a great way for people to contact you with questions or potential collaborations. Take initiative and reach out to and follow collaborators such as other environmental groups on your college campus, local CCL chapters, and the HigherEd instagram (@ccl.highered). As you tell people about your club, be sure to provide your instagram account information so that people can keep updated on your work and events.
Also, if you want another platform for communications, feel free to make a Facebook page as well. Facebook can be a great way to reach out to alums who may be interested in supporting your chapter’s work. If you do, don't forget to join the Higher Education Facebook group! This helps you stay connected with other campus leaders and events around the country.
12. Build a membership roster
As you find people to join your group, create a mailing list to keep in touch with everyone. If you’re an officially registered CCL chapter, you can use the roster tool in Community. Google groups and Mail Chimp are great tools for sending mass emails. You may also wish to use an app like Slack or GroupMe to send group text messages.
13. Hold an initial outreach event
Have a tabling event at the beginning of the semester to get your chapter on student’s minds before they settle into other plans. A great place to do this is at a Student Activities/Orgs fair. This is also a great time to start an email list, or to ask people to follow your instagram or Facebook page. Have something that draws students in, such as food! Always have sign-up sheets at tablings and events. Using a laptop and spreadsheet to do this makes it easier to add email addresses to a list quickly and without having to decipher potentially confusing handwriting!
14. Conduct outreach for your first meeting
Now that you’ve done all your learning and planning, you are ready to have your first meeting! Figure out when and where you are going to have this meeting and create an instagram post (utilize Canva), print flyers, and use any other effective communication methods to spread the word. Be careful to walk the line between too much and too little communication. You can also contact the students who signed up at your initial outreach event to see if they can help you put up flyers, make announcements in classes, share your post on their stories, and invite their friends! Use email, social media, the school calendar, bulletin boards, and department newsletters to get the word out about your first meeting. You can also look into writing an op-ed for your school or local newspaper.
15. Have your first meeting
Your first meeting is the most important one! Your first meeting should achieve three goals: 1) establish the group’s trust in you as the group leader, 2) build a sense of camaraderie as a group, 3) educate everyone about the mission, goals, and strategy of the group. Use the meeting plan template to plan your meeting and the presentations to give an introduction to CCL and Carbon Fee and Dividend. Facilitate an icebreaker or a “getting to know you” game.
Consider having a co-leader for the first meeting. If you can’t find another student to co-lead the first meeting, ask your local CCL chapter group leader (if they are a student at your school) or your faculty/staff mentor. Create and share an agenda to keep the meeting on track. A well-run first meeting will go a long way to establish that you are a capable and organized leader. A friendly and inclusive atmosphere will help the group be one that people want to be a part of. And having a strong plan of action will inspire others to your mission. It’s also never a bad idea to provide food!
In your first meeting, you may also want to discuss executive board positions that you may need filled such as Treasurer, Secretary, Vice President, or Pub Chair (social media manager). In a following meeting the club can elect students to fill these positions. You can tailor the elected roles and responsibilities to fit the needs of your chapter and members.
CCL Community has a lot of resources, webinars, and presentations (in addition to the Higher Ed presentations) that can help you and your members learn and organize as you progress through your meetings.
Finally, remember that things don’t always go according to plan! Don’t be discouraged if you feel you’ve fallen behind schedule. Every step you take toward your goal is an accomplishment in itself!