Dear Student / Student organization, 

We are delighted about your expression of interest in joining the International Forestry Students’ Association by reviewing this document. The ‘Potential Member Package’ is aimed to provide you with answers to some of the questions about the membership structure, membership fee, who to contact, or how to apply, and potentially make your application process smoother.

We sincerely hope you will find this content helpful and that thanks to this you will become a part of our ever-growing community faster. Enjoy reviewing the Potential Member Package and never hesitate to contact us with further questions.

Am I eligible to become a member? 

Any natural person, forestry students’ organizations at universities across the world (and/or similar institutions of internationally recognized university-level) that wish to be a member of IFSA and act to achieve the objectives according to the Statutes and values of the association are eligible to apply. 

For different types of membership see the chapter Kinds of Membership down below.

How long does it take to become a member?

The time taken for the process depends on the effort of the student organization to file and submit the documents required. Also, it depends if you are creating your LC from scratch or if you already have an established student organization with implemented structure and Statutes (which is the part that takes most of the time to create). 

As soon as the Membership Councilor receives the application, you will be informed if anything is needed to be adjusted. Usually, it takes up to 1 month for the Council to review the application.

The most common way of becoming a member of IFSA is to create a Local Committee (LC). This is so-called “Ordinary membership”. But it is not the only option. There are several types of membership within IFSA and this chapter describes each of them, to make this structure clearer for the potential members. 

Ordinary member 

As already mentioned above, ordinary membership is such where students are organized as a group (Local Committee) under an institution which they are affiliated with. As such, an ordinary member must: 

1. Be a student organization that operates in accordance with the Statutes and values of IFSA; 
2. Operate in accordance with the Statutes and values of their respective university; 
3. Operate in accordance with the Statutes and values of similar institutions of internationally recognized university-level they are affiliated with; 
4. Have natural persons as members. 

At the same time, the ordinary members have to pay an annual membership fee (except for the first year of membership) – for this information see the chapter Membership fee, income level & funding opportunities. 

Associate member 

You can join IFSA also in other ways than an ordinary member. This is called Associate membership. Any natural person or organization can become an associated member if they wish to be a part of IFSA without fulfilling the requirements for ordinary membership. However, such persons/organizations still have to act in accordance with the IFSA Statutes and values. 

Associate members also pay a membership fee which, however, differs from one of the Ordinary members – for this information see the chapter Membership fee, income level & funding opportunities. 

Consulting member 

This kind of membership is, along with the honorary membership, a special one. To be a consulting member, you must fulfill the following conditions: 

1. Be a natural person who contributed their experience to IFSA; 
2. Have contributed to IFSA as an official; 
3. Shall be appointed at an ordinary General Assembly (GA) session. 

The consulting members are appointed for an initial period of three years and later can be renewed if desired. 

Honorary member 

Honorary members are natural persons or organizations that IFSA wishes to honor and they must be nominated at an ordinary GA session. No more than three honorary members might be appointed per year and they are contacted and managed by the IFSA Supporter and Alumni Network (IFSA SAN). 

Ordinary member 

Following is the required process you need to go through to become IFSA’s Ordinary Member: 

1. Fill in the Application form for Ordinary members
2. Create the Statutes of your organization
3. The IFSA Board will review your application within a month (usually it is less) and contact you for potential clarification or accept your membership if all is alright.

If you have any questions regarding the process please contact your regional representative at your.region@ifsa.net (e.g., asia.pacific@ifsa.net, etc.). 

Associate member 

Following is the required process you need to go through to become IFSA’s Associate Member: 

1. Fill in the Application form for Associate members
2. After completion please send all the documents to membership.councilor@ifsa.net. Then the Board will review your application and whether approve your membership or contact you for further clarification.

If you have any questions regarding the process please contact your regional representative at your.region@ifsa.net (e.g., asia.pacific@ifsa.net, etc.). 

Membership fee and income level 

Ordinary and Associate members of IFSA are required to pay an annual fee to be a part of the organization, with the exception of the first year of membership which is for free. The fees should be paid before the symposium each year, otherwise, they cannot take part in voting during the General Assembly (approving changes in IFSA Statutes, electing the Official members for the year to come, etc.). 

The amount of the fee for each member depends on the country the member is from. Countries are organized into separate categories according to the GDP per capita compiled annually by the CIA World Factbook at the start of the previous IFSA year. The three income categories are: High-Income countries (HIC); Middle-Income countries (MIC), and Low-Income countries (LIC). 

The membership fees in relation to the income categories are as follows (to see which category your country belongs to, check this document): 

Income Categories	Ordinary member / Associate member
HIC	125 EUR / 75 EUR
MIC	60 EUR / 40 EUR
LIC	30 EUR / 25 EUR

Voluntary cancellation of the membership must be sent by the member to the Board (board@ifsa.net). The Council has 12 weeks to process the membership cancellation.

Do you feel motivated enough to become a member? Or do you have any doubt or question for which you haven’t found an answer in this document nor on the IFSA website? Then don’t hesitate to contact us. But whom exactly? In this chapter, you will find out. 

There are two positions within IFSA that are specially designated for such situations. One is called Regional Representative (RR) and the second is Membership Councilor (MC). 

Regional Representatives (RRs) 

The Regional Representatives are an official position in IFSA who have a broad overview of their region since they should be in the closest contact with the Local Committees from the region, being the communication link between the IFSA Officials and the regional members, and help to deal with any issues there might arise within the region. Below you can see a list with some of the RRs’ responsibilities and for which you can contact them. 

