Starting an RSO

Solidify your RSO’s purpose and objectives as an organization. Ensure that your RSO’s mission or purpose aligns with its goals or objectives. Identifying this information now will help when you start drafting your RSO’s constitution.

Mission Statement/Purpose: Why do you want to establish this RSO? What will the RSO plan to accomplish or strive for? Your mission statement or purpose should be specific, clear, and easily understandable by all of the RSO’s members.

An RSO’s purpose might be elaborate, or it might be at a smaller scale. While one RSO might have its mission be reducing food waste at all dining locations on campus, another RSO might exist to bring together students who want to play a particular card game. Both of these purposes are valid!

Goals and Objectives: What are the specific objectives your RSO is going to work towards? These should align with the RSO’s mission or purpose, and they can also be related to RSO member development (i.e., what goals does the RSO have for its members’ learning).

Just like missions and purposes, goals might be large or small. While the RSO aiming at reducing food waste might have goals to connect campus dining locations to food shelters and decrease non-perishable food waste by 50% in a particular month, the card game RSO might have a goal of holding one game night a month.

To help develop strong goals, consider using the “SMART Goal” structure: Goals should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

The Office for Student Organizations, Leadership & Involvement offers a few resources for helping with recruitment: Fall and Spring Student Organization Fairs, the SOLI Spotlight Newsletter, and Mass Emails.

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The GRAPE Principle is an acronym for the five most common reasons students join student organizations. In order to effectively recruit and retain membership, is important that you understand your member’s needs. Be sure to reevaluate your member’s needs every year, as they are constantly changing. Below is a description of each of the common member needs, as well as suggestions on how to improve your organization in order to accommodate these needs.

G – Growth: Having opportunities to increase your skills and competencies, personal skill development opportunities, becoming more competent, experienced, and confident.

R – Recognition: Gaining respect from others you admire, receiving recognition and praise for a job well done, receiving feedback on your work within the organization. Recognition is a great way to continue the on-going process of recruitment. Consider becoming involved in Homecoming or collaborating with another RSO on a program or community service opportunity to help get your RSO’s name out.

A – Achievement: Having the opportunity to solve problems, seeing the result of your efforts, being given meaningful responsibilities, seeing your feedback and ideas become reality.

P – Participation: Planning and scheduling work, given the opportunity and being allowed to make or contribute in important decision making, being “active,” not just a member.

E – Enjoyment: Having fun, working as part of a team, feeling a part of something important. Make sure your RSO is worth the time to join. Create a positive and welcoming environment–know the RSO members’ names and needs. Structure meetings so everyone feels comfortable.

Effective organization management relies on collaboration between organization members as well as other student organizations on campus. Collaboration can also be between an organization and a campus office or department.

Reasons to Collaborate: Can make the event more meaningful for everyone involved; expands funding sources; more creative minds; more planning resources; networking and outreach opportunities; larger event turnout; improve image and credibility; enhance the sphere of impact; increase visibility; save on costs.

How to Collaborate:

• Connect with people and with a purpose: Alliances are successful when key individuals connect personally and emotionally with a common social or cultural purpose and each other.
• Clarify your purpose: Jointly prepare a written purpose statement. Vagueness and ambiguity will cloud the vision and may lead to confusion or conflict.
• Ensure congruence of mission, strategy and values: Engage to identify alignment between mission, strategy and values. The closer the alignment, the greater potential for gains from collaboration.
• Create value: Jointly and explicitly outline the benefits expected from each party.
• Open & transparent communication between partners: 
  • Communication should be open, frank, and constructive.
  • Respect and trust are imperative.
  • Treat each other as equal partners.
• Embrace continual learning: Collaboration is dynamic. View the partnership as a learning opportunity and cultivate the discovery ethic that supports continual learning.
• Commit to partnership: “Over committing and under delivering can destroy partner credibility and neglect can lead quickly to partner disengagement.” (James E. Austin)