A short, practical list for the first few weeks. None of it is hard; it is mostly about not waiting to be told.
The first week
- Reply to your coordinator with the times of day you are actually reachable.
- If you are a member, sign in to the portal and check your details and callsign are right.
- Look up your state representative and the council covering your county, and introduce yourself.
- Subscribe to the NARA calendar so meetings appear in your own calendar.
The tools you have
- The member portal: your membership, applications, presenter bookings and reimbursements.
- Promotional material clubs and volunteers can request for public events.
- The wiki, which you can edit once you are signed in.
- This learning center, which will grow as we add courses.
Money
Ask before you spend anything on NARA's behalf. When approved spending happens, claim it: submit the receipt through the reimbursement form in the portal, with mileage if you drove, and it goes to the treasurer for approval. Volunteers subsidizing a nonprofit out of pocket is how volunteers quietly disappear.
Representing NARA in public
- Do say what NARA is and what it does; do point people at the site and at their local club.
- Do be generous about other organizations. We do not ask anyone to choose.
- Do not speak for NARA on regulatory or legal matters, or to the press, unless that is your role. Send it to us instead.
- Do not share member data. It is ours in trust, not ours to hand out.
- When in doubt, ask first. Nobody has ever been in trouble here for asking.
That is the course
Finish this lesson and you can claim your certificate of completion. Your coordinator will see that you have finished, which is what lets them place you in a role.