Secular Student Alliance: Atheists, Humanists, Agnostics & Others - Internal

This Week: Get Ready to Renew!

13-February-2010

	This Week: Get Ready to Renew!
Affiliation Renewal Preview

Secular Student Alliance Bylaws updated

1-February-2010

On 1/5/2010 the Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors voted to make the following change to Article 3, Section 6, Part (a) of our Bylaws.

There have been two requirements for being elected to the SSA Board of Directors:

1) Being one of the candidates who gets the most votes. The candidates with the most votes will fill the open slots on the Board of Directors.

2) Getting at least a majority of the votes cast.

The Bylaws have been changed so that the second requirement is met with only one third of the votes cast.

Secular Student Alliance Advisory Board Chair on Fresh Air 12/23 and ABC World News on 12/27

14-December-2009

Humanism and Secularism will receive some great national media attention this week as Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe, by Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein, will be the subject of this Wednesday 12/23's episode of NPR's "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, and of a segment on Sunday 12/27's ABC World News with Diane Sawyer.

Epstein chairs the Advisory Board of the Secular Student Alliance and has worked closely with students at several SSA chapters beyond Harvard—including Yale, Tufts, Boston University, and Brandeis. The book describes the work of the SSA in its appendix; and Greg mentioned the Secular Student Alliance in both of these big interviews, though of course we don’t know what the shows will choose to include.

Good Without God has drawn strong praise from both secular commentators as an introduction to Humanism, yet it has also managed to win a very positive response from influential religious leaders who are increasingly realizing they can work with and even learn from the nonreligious.

image credit

Harvard Professor and noted author Steven Pinker has said, “Good Without God is not just a brilliant book title but an indispensable and humane ideal. Greg Epstein's wise and warm explanation of the humanist world view goes beyond the recent atheist bestsellers and speaks to the moral and spiritual impulses that have traditionally attracted people to religion.”

Secular Student Alliance Hiring Communications & Administrative Associate

8-December-2009

The Secular Student Alliance supports a rapidly growing network of over 190 atheist, agnostic and humanist groups on high school and college campuses.

You will be the third full-time staff member in a small team of employees and volunteers. The major thrust of your responsibilities will be in directing and implementing our public communications. However, as is the case with many small non-profits, you will also be helping with other areas. Specifically, we plan to have you help with basic office and membership administration. Your flexibility and ability to quickly learn new skills will be incredibly valuable.

RELEASE: Richard Dawkins Foundation Makes Donation to Atheist Student Movement

29-November-2009

December 2, 2009

For Release: IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIPT
Contact: August Brunsman – (614) 441-9588 – august[AT]secularstudents[DOT]org

Associated Press covers Secular Student Movement: Atheist student groups flower on college campuses

20-November-2009

We were delighted to see the Associated Press story by Eric Gorski, Atheist student groups flower on college campuses, that came out yesterday. It might be the most accurate and thoughtful piece about the secular student movement that has ever been written. It has been a long time coming, but we're delighted to see the seeds that we (and so many other people and organizations) have planted over the last decade flower in such numbers! Keep up the excellent work everyone!

Release: Atheist Student Movement Gets $50,000 Matching Challenge

21-October-2009

October 22, 2009

For Release: IMMEDIATELY UPON RECEIPT

Contact: August Brunsman –(614) 441-9588 – august@secularstudents.org

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Atheists have not been exempted from the recent economic downturn. Fundraising for the Secular Student Alliance has been modest this year, even as their operations have expanded.

Member Todd Steifel wants to see to it that the group is able to continue its mission of organizing, uniting, educating, and serving students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human-based ethics.

That is why he has agreed to match every dollar donated to the organization through Dec. 21, up to $50,000. “My donation is an investment in the future of democracy, reason and freedom,” Stiefel said.

Mr. Stiefel says that the services the Secular Student Alliance offers “are crucial to serving student communities that will foster the next generation of leaders in the secular movement.” The Secular Student Alliance currently provides support to over 170 secular student groups in ten countries on college and high school campuses.

Inspired by the matching offer, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science has pledged $5,000 to the Secular Student Alliance. Dr. Richard Dawkins, author of several books including the New York Times Best Seller The God Delusion, said “I salute Todd Stiefel for his matching offer, and am recommending to the Trustees of the Richard Dawkins Foundation that we should contribute. The Student Secular Alliance is the future. Or it had better be, if there is to be any future worth having!”

