How to start up a SAFE chapter or shelter

Step by step, setting up a SAFE chapter

1. Find other people to be a part of your local chapter. Each local chapters needs to have at least three people not related by blood or marriage.

2. Each board person should become a SAFE member. It's easy to do online or by mail.

3. Vote on officer positions for the local board, and for who is on the local board. You must have at least 3 people to fill positions of President, Vice-President and Secretary-treasurer. Details of this are in the SAFE bylaws.

4. Collect from board members enough deductible donations to pay rent on a local PO Box for at least a one year period. The expense for this is usually pretty low.

5. Send as much background information as possible on all board officers to SAFE either via email or to the PO Box.

6. Also send along a proposed geographical region for your chapter to cover. You can cover a state, city, or region. These regions can change in the future as SAFE chapters grow and develop, so don't worry about this too much. If you're opening a shelter, consider the fact that your local domestic violence coalition has geographical considerations as well.

7. Look over the SAFE bylaws (registration required), as they explain the structure of our organization. They are a sort of constitution. If you have any questions or concerns, email us.

   Have all the people on your local board read through the by-laws and make sure they understand them. Sign a copy of these by-laws and mail them to the SAFE PO Box.

   You can also read the annual report at that location. That shows what SAFE has been up to in the last year. This is really important reading for someone interested in joining our organization!

8. Join the safe-startup mailing list. This is a mailing list for chapters that are forming up. You can talk about how to locate other people, how to find grant-writers, etc... in this list.

9. The international board will send you a quick response on the acceptance or rejection of your application for a local chapter.

Setting up your local board - how to find others interested in forming a chapter of SAFE