If you are interested in forming a new SUNA chapter, please follow these steps:
Contact the SUNA National Office at suna@ajj.com or 888.827.7862 to inform them about your interest.
Review the online chapter resources and policies.
The following items must be submitted to the National Office:
List consisting of at least 10 members all of whom must be SUNA members.
Chapter Name and Chapter Bylaws
Chapter officer address and phone list - Must have President and either a President Elect/Vice President or Treasurer.
Zip code list (list of desired zip codes for that specific chapter)
After a 1-year probationary period the chapter is eligible for affiliation. Your chapter will be presented for affiliation to the Board of Directors who will vote on the proposed affiliation. The chapter will be notified of the board’s vote on affiliation.
Instructions for completing the form can be found at www.irs.gov/instructions (select SS-4 in html or pdf format).
There is no charge to apply for an EIN. This is a free service offered by the IRS.
Once you have been assigned a number, submit the number to the SUNA National Office to be kept on file.
You will need an EIN to open a chapter checking account, for local business and for requesting industry support in the form of sponsorships and grants.
Tax Exempt Status
Filing for tax exempt status is not required. If you are a larger chapter and wish to inquire about this, information can be obtained from www.irs.gov:
Click on “Other Nonprofit Charities and Non- Profits”
Click on “Forms and Instructions for Exempt Organizations”
Click on “Forms”
Form Name: 1023 (Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 502 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code
Tax Returns
Small tax-exempt organizations (SUNA Chapters) generally are eligible to file Form 990-N to satisfy their annual reporting requirement if their annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less
Failure to file a required e-postcard for 3 consecutive years automatically results in a loss of tax-exempt status.
Organizing Your First SUNA Chapter Meeting
Follow these tips when planning your first chapter meeting:
Develop an inquiry letter informing others of the need/benefits of a local SUNA chapter.
Plan an informational meeting along with an educational program.
Contact the SUNA National Office to obtain addresses or mailing labels to notify chapter members of the meeting.
Plan to serve refreshments if possible.
Seek assistance in recruiting participants from local pharmaceutical representatives who have regular contact with urology offices.
Consider the needs and geography of your area in planning meeting sites.
Contact the SUNA National Office to obtain membership applications and SUNA resource information prior to the meeting date for distribution at the meeting.
Keep minutes of the meeting to be distributed.
Start a roster of attendees' names and contact information (name, address, phone, e-mail address, work address).
Distribute SUNA membership applications and SUNA information during the meeting.
Ask for volunteers to serve in chapter leadership positions (i.e., President, President-Elect, Secretary, and Treasurer).
Select a chapter name and logo (chapter logo is optional).
Vote to accept chapter bylaws and have all officers’ sign.
SUNA Policy For additional information, please refer to the following policy in the SUNA Policy & Procedure Manual. (Please note that you must log in as a SUNA member to access the Policy & Procedure Manual).
10-102: Use of SUNA’s Name and/or Logo
Maintaining a SUNA Chapter
To maintain active SUNA chapter status, a chapter must have:
10 SUNA national members
Hold one meeting annually (this does not have to offer contact hours)
Complete part 1 of the Chapter Review Form annually. Part 2 of the form is required to be considered for national chapter awards, but not required to maintain active chapter status.
Submit a nonmember list of at least 5 contacts for the National Office to contact or put in our Prospects List.
Chapters who cannot meet these requirements should contact the National Office to discuss the next steps/future of the chapter.
Rotation of leadership is highly encouraged according to your chapter’s bylaws.
Newly elected officers should be encouraged to attend leadership development opportunities given at the SUNA Annual Conference.
Chapter bylaws should be reviewed/revised as necessary.
Accessing Your Chapter Member List via the SUNA Website
SUNA chapter officers can access a list of their chapter members via the SUNA website. Follow these directions to access a list of your chapter members.
Click on the Chapter field for a list of SUNA chapters (in alphabetical order).
Scroll through the list until you find your SUNA chapter, and click on it.
The Chapter field should now display your chapter name.
Click “Go.”
A list of chapter members (in alphabetical order) will display.
