The steps below outline how to go about affiliating a new society.

NOTE that this information may be considerably out-of-date. For more information, email the Societies Officer on socs@st-andrews.ac.uk.
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1. Email the Societies Officer – socs@st-andrews.ac.uk - about your wish to start a new society. Include the name you wish for your society and an outline of what your society’s aims would be.  

Feel free to carry on with the other points here, this step is just to ask initial questions and in case there seem to be any big problems with your aims.

Have a look through the online A-Z of societies to make sure that your constitution will not clash with the aims in another societies' constitution. 

2. Go to The Affiliation Guide found on this website and make sure that you work through the requirements needed to start a society (some of the requirements will take time to sort out, for instance the bank will take a few weeks to sort out your bank account).  Don't forget to create a constitution and email it to socs@st-andrews.ac.uk.  There is a model constitution available online or you can create your own using this as a guideline. 

3. The Societies Officer and the Committee can look over your forms before the societies meeting and discuss anything before meeting with you. 

4. Once you have filled in and submitted all the relevant forms come to a Societies Committee meeting held on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in the Committee Room on the top floor of the Union. Make sure you bring a list of your paid members so we can make sure that you have at least 25, and any other paperwork you think may be relevant (including a paper copy of your constitution) (NB If you wish to come to see the Societies Committee at any point while trying to affiliate then please do).

5. After meeting with you the societies committee discuss your application and vote on whether to affiliate your society or not. Your president, and your society’s non-personal account, will then be emailed, before 10am the following day, and you will be told whether or not you have been successfully affiliated.

6. The affiliation process is only complete if the relevant members of your committee complete training. If the Societies Committee voted to affiliate you then your treasurer must attend treasurer training held on Wednesdays at 4.30 p.m. in the Committee Room. After training your treasurer can pick up a £50 cheque that is given to each new society from the cash office on the second floor of the Union.
A member of your executive committee must also attend health and safety training which is held at 4 p.m. in the same location as treasurer’s training (training will not take too long – maximum half an hour).

7. Upon picking up your cheque, and completing Training, your society becomes successfully affiliated!

If you do become affiliate, please look at the rest of the societies website for details on how to run your society and how your society will work within the Union.