HOW TO START YOUR OWN CHAPTER

COLAGE enthusiastically supports the efforts of the fabulous, dedicated volunteers who run COLAGE Chapters around the United States and the world. Running a COLAGE Chapter of your own is a rewarding experience for anyone committed to making the world a better place for children of LGBT parents. To get started, you should first find out if there is already a chapter near you. If there is, we urge you to contact them to get involved as a volunteer or participant!

If there is not a group in your area, the first thing to do is to check out the COLAGE Basic Criteria and Chapter Information form to make sure that the group you are imagining is eligible to be a COLAGE Chapter. If you meet all the basic criteria, mail or email the form to COLAGE.

Once you have reviewed your submission, we will send you the COLAGE Chapter Guide. This resource is full of information to help you get a COLAGE chapter off the ground including ideas for setting up a group, activities and events for chapters, outreach, fundraising and more. We'll also send you the COLAGE Chapter Affiliation Agreement. This is a new document required for COLAGE chapters beginning in 2008 that outlines the relationship between COLAGE and our chapters. The Affiliation Agreement must be signed and returned to COLAGE in order to officially activate your new chapter.

Please stay in touch with us; We love to hear about new chapters, fun events, great groups that are happening around the world! We need you to make sure that our contact information for your chapter is current, so that when people from your area contact us we can send them your way. Also, if at any time, you decide to discontinue your group, please let us know. We hate to get disappointed calls and emails from folks who are trying to get in touch with a local chapter that has ceased operating.

Let us know what other questions you have, and support you need. Don't forget to also share with us your good experiences and triumphs with your COLAGE Chapter.