First Steps as a SODA Chapter

First Steps Once Approved as a SODA Chapter

So, you’ve been approved as an official SODA chapter–congratulations! 🎉 To kickstart, your new student group, follow these steps.

1. Connect with your Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

Along with SODA National, your OPO is here to help you save lives. Be sure to:

Attend volunteer training. Your OPO’s volunteer training program will make sure you can go into your community and have productive conversations about organ donation.
Participate in your OPO’s volunteer events once you’re trained as a volunteer. Your OPO can also connect you with local speakers for events and more.

If you do not know your OPO, email students@sodanational.org and we’ll re-introduce you!

2. Become a registered student organization on your campus

Becoming a registered student organization on campus will allow you to unlock your school’s resources. Here’s how to begin the process:

High Schools
- Identify a teacher or professor who can serve as an advisor for your organization
- Figure out what your school requires of a club and what rules you need to follow to ensure you stay in good standing
- Update SODA National as you go through this process so we can support you along the way.
Colleges and Universities
- Identify your university's office of campus activities/clubs and organizations/student engagement and the resources they provide to potential new registered student orgs.
- Figure out when the next round of applications are due for new clubs and organizations on your campus, and what you need to do to kickstart this process.
- Attend all trainings, education sessions, and meetings you may need to complete the application process, and take advantage of on-campus staff members.

3. Know your resources!

If you’re on this guide, chances are you’re already familiar with SODA’s resources for students, but here are the highlights:

For new chapters, check out these key guides: In-Person Education Events, In-Person Registration Drives, Virtual Education Events, Virtual Registration Drives, and Personalized Registration Links for Chapters
Don’t forget–we have more resources than just our how-to guides.
- SODA’s Student Resources webpage (all of our resources are linked here)
- Accessing Funding and Supplies
  - Event Funding Request
  - Supplies Request

4. Begin outreach on campus

Being able to share information about SODA with your school will allow your chapter to grow! We suggest creating an email and social media pages to communicate with your fellow students.

Create a SODA email for chapter communications.
- Having a SODA-specific general email allows you to distribute information to a wider audience without using your personal or campus emails.
- We recommend creating a Gmail account in the form of soda[university name]@gmail.com or contacting your institution to create an email address like SODA@[schoolname].edu.
- Creating a Google Drive shared folder with a chapter Gmail allows easy access to shared documents and ensures that future chapter leadership teams can reference your team’s work and accomplishments.
Start social media pages for your chapter.
- Create Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and/or Twitter pages to promote your events at your school and share educational information to reach a larger audience.
- Follow SODA National for inspiration and so we can “like” and “follow” your chapter's posts.
- Bonus idea: Consider adding your involvement as a SODA volunteer on your LinkedIn profile!

5. Plan your first event

The moment we’ve all been waiting for and the reason why you started a SODA chapter 🙌

Leverage the tips on Notion to plan your first on-campus event! Here are the best guides for you to review as you’re planning: In-Person Education Events, In-Person Registration Drives, Virtual Education Events, Virtual Registration Drives, and Planning a Semester of Events
As you begin to host events, 🚨 keep track many students your chapter educates and registers 🚨 since we will ask for those numbers at the end of each semester. (We cannot stress the importance of this enough!)
If you are awaiting approval from your school to become an official organization, ask if you can begin to table/recruit on behalf of your organization while you await approval. Always ask permission first.

I have more questions!

First Steps Once Approved as a SODA Chapter

1. Connect with your Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

Along with SODA National, your OPO is here to help you save lives. Be sure to:

Attend volunteer training. Your OPO’s volunteer training program will make sure you can go into your community and have productive conversations about organ donation.

Participate in your OPO’s volunteer events once you’re trained as a volunteer. Your OPO can also connect you with local speakers for events and more.

If you do not know your OPO, email students@sodanational.org and we’ll re-introduce you!

​

2. Become a registered student organization on your campus

Becoming a registered student organization on campus will allow you to unlock your school’s resources. Here’s how to begin the process:

High Schools

Identify a teacher or professor who can serve as an advisor for your organization

Figure out what your school requires of a club and what rules you need to follow to ensure you stay in good standing

Update SODA National as you go through this process so we can support you along the way.

Colleges and Universities

Identify your university's office of campus activities/clubs and organizations/student engagement and the resources they provide to potential new registered student orgs.

Figure out when the next round of applications are due for new clubs and organizations on your campus, and what you need to do to kickstart this process.

Attend all trainings, education sessions, and meetings you may need to complete the application process, and take advantage of on-campus staff members.

​

3. Know your resources!

If you’re on this guide, chances are you’re already familiar with SODA’s resources for students, but here are the highlights:

For new chapters, check out these key guides: In-Person Education Events, In-Person Registration Drives, Virtual Education Events, Virtual Registration Drives, and Personalized Registration Links for Chapters

Don’t forget–we have more resources than just our how-to guides.

SODA’s Student Resources webpage (all of our resources are linked here)

Accessing Funding and Supplies

Event Funding Request

Supplies Request

​

4. Begin outreach on campus

Being able to share information about SODA with your school will allow your chapter to grow! We suggest creating an email and social media pages to communicate with your fellow students.

Create a SODA email for chapter communications.

Having a SODA-specific general email allows you to distribute information to a wider audience without using your personal or campus emails.

We recommend creating a Gmail account in the form of soda[university name]@gmail.com or contacting your institution to create an email address like SODA@[schoolname].edu.

Creating a Google Drive shared folder with a chapter Gmail allows easy access to shared documents and ensures that future chapter leadership teams can reference your team’s work and accomplishments.

Start social media pages for your chapter.

Create Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and/or Twitter pages to promote your events at your school and share educational information to reach a larger audience.

Follow SODA National for inspiration and so we can “like” and “follow” your chapter's posts.

Bonus idea: Consider adding your involvement as a SODA volunteer on your LinkedIn profile!

​

5. Plan your first event

The moment we’ve all been waiting for and the reason why you started a SODA chapter 🙌

Leverage the tips on Notion to plan your first on-campus event! Here are the best guides for you to review as you’re planning: In-Person Education Events, In-Person Registration Drives, Virtual Education Events, Virtual Registration Drives, and Planning a Semester of Events

As you begin to host events, 🚨 keep track many students your chapter educates and registers 🚨 since we will ask for those numbers at the end of each semester. (We cannot stress the importance of this enough!)

If you are awaiting approval from your school to become an official organization, ask if you can begin to table/recruit on behalf of your organization while you await approval. Always ask permission first.