The group of affiliates that the Secular Student Alliance supports has grown over 250% in the past three years. This growth has necessitated more funds than ever before in order to accommodate the organization’s operations.

“Todd [Stiefel’s] generosity has been a lifesaver for us,” said Executive Director August Brunsman. “We’re in a position to accomplish more good than ever before, and we appreciate his help in doing so.”

All donations, membership dues, and other contributions are eligible to be matched. Tax deductible donations can be made through the organization’s website at www.secularstudents.org.

SSA Member Issues $50,000 Challenge to the Secular Community: Support the Secular Student Alliance

11-October-2009

You did it! Hundreds of you answered Todd Stiefel's $50,000 challenge and you matched his whole challenge. You did it 13 days before his 12/21/09 deadline. Thank you so much! Of course, your gift today is just as important as ever. Please help build on this success and give today.

What level of support for a secular future makes you HAPPY and PROUD? Donate by Dec. 21 and your money will be matched dollar for dollar!

Secular Student Alliance member Todd Stiefel knows that 2009 has been a fantastic growth year for the Secular Student Alliance. Not only has our affiliate count continued to rise dramatically (almost 20 new groups just since our August conference!), but SSA services have facilitated an incredible variety of campus activities and events promoting secular values and visibility for freethinking youth. (For more detail, be sure to read our Activity Summary.)

Recently Todd learned that the 2009 economy has presented difficult fundraising challenges for the Secular Student Alliance, a completely independent organization that relies entirely on the secular community to continue its work. From January 1, 2009 to October 1, 2009 the SSA took in approximately $93,000 -- a full $60,000 less than in the same period for 2008. Our successes are far outpacing our resources -- meaning we need more help than we've ever needed in order to accomplish more good than we've ever been in a position to accomplish.

Todd told us he wants to make 2009 as strong financially for SSA as it has been programmatically. He is offering a $50,000 matching challenge to the rest of the secular community to support the Secular Student Alliance.

Turn Your Vacations into Donations for the Secular Student Alliance

10-October-2009

So we know it sounds hokey, but you can support the Secular Student Alliance by booking your travel via our travel gateway. You'll pay the same low rates that you would find on the major travel gateways, but a percentage of your purchase price goes to the Secular Student Alliance for us to use to advance our mission. Go ahead and compare rates with the other gateways, and if we have the best price, book it with us and support us.

Be it traveling home for the holidays, going on a great spring break trip, or presenting at a conference, our gateway has all the same services (flights, cars, hotels, cruises, package vacations). Check it out today and give it a try.

Secular Student Alliance September 2008 - September 2009 Activity Summary

15-September-2009

The past year has been phenomenally successful for the Secular Student Alliance. Our affiliate count has gone up by over 25%. This report details our campus group affiliate support, our conference, our electronic newsletter, and our summer internships. This report is also available in PDF.

Atheist Blogger PZ Myers Joins Secular Student Alliance Speakers Bureau

28-August-2009

The Secular Student Alliance is pleased to announce that renowned atheist blogger PZ Myers has joined our Speakers Bureau!

The Speakers Bureau consists of freethought speakers who have graciously offered to speak / present / debate on your campus for free, provided you are an official affiliate of the Secular Student Alliance. Learn more about the Bureau at www.secularstudents.org/speakers.

The Creation Museum Trip: A Religious Experience?

6-August-2009

by Senior Campus Organizer Lyz Liddell

When I agreed to organize the Secular Student Alliance trip to the Creation Museum, I wasn't expecting it to be a "religious experience." In fact, I was expecting it to be a mostly overlooked crowd of 20-30 students and maybe a few local supporters going through with PZ Myers, discussing the inanity of what we saw.

So even I was surprised when we ended up with almost 300 freethinkers – or, as PZ put it, "quietly chortling, science-minded people." Did I think we were going to have an epiphany and recant our evolutionist ways? Of course not! Did I think we would get kicked out? Well, probably not. But I wasn't expecting the stories of the people I met to have such an impact – and those stories made all the difference.