Creating a Chapter Website or Facebook Page
Chapter Websites & Social Media (from Nursing Network)
Chapter Facebook Page
Chapter Facebook pages are a great way to share national messages, strategies, and initiatives of SUNA through local chapter efforts. Your Facebook page can be the gateway for larger involvement in SUNA nationally, or a platform for recruitment locally. By having a presence, you can help members and prospective members understand their fit in our organization. Download the following resources for tips to building and using a chapter Facebook page.
A chapter website can help you to showcase your chapter events, communicate with your members, and provide easily accessible information about your chapter to your members.
Before You Get Started
Here are some basic terms you'll need to know. A website is a collection of pages linked together and stored or hosted on a server/computer so that it can be viewed on the Internet. The home page or index page of a website is usually what you see when you first type in a URL in the address field of your browser. URL stands for "uniform resource locator." It is the specific and unique address of the web page on the server. Some URLs can be quite long especially if you are using a free website housing service. That's why some people register with a Domain Name Service (DNS) to get a shorter domain name and address for their visitors to use. Online visitors can enter the domain name such as "www.suna.org" but are really directed to a web page, which may have an entirely different URL address.
Objective
Determine the kind of service or information you want to provide through your site. Your website should provide easily accessible information to your members, future members, other chapters and the general public. Your site should always contain information about your chapter activities and a list of current officers.
Site and Page Titles
Make your titles relevant to your audience and purpose by using keywords that you know they will search for.
Content
Prepare your copy on Word or other document ahead of time and make edits there. This will help to avoid typos and will provide you with a safe copy. Make sure that when you save your document, you save it as a "text", "plain text" or "text only" document. Otherwise it will not be read properly by a web browser. You may need to modify your copy to fit your website template. Suggestions for chapter website content include:
Minutes of regular board meetings
Items the Board wants publicized
Schedule of meetings, events, dinners
Newsletter
Officer names and contact numbers
Chapter educational grant information and application
Duties of Board members
Photos of recent events
Membership application
Link to the SUNA website
History of chapter
Link for contact person and RSVP to meetings/events
When deciding to create a chapter website, look at other pages on the Internet to gather ideas for your own site. Keep in mind that your website is a reflection of SUNA and the urologic nursing profession. You will not need to include any information that is already available on the SUNA website. Instead, just provide a link to www.suna.org. Discuss your content at your chapter board meetings and update your site frequently.
Links
On the same Word document, you'll want to record any links that you will need. Give the link a name that you will display and the actual URL. One of the links should always be "contact me/us" and another link should be to the SUNA website.
Graphics
Great big photos and graphics will load slowly for your users. Try to use smaller graphics or use Photoshop. Prepare all graphics in JPG or GIF formats.
Hosting Service
If you are unable to use hosting services at your hospital, transplant center or University, many companies offer free hosting services, free site builders and other great services but you must agree to display their ad on your website. In addition, some services make you buy something, like a domain name, to get free hosting; this is generally unnecessary since there are many good services that provide free hosting without charging anything. Key reasons to pay for a hosting service include avoidance of ad displays, extra storage space for large projects and catalog or credit card processing. If you are interested in customizing and advancing your website further, try the following:
Dreamweaver, FrontPage - editing applications (expensive, and can take time to learn)
Knowledge in HTML - coding/language that instructs the web page
Photoshop - graphics application
Search engine - promoting your site online
Resources
The Internet provides hundreds of websites that can be extremely helpful to you in developing your own site. Try keywords such as "create website" in searching on the Internet. The following sites may be useful to your search:
HTML Interactive Tool for Beginners - a guide to web programming language
www.websitetips.com - provides extensive information and resources to build or improve your website
Some free and walk-through services that gives people websites are: (1) Angelfire, (2) Tripod, and (3) www.homestead.com
Who will be responsible for your site?
Determine if there is someone in the chapter who has some experience with creating web pages. The site should be updated on a monthly basis, or when information becomes available or outdated. This task should be assigned to someone as part of his or her chapter duties. A chapter website can really enhance communication within your chapter and throughout our organization. Please consider developing a website as your chapter continues to grow. Good luck!