Mandatory Chapter Policies and Procedures
Table of Contents
- Use of the Unite For Sight Name and Logo
- Unite For Sight's Mission Statement: Use For All Publicity
- Register Your Chapter With Your University
- Hold a Minimum of Two Community-Based Events and Two Fundraising Events Each Month
- Global Health Educational Activities & Required Speaker Proposal
- Mandatory Phone Conversations and Online Monthly Updates
- Order Unite For Sight TShirts
Use of the Unite For Sight Name and Logo
The Unite For Sight name, logo, and materials are protected by copyright and trademark laws worldwide. The use by unapproved groups of the Unite For Sight name, logo, and materials constitutes the infringement of our trademarks and copyrights, which carries the potential for serious legal consequences. Licenses to those important intellectual properties are available only after a group submits the Chapter Charter, and only to chapters that comply with Unite For Sight's legitimate and appropriate requirements.
After a group submits their Chapter Charter, and at the time that Unite For Sight approves a group for affiliation as a chapter, the chapter is granted permission to utilize the Unite For Sight name and logo. The Unite for Sight name and logo may be used on approved educational materials, posters, and flyers. Prior to printing any materials with the Unite For Sight name or logo, the proposed material must be sent to Unite For Sight (chapters@uniteforsight.org) for approval.
Chapters are not permitted to print new Unite For Sight TShirt designs. All Unite For Sight volunteers worldwide are required to wear the same TShirt (http://www.uniteforsight.org/ordershirt.php)
Unite For Sight's Mission Statement - Use For All Publicity
Unite For Sight® is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that empowers communities worldwide to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Unite For Sight applies best practices in eye care, global health, and social entrepreneurship to achieve our goal of high quality eye care for all. In addition to being a leader in providing cost-effective care to the world's poorest people, our Global Health University develops and nurtures the next generation of global health leaders.
Register Your Chapter with Your University
Find out how to register your chapter as an official student organization (every school has different guidelines). Registering may make you eligible for benefits, including room rental privileges and funds for conference travel or campus events. You will also most likely become eligible for university funding, which can fund start-up expenses such as copies, paper, and other materials. You must use university funding to fund your chapter's expenses. All funds raised by your chapter through fundraising events or donations must fund international eye care and therefore must be submitted to Unite For Sight, without exception.
Monthly Requirements: Minimum of Two Community-Based Events and Two Fundraising Activities
Community-Based Programs: Unite For Sight chapters must offer at least two community-based training event per month at a soup kitchen, homeless shelter, school, or similar community center. Each program may involve a minimum of 2-3 volunteers. If 15 volunteers are involved with the chapter, for example, you could hold approximately five programs per month with a separate group of volunteers during each day. Depending on the number of volunteers involved with the chapter, chapters should hold one to two events per week.
Community-based events include teacher training workshops, community center staff training workshops, and education programs for school children. Chapters are required to hold at least one teacher training workshop and at least one community center staff training workshop per semester.
Chapters are prohibited from implementing any visual tests in the community.
Fundraisers: Unite For Sight chapters must hold a least two fundraising activities per month. Fundraisers include bake sales, online fundraising campaigns, on-campus benefit concerts or dances, penny wars, auctioning donated items, etc. There are many fundraising options. Before you implement any fundraisers, it is important that you first submit an email to Unite For Sight (chapters@uniteforsight.org) with a 1-2 sentence description of your fundraising plan.
- Date of proposed fundraiser:
- Location of proposed fundraiser:
- Please briefly describe the fundraiser:
- Will any expenses be associated with the fundraiser? If so, how will you fund those expenses?
Global Health Educational Activities & Required Speaker Proposal
In addition to community-based and fundraising events, we also encourage chapters to go "above and beyond" to develop educational activities for their members and for their university campus. Chapters often recruit speakers to talk about global health issues and strategies. Chapters also often invite a Unite For Sight leader to speak about global health on their campuses.
Before inviting a speaker, it is important to submit a short proposal to Unite For Sight so that we can ensure that the invited speakers disseminate quality information to the chapter volunteers and to the university as a whole. In spite of good intentions, international health work that does not follow global health best practice principles can be wasteful, unethical, and harmful. Worst practices are serious public health concerns that create new and oftentimes more substantial barriers to patient care, thereby reinforcing and furthering health disparities and the cycle of poverty. Furthermore, these worst practices most often violate concepts of social justice and human rights. For example, short-term interventions (i.e. medical missions, voluntourism, volunteer vacations) are worst practices, and speakers from these types of organizations must therefore not be invited to speak for the Unite For Sight chapter. We encourage you to read more about the significant harm of worst practices at http://www.uniteforsight.org/global-health-course/module9
Short Proposal
- Proposed speaker's name and organization:
- Website (if applicable) that describes the speaker's work:
When you coordinate global health speakers, you should make these educational opportunities available to the entire university community, not only to your current chapter members. These educational events are also a great opportunity to recruit new volunteers to participate in the Unite For Sight chapter.
Mandatory Phone Conversations and Online Monthly Updates
Unite For Sight's Chapter Coordinator will call the chapter President every other week to check in about the chapter's activities, hear about your past two weeks of activities and about your upcoming programming, and also answer questions. The phone conversations with the chapter President will be 5-10 minutes in duration.
All chapters are required to submit monthly updates through the online system on the first day of every month. The update should include a list of events during the previous month and additional noteworthy news. We would like to hear about your chapter's activities, and we encourage you to share your ideas and photographs.
Order Unite For Sight TShirts
We encourage all of your chapter volunteers to order Unite For Sight TShirts online at http://www.uniteforsight.org/ordershirt.php It is best for all volunteers to wear these shirts during community events so that community members are immediately aware of your affiliation with Unite For Sight.