Step 1: Connect with your Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

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

• If you do not know your OPO, let us know by emailing students@sodanational.org and we'll introduce you.

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

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Step 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 School

  • Identify a teacher or professor who can be 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.

• College and University

  • 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.

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Step 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

  • Accessing Funding and Supplies

    • ​Event Funding Request

    • Supplies Request

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Step 4: Begin outreach on campus

Being able to share information about SODA with your school will allow your chapter to grow! We suggest creating a new email address and social media pages with your chapter's name to communicate with your fellow students.

• Create a SODA email for chapter communications.

  • Having a SODA-specific email address 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 Facebook 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 leader on your LinkedIn profile!

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Step 5: Plan your first event

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

• Leverage our tips and resources 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 of how 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.