Steps in Organizing a Chapter of the Order of Confederate Rose, Mississippi Society
1. To form a local Chapter in MS, you must have 7 members. Sponsorship of an SCV Camp in the MS Division is required.
2. You may recruit your members by using a brochure such as the sample. Be sure to add the contact person, address, phone and email for your new chapter. To recruit members, you may:
A. Contact the MS Society to see if there are any members-at-large in your area.
B. Contact the commander of the local Sons of Confederate Veterans camp. Ask the commander to invite the wives and /or families of the members to a camp meeting and recruit the wives who attend. You may even make arrangements with the commander for you to speak at a local meeting to explain the functions of the OCR.
C. Put an ad in the local SCV newsletter, your local newspaper, or the state SCV newsletter (The Jeff Davis Legion).
3. During your organizational meeting, you will need to decide on a chapter name, elect officers (or provisional officers to act until an election can be held), complete the charter application, and have each member complete an application.
4. Once you have accomplished the above steps, 4. and 5. may be done in either order or concurrently:
A. Send to the Society: the charter application, the charter members’ applications, a recommendation letter from the sponsoring SCV camp (SCV Camp sponsorship letter samples provided by our South Carolina sisters) , and the agreed amount of dues/assessments ($20.00 per member). The MS Society will contact you with an approximate date in which your charter will arrive so that you may set a date for your chartering meeting.
B. Choose a chapter logo, if desired. The SCV will not allow use of its logo; so do not incorporate it into yours, and also create a Facebook Page for your Chapter and website if you wish to do so. Social Media is a very important tool to growing your Chapter and getting the word out.
C. Optionally, plan for a Membership Certificate presentation ceremony to the chartering members. Certificates and pins are provided by the MS Society.
5. These steps are for the benefit and protection of your chapter and its members. There is no firm rule that you must do this unless you intend to solicit funds from the public (including accepting donations, selling tickets, and furnishing your services for a donation).
A. As soon as the name of the chapter is chosen (you may wish to check with the Society to see if another chapter is already using that name).
B. Start a checking account by requesting an EIN number for your Chapter through the IRS website. This only takes a few minutes to receive by email. Check with your bank to see what info is required in order to put signers on the account and start the process. This is a really easy process once you know what they require.
6. Have your chartering meeting. You may wish to invite a Society officer and the SCV Camp commander to attend this special meeting, or this may be at the SCV Camps meeting. Spouses can be invited to this or any other meeting, as your chapter wishes. Your OCR Charter can be presented (a Society officer or representative or SCV commander can do this). Optionally, present members with membership certificates. Take pictures and write an article to submit to the Society and your local newsletters, the local and state division newsletters, or your local newspaper, and our websites.
7. Send your representative to the Society meetings. The Chapters will meet several times a year. All members of chapters and members-at-large are invited to register for and attend the MS SCV & OCR Societies Convention held each spring. New members and chapters may be formally introduced at that time.
It is up to each OCR Chapter and their SCV Camp to determine if they will meet at the same time or separately. This will benefit both the SCV Camp and OCR Chapter since many members are husband and wife.