NARA is a membership organization governed by a volunteer board. Officers hold specific responsibilities rather than vague titles, so there is usually one person clearly accountable for any given thing.
The structure
- The board sets direction, approves spending and is accountable to the membership.
- National officers each hold defined responsibilities — membership, finance, clubs, awards, outreach, advocacy and so on.
- Territory, regional and state representatives are the local face of NARA and the people clubs deal with directly.
- Regional Club Councils bring club leaders together by area; each has a representative named by the state representative.
- Committees and volunteers do the work, which is where you come in.
Where decisions get made
Anything that commits money, speaks for NARA publicly, or changes a program is a board decision. Everything else is delegated as far down as it sensibly goes, on purpose: a volunteer who has to ask permission twice for a small thing stops asking at all.
Who to ask
- Your own role, hours or a change of mind: your volunteer coordinator.
- A club listing, a council or anything local: your state representative.
- Money you have spent on our behalf: the treasurer, through the reimbursement form in the portal.
- Anything you cannot place: cq@usnara.org, and we will route it.
How we communicate
Mostly email, and the member portal for anything with a record attached — applications, approvals, reimbursements, presenter bookings. If a conversation matters, get it into the portal or into email so the next volunteer can pick it up where you left it.