This from Drew Owens of the YAL chapter at Auburn University, who wanted to pass on an idea that could be very effective for your "Choose Charity" event:

For YAL's Choose Charity event, Auburn University's chapter of Young Americans for Liberty is making plans to involve the student body in donation efforts by giving them actual choices.  Apart from lending a helping hand with habitat for humanity or helping to run a local food bank, a fundraiser is a great and easy way to interface with the student body.  Most charities need money more than anything and presenting the opportunity to let your campus "Choose" their favorite "Charity" can be a great way to talk about how local, private charities can be more effective and accountable when they have to compete for your dollar or volunteer time. 

Auburn's chapter will be utilizing our board used for the free speech event (after being freshly repainted) to list local charities and have passing students take note of which charities are garnering the most donations throughout the day and which could use an extra dollar.  This can be done in a variety of ways, namely some form of a graph or tally.   

So you want to become an official YAL chapter?  Well, the first step is easy. Visit YAL’s chapter page online and click the “start a chapter” button.  YAL’s online application will effectively walk you through the basic planning for your chapter.

The application encourages you to develop short-term and long-term goals, as well as to research information about your campus, like the procedures and policies set up by your school’s administration to become a registered student organization.

As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.” Think of completing the chapter application in a similar way -- except your final plan will be invaluable! The process of brainstorming your goals will inspire ideas about how to effectively structure your new chapter and interface with the student body.

Most likely, the actual plan you submit will change once you adapt your understanding of your campus and how to organize groups. As your plans change, update your online application so YAL’s national network can continue to provide guidance and support to help you succeed.

Remember that the success of your chapter will depend entirely on the effectiveness of its leadership.  This is the rule.  There are no exceptions.  Regardless of the effectiveness of your YAL chapter while you act as leader, the potential and momentum you created can be lost irreversibly if effective leadership is not sustained from year to year.  Finding new leaders requires a plan and should be done well before your group disbands for the summer break. 

Read more Chapter Building Strategies here.

Check out some of the wise advice regarding leadership sustainability from Mikayla Hall,  Northwest Regional Director for YAL:

I graduate from college in June. Scary, right? What's scarier is the number of clubs that die after all of their founding officers graduate -- especially liberty-oriented clubs. I don't have a specific statistic for you, but if you don't start thinking about this issue now, you're likely to become part of one.

There are a number of things you can do to avoid the iminent destruction of all of your hard work, and the trick is to start thinking about this before you are getting ready to leave your university. Here are some tips that I've seen work firsthand:

• Cycle through your leadership. Don't rely on the same president and officer board year after year. This can create a dependency on one individual who, hopefully, will not be in college forever and will eventually graduate. It also encourages fresh ideas and growth within a chapter.
• Avoid cliques within your group. It is easy to bond with the people who have always been YAL members, but make sure you and your officers are open, inviting and engaging when interacting with new recruits. They're more likely to return if they feel they too can be part of the family.
• Encourage freshman and sophomores to run for officer positions and actually give them real responsibilities. If they run for VP or President with little experience, it's okay. The older officers will still be around to offer guidance and help the club mature. If the underclassmen don't run for anything, give them responsibilities anyway.
• Be constantly looking for new members throughout the school year. You can attract students through your activism events, but sometimes just using the World's Shortest Political Quiz as a "campus survey" can find you liberty-minded individuals who may not have previously identified themselves as such.
• When you do graduate, follow up with your old chapter and keep the new officers motivated. Then they also feel they have someone to ask for advice that knows what they're going through.

For more on Leaving a Legacy and other helpful hints, read Kent Strang's article "Combat Attrition!" and check out the chapter on sustaining leadership from YAL's Activism Guide below:

Identifying Potential Leaders

It is very important to keep a constant and conscious lookout for potential leaders. These people will often show some or all of the following characteristics:

1. They show up to many if not all of your organization’s meetings and events, especially the smaller ones.
2. They offer their time and service.
3. They are involved with other organizations and groups.
4. They bring friends to meetings and events.
5. They show enthusiasm about the organization. Once these people are identified, they should be asked to head up a committee, project, or something else that can not only cultivate their leadership talents and abilities but expose what talents they currently have.

Cultivating Leaders

The success and legacy of your organization is so important that it is vital that you cultivate multiple leaders at a time. This is primarily because many potential leaders won’t turn out as expected: some simply won’t be good leaders worthy of taking on a primary role, others might find interest in other groups or clubs and pursue opportunities in those directions, and yet some might even change their politics and philosophy. In short, make sure your organization is always cultivating multiple leaders at one time.

There are multiple benefits to cultivating several leaders at a time:

1. The organization can choose from a number of qualified candidates for leadership roles, and
2. A feeling of competition between potential leaders may make them work harder and do more for the organization in order to prove their leadership capabilities and right to become an official leader in the club.

Report courtesy of DJ Greenberg of Georgia Southern University:

Young American’s for Liberty at Georgia Southern participated in the national “Visualize the Debt” protest on April 7, 2011.

Members constructed the fifty-foot sign in the weeks prior to the event.

The sign was placed outside the “Russell Union” rotunda for nine hours.

160 people signed the petition to Congressman John Barrow and Senators Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss.

WTOC, the Savannah CBS news affiliate, covered the event on its Tuesday broadcast regarding the National Debt.