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Learn how you can structure your new Sexuality and Gender Alliance/GSA!
Tags: #LGBTQIA, #SAGA, #GSA, #Education, #Guide
Structure is imperative for any club or organisation. Sexuality and gender alliance and GSAs have unique issues that require a specific plan.
Below is a structure based on what worked for me and my SAGA, every SAGA is unique so try adapting what I say in different ways based on what you need.
Overview
School
Staff Advisor
Student Advisor/Leader
Public Relations Manager
Team Lead One, Team Lead Two and Team Lead Three
Secretary, Treasurer, Website Manager and Historian
Members
Workplace
Advisor One and Advisor Two
Public Relations Manager
Team Lead One, Team Lead Two and Team Lead Three
Secretary, Treasurer, Website Manager and Historian
Members
Admins
If your SAGA is in a school, it's essential to have both a staff and student advisor so you have someone for both adults and students to relate to and trust.
Highest Authority: Staff Advisor
Make sure this is a certified staff member who has already made their commitment to the club clear.
The staff advisor is responsible for the majority of the backend work directly relating to the school and local/state governments.
Second Highest Authority: Student Advisor/Leader
This role is similar to other clubs' presidents.
The student advisor/leader is responsible for the majority of the backend work with the community and other school clubs/organisations.
They may also be designated as your public relations person - acting as a public face for your club.
In the workplace, you should still aim for having at least two designated leaders to split the workload and introduce unique ideas.
Highest Authority: Advisor One and Advisor Two
In the workplace, since you are all likely to be legal adults, it's much easier to share the backend workload more evenly between your two advisors.
Make sure to have both advisors discuss their specific roles and commit to equal responsibilities.
Public Relations
If you decide not to have one of your advisors be the person responsible for public relations, it's important to set out a designated public relations manager.
Next-Highest Authority: Public Relations Manager
This person will be responsible for maintaining the Saga's social media as well as acting as a friendly face for the SAGA to be associated with.
The public relations manager may attend board meetings and other public events as the official representative of your SAGA.
It's for this reason that they need to be a higher-ranking person within your SAGA. They need to be able to make a decision if need be.
Leaders
No matter if you're in a school or a workplace, if your SAGA is large enough, you may be tackling multiple projects at the same time. This is where your leads come in; you should designate at least a few people with good leadership skills to act as standby leads for when you need them.
High-Level Members: Team/Project Leads
These members will ultimately become responsible for their individual projects and teams.
They need to be able to make decisions that impact their team without direct oversight from your SAGA's admins, however, they shouldn't be able to speak for the SAGA in its entirety.
Assistants
These are some of the most important roles within your SAGA. They're responsible for the day-to-day record keeping and upkeep.
Specialised Member: Secretary
This member will be responsible for note-taking and minute-reading.
This needs to be a well-organised person who doesn't mind speaking at the beginning of each meeting.
Specialised Member: Treasurer
This member will be responsible for tracking funds going in and out of the SAGA's account.
They may also have access to the SAGA's debit card should you choose to give them more responsibility.
Specialised Member: Website Manager
This member will be responsible for backend upkeep on the SAGA's website.
This member may also be the person responsible for updating the site with campaign posts depending on the social media manager's comfort with doing so.
Specialised Member: Historian
This member will be responsible for keeping a record of everything outside of meetings - taking pictures, maintaining a timeline of events, and other various record-keeping tasks.
*This responsibility can be achieved by the secretary, however, it is always better to limit the workload each member has especially when they are performing - sometimes more mundane - repetitive tasks
Misc.
Members
These are the rest of your members, even though they may not have a specific title, they are the ones who will achieve the most!
Now Go Achieve Greatness!
Go talk to your fellow advisors about how you want to implement a role structure within your SAGA!
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