Section 2 | How SSA Helps Groups

Services & Resources for Affiliates

The SSA provides a considerable number of services and resources to its affiliates. Indeed, providing these services is the primary work of our staff. Look over this list from time to time to make sure your group is taking advantage of everything we offer. Links to many of the services and resources listed below can be found on our website. Let us know if there are other services you would like. We are always looking for ways to serve our affiliates better!

If your group is not yet affiliated with the SSA, apply online using our affiliation form. If you need more information, or are affiliated and interested in taking advantage of any of these services, send us an email at [ssa@secularstudents.org], or call us at {614.441.9588}. Many of the resources listed below are available in expanded formats on our website.

Campus Organizer

Our Campus Organizing team can help connect your group to services and resources as

well as offer one-on-one help when your group is facing challenges. A campus organizer is the person to contact about:

*Starting a group at your school or university

*Obstruction, resistance or discrimination from your school or university

*Getting ideas for an event

*Solving problems with your group

*Sharing a great event with other student groups

*Questions about any of the SSA's services

Media Relations
The Secular Student Alliance's Communications Director can help your group interact with the media, both local and national. We can help give advice and assistance with writing press releases, letters to the editor, speaking to reporters and more.

Branded Affiliate Program
Change your group's name to "Secular Student Alliance at Your Campus" and help support the entire secular student movement. Plus, you get a free logo and any branded swag we have at the SSA office.

Speakers

We work with lots of prominent and lesser-known (but still awesome) freethought speakers to speak for free or at discounted rates. We also offer funding to offset the cost of their travel and lodging.

Project Grants
The SSA can give your group money! Every semester there is at least $1500 available to help students offset the costs of operation, projects, conferences, bringing in speakers, and more.

Business Cards
We are happy to provide business cards with your group's name and contact information on them.

Tabling Supplies
We offer many different types of supplies such as pens, stickers, banners, and more. We also offer brochures from national organizations and our "What is an Atheist?" brochure.

The Best Awards
The Best Awards reward groups that have excelled in one of several specific areas throughout an entire academic year. Winning groups receive a handsome plaque and a cash prize of $300-$500.

Email & Web Forwards
The SSA can provide an email address that forwards to a private email, allowing you to publish an email contact for your group without making personal contact information public. We can also create a short, memorable URL for your group that links or auto-redirects to your Facebook group and other contact information.

Group Running Guide
Lucky for you, you are reading out of a Group Running Guide right now, which probably means that you are mobilizing a group or are in one of SSA's existing affiliates. This booklet contains information detailing how to start a group, find an advisor, raise funds, gain members, run meetings, participate in outreach services, and much more. Also available online!

Group Running Library

In addition to our Group Running Guide, we also have documentation on many other facets of running and maintaining your group in the Group Running Library. Resources include the following and many more:

*Sample Constitution

*Sample Year

*Succession Planning

*Problem Solving

Facebook LeaderSpace
This is a space for communicating and interacting with fellow group leaders from around the country. Get involved and share ideas, comments, and concerns.

Flyer Exchange
The SSA hosts flyers and promotional materials used by our affiliate groups on our Flyer Exchange. It is a great resource if you need ideas for flyers or would like to submit your group's designs for others to see.

eMpirical
The SSA produces an electronic newsletter, the eMpirical, which is published on our website. It often has lots of ideas on how to run your group better.

Activity Packets
In addition to the resources in the Group Running Guide and the Document Library, we have several specific packets that outline how to successfully implement different types of activities and events. These packets simplify and list the steps and supplies needed for these activities.

Speaker Planning Checklist
We've designed this resource to help walk you through planning your speaker event - whether it's your first event or 100^th, a campus professor or Richard Dawkins.

List of Discussion Topics
Having a discussion meeting, but not sure what to talk about? Try our list of discussion topics - and send yours in to be added to the list!

National Conference

The SSA holds an annual national conference geared specifically toward secular students. Participants exchange best practices, get inspired, and connect with the larger secular movement.

Regional Leadership Summits
In addition to our annual conference, we hold regional leadership summits several times per year. These "mini-conferences" have all the benefits of the national conference but are often less expensive and held in different locations to make them more accessible to students in all parts of the country.

Audio Archives
The SSA has an archive on our website of speakers' lectures from our conferences through 2008.

YouTube Channel
We post videos of the presentations from our conferences and leadership summits since 2009, as well as special events held by our affiliates.

Community
One of the most crucial aspects of our work is fostering a network for secular groups across the nation. We know too well that like-minded people are often few and far between. This is probably one of the reasons your group has come together and it is why we offer tools for existing groups to keep in touch and learn from one another. You can further develop this sense of kinship by becoming part of our online community and by forming relationships with other secular groups.

National Recognition
The SSA is a nationally recognized organization, and growing! By becoming one of our affiliates you get access to all of the resources and services listed above, and if you choose to use the SSA name for your group you instantly tap into our recognition and credibility. The SSA is also well-positioned to point student groups in the right direction for cooperating and interfacing with our many partner organizations.

Individual Membership

The Secular Student Alliance is a democratic membership organization. Anyone, student or non-student, is welcome to join. Members of the SSA are eligible to vote in elections for our Board of Directors and changes to our bylaws. Additionally, all members are eligible to run for the Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors.

Because the Secular Student Alliance is a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit, your membership dues are tax deductible. Individual membership is different from affiliating your campus group (which is free).