• Review these standard bylaws. That’s it!
• Optional: feel free to propose any modifications that you feel are needed for you to run your chapter, just make a copy and edit away. Save the document for Step 3.
• Note: Most chapters feel the standard bylaws are fine, but we are open to any suggestions you feel best reflect your campus and mission; and we will review for board approval. This can take roughly a month.

• Submit your signed Charter via the Chapter Request Form. This re-engages your chapter — officially. Toot!
• Here you will be prompted to pick from 3 fruity flavors:
  • New Chapter looking for a shiny new Charter
  • Chapter looking to renew its Charter (with any requested/proposed changes to Bylaws)
  • Chapter looking to renew its Charter (no changes)
• [Optional: You can also use this from to submit your Chapter Leaders & Request a Tabling kit for fall fairs — now, or come back later!]

AMSA Institutional Parters are automatically chartered. That said,

• We do need you to submit your Big 4 Chapter Leaders here. (What’s the Big 4? Key four Chapter Leader roles are outlined here).
• You also have the option to customize the bylaws if you like (most are good with them as-is, but we’re open to ideas!)

Chapter President
Main liaison with AMSA National
Main duties include
– Oversight of other leaders
– Manage documents
– Regular communication with respective Membership Director

Chapter Finance Officer (CFO) 
Handles chapter finances including but not limited to:
– Chapter dues coming from AMSA
– Identifies any fundraising opportunities

Chapter Membership Officer (CMO)
– Manages marketing to members and prospective members
– Keeps a reliable roster of members in chapter
– Responsible for raising any membership-related issues to President/AMSA membership leaders
– Maintains quarterly Pulse Report to AMSA National

Chapter Advocacy Officer (CAO)
-Works with AMSA Campaigns/Committees to identity advocacy opportunities for the chapter
-Schedules and manages chapter events

Learn more here.

It’s true: you will lose your chapter. Our operations folks are super serious about this. You can still have members on campus, but. you will not have an official chapter — and you will not have access to:

• All the Member Benefits: free gifts and discounts
• First-to-know announcements on quick-sell-out events and programs
• Events on campus as an AMSA chapter
• Scholarships as they come available
• AMSAs brand — logo, resources, assets, legacy — and most of all, community.

So – renew your charter today! We are here to help members@amsa.org

You can totally submit your information after the April 30, 2022 deadline. We will accept re-charters on a rolling basis — but! Until you are ‘official’, you can’t tap into all the delicious member benefits. You can, again, once re-chartered!

Once submitted, if you’ve made no changes to your bylaws, you’re “in”! If you have made edits to your bylaws, we will need to run those by our board. It could take up to 30 days for us to approved your edited bylaws & get your chapter renewed.

If you want to charge members local dues, on top of the AMSA National dues that make them an official member (unlocking access to all the benefits) — that is totally fine. Some chapters like to collect money for local events, meetings, etc.

In order to collect local dues, you need to have a banking account for your chapter to make it legally-legit. To do this, you need an EIN. (Check the next question to see how to obtain one!)

It works like this: your new member will join online. They will pay for their membership and then there will be an option to also contribute to your chapter’s local dues. They pay, and we transfer those fees back to your bank account! Voila. So, a bank account is important for that.

How to obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) and Tax Exempt status for your Chapter?

Chapters are considered separate entities from AMSA, as such, they are responsible for obtaining their own tax ID and exemption and filing tax returns as applicable by local law. US based chapters will need an Employer Identification Number (EIN) in order to open a bank account.

1. Apply for your Chapter’s EIN online through the IRS.
   1. Chapters should select “View Additional Types, Including Tax-Exempt and Governmental Organizations” and “Other Non-Profit/Tax-Exempt Organizations”
   2. Reason for Request: Banking Purposes
   3. The Chapter Officer (ideally the Chapter Finance Officer) completing this form will need to use their SSN/ITIN as the responsible and duly authorized member or officer of the Chapter.
2. Apply for Tax Exemption through pay.gov.
   1. Follow these instructions to complete Form 1023-EZ for Tax Exemption of your Chapter

AMSA’s Acronym, Logo, and Likeness

We love it when Chartered Chapters use AMSA’s logo, acronym and likeness, as long as these guidelines are followed. Let us know if you have questions or need help accessing any files – members@amsa.org