The Secular Student Alliance 2009 Conference: Freethinking Friends & Secular Cephalopods

25-July-2009

Conference attendees getting down with their cephalopod selves!

White House Seeks out Secular Student Alliance

9-July-2009

Taking the New Enlightenment to the White House... thanks to you!

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WE are young people who ...

Talk about ideas seriously.

Live ethical & fulfilling lives without the supernatural.

Think it is more important that we can live together than that we all agree.

See democracy as an ideal worth living up to.

Believe science and reason lead to more reliable knowledge than faith.

WE are members of the ...

The Secular Student Alliance is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. All donations are tax-deductible in the U.S.

July 16, 2009

Last year I began an email to our supporters like this:

"It isn’t often that a non-profit leader has the opportunity to report that his organization has grown more than 84% in a single year. But that's exactly what I have the pleasure of doing today.Since this time last year, the campus affiliate base of the Secular Student Alliance has increased 84%, from 70 active groups in 2007 to 129 groups as I write this e-mail."

Our growth continues and we're now up to 147 affiliate groups. But our growth aside, I have an even more spectacular piece of news to share with you today:

I recently had a one-on-one phone meeting with the associate director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. He sought us out after learning about us via a meeting with the Secular Coalition for America. In specific, the White House has taken interest in the fact that secular students all over the country are getting organized. The White House is eager to see Secular Student Alliance affiliate groups play an active role in the push to get more Americans involved in public service. We will continue pursuing a relationship with the Obama administration -- and future administrations -- and make sure that they are aware of the amazing work that our student groups do.

You may be wondering what I talked about. I told them about our affiliate at the University of Illinois and how they have been traveling to New Orleans over the past two Spring Breaks, with a campus Christian group, to help restore and rebuild homes. I told them about our affiliate at The Ohio State University and how members helped clean up and improve a hiking trail in the Appalachian Mountains a few weeks ago. I told them about several other students who were making personal pushes to eradicate stigma about nontheism and let people know that you can be good without God.

Being directly in touch with the executive branch is an exciting development. As a founding member of the Secular Coalition for America, we have been working to let members of congress know about the concerns of secular students for years. We now have the ear of the White House.

We could not have come this far without help from donors like you. It is only with paid staff, money for travel grants, money for project grants, our web server, our literature, and so many other things that cost money that we’ve been able to create a movement and an organization that is gaining so much attention and respect.

Until August 1st, thanks to a generous matching offer from the Vital Spark foundation, all donations to the Secular Student Alliance will be matched up to a total of $20,000. So if you give $100, the Secular Student Alliance will get $200. The Secular Student Alliance is also a 501(c)(3) charity, so your gift is tax deductible.

At the Secular Student Alliance we run a very efficient shop. We are a quite small organization to be in direct dialog with the White House and every dollar we get makes a big difference. You have the opportunity to help us ensure that young, secular voices play a central role in the conversation about what it means to be American.

My deepest thanks to everyone who supports the work of the Secular Student Alliance.

Hemant Mehta
Chair
Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors

P.S. It was excellent to have the phone meeting with the White House, and we left open the possibility of meeting in person at some point. Every donation takes us closer to allowing us to fund work like this.

New Members of the SSA Board of Directors

6-July-2009

The results are in! We are happy to welcome the newest members of the Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors.

Incumbents Hemant Mehta and Mary Ellen Sikes were re-elected to their seats. In addition, we welcome newly elected Board members Andrew Cederdahl, John Figdor and Shelley Mountjoy.

Andrew Cederdahl, Columbia, SC

Andrew Cederdahl is a political science major at the University of South Carolina. He is the president and co-founder of the Pastafarians at USC, which has developed into a successful student organization for nonreligious students at USC. Many of his accomplishments with the organization include being featured in the front-page New York Times article “More Atheists Shout It From the Rooftops” about the secular movement in South Carolina, helping organize a highly successful Darwin Day debate featuring Dan Barker on the existence of God, which generated a capacity crowd of over 550 people and local media coverage of the event, working with other faith-based student groups at an “interfaith day of service” for a local food bank, and participating in an intercollegiate debate with another student from a Christian university contesting the rationality of belief in miracles. Andrew has also been featured in two other local media pieces about the Pastafarians at USC and several articles in USC’s campus paper, the Daily Gamecock.