Their responsibilities 

• Act as the first contact point for LC members in the region
• Help with the application process of new LCs 
• Establish a network of representatives from each LCs
• Host “Coffee Hours” with LC representatives to keep them updated about what’s new 
• Coordinate activities in the region (e.g. events, exchanges between LCs, etc.) 
• Manage regional social media and share IFSA News and activities with the region
• Support the organization of the Regional Meeting 

Contact them if you 

• Want more information related to IFSA and/or the region 
• Want to hold an event to introduce IFSA 
• Need help to check your Statutes and Application (before submitting to the Membership Councilor) 
• Have a question about the documents you need to become a member 

Membership Councilor 

The Membership Councilor focuses on coordinating regional action and overseeing the Regional Representatives. The important task is to represent the interests and needs of the Regions’ balances in the decisions taken by the Council. 

Their responsibilities 

• Review the membership applications and approve or reject them 
• Take care of the membership database 
• Host meetings with all the RRs and discuss important issues 

Contact them if you 

• Want to submit your membership application 
• Wish to know the progress of your application 
• Have any changes with LC information 

How to contact them? 

All the IFSA Officials are available to be contacted via email address and they are all willing to help with any inquiry you might have. To see who exactly holds the position you need, check the IFSA Team page here. 

For contacting the Membership Councilor, send your email to: 

membership.councilor@ifsa.net  

For contacting the Regional Representatives, send your email to: 

asia.pacific@ifsa.net for the region of Asia Pacific 

latin.america@ifsa.net for the region of Latin America 

northern.africa@ifsa.net for the region of Northern Africa 

northern.america@ifsa.net for the region of Northern America 

northern.europe@ifsa.net for the region of Northern Europe 

southern.africa@ifsa.net  for the region of Southern Africa 

southern.europe@ifsa.net for the region of Southern Europe 

How to find what region you belong to? 

Are you not sure which IFSA region your country belongs to? There are currently 7 regions in IFSA as shown above. You can check the regional page with an interactive map, where you find your regional affiliation here. 

Statutes are an important document of your students’ organization, delimiting the main laws by which all the organization’s activities are governed. It is important to define the main structure and goals of the organization, as well as the way how the official positions are chosen/elected. Below you will find the template for this document, showing what shouldn’t be forgotten while writing the Statutes. 

By definition, the Statutes are ‘the ordinance of some chartered body’. They are important to ensure an orderly, democratic, and fairly run organization, and continuation into the future. 

Creating Statutes 

It is important that the Statutes of your students’ organization are created by a number of official members and that they are approved by the general body of members of your organization. They must be abided by in all activities of the organization. Changes may be made but recorded and appropriately approved by members of the organization. Any time a change is made in the Statutes of your organization, you are required to let IFSA know about such a change for tracking purposes (send the changes update to board@ifsa.net). 

The following template is just an example to give you an inspiration of how the Statutes may look like, you do not have to stick to it completely, but the particular articles included here should be part of the LC’s ones in any way 

Article One – Name of the Organization 

The name of the organization consisted of the official name in your local language and abbreviation, as well as its English version. 

Article Two – Seat of the Organization 

The official seat of the organization (e.g. the address of your faculty). 

Article Three – Aims and Objectives 

The aim of the organization is to help the students, who have different majors, to interact with each other, and to promote the student interactions and activities connected with forestry. 

Article Four – Membership 

All students enrolled in the organization are automatically enabled to join and participate in any meetings or events run by the organization. Are all, BSc., MSc. and Ph.D. Are students free to join your organization? Are there more types of membership (e.g. ordinary, honorary, distance, etc.)? 

Article Five – Structure of the Organization 

The organization shall have the Board comprising of: 

• President 
• Vice President 
• Secretary 
• Treasurer 

Other positions may be created at the discretion of the Board and with the approval of more than 50% of active members. 

Article Six – The Board 

Aims 

The Board shall endeavor at all times to represent the views and wishes of its members to the best of its ability. Members of the board will represent the organization at all official events unless this duty is delegated to another member of the organization. 

Role of Board Members 

President 

The President is responsible for the running of all meetings. He/she is the main representative and spokesperson for the group at external meetings. 

Vice President 

The Vice President assists the president and fills in for him/her when needed. He/she will also represent the organization if the president is unavailable. 

Treasurer 

The Treasurer is responsible for managing all financial affairs of the organization. He/she will also represent the organization if the president is unavailable. 

Secretary 

The Secretary is responsible for all incoming correspondence, maintenance of archives, and keeping minutes at meetings. He/she will also represent the organization if the president is unavailable.

Powers 

Each member of the Board shall be a signatory to the bank account. Two signatories must sign for any expenditure. Any expense greater than 100,000 EUR must be approved by a majority of active members.

Voting 

Nominations shall be submitted to the President at least one week prior to the election meeting. Prior to the vote, each candidate will have the chance to make a brief statement and may be asked questions by the members. 

Voting will be held in the order: President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Any person who fails to be elected for a position is eligible to run for one of the following positions. 

At least ¾ of the active members of the organization are needed for the election of the board to proceed. Voting will be determined by a simple majority. In the case of a deadlock, there will be a re-vote including only the leading candidates. In the case of a second deadlock, each candidate will have a maximum of five minutes to make a further statement to the members, followed by any further questions from members to the candidates. 

Article Seven – Meetings of the Association 

Meetings shall be held at least once a month where possible. Notice of at least a week shall be given before any meeting. 

Any agenda items must be submitted at least 24 hours before the meeting for them to be included. 

At least 2/3 of the active members of the organization are needed for a quorum. Voting will be determined by a simple majority. In the event of a deadlock, a re-vote will be held. In the event of a second deadlock, the President shall have the casting vote. 

Article Eight – Duties of Non-Executive Office Bearers 

Additional positions may be created as outlined in Article Five. The duties of any such position will be clearly defined by the members and the board at the time the position is created.

Article Nine – Indemnity 

While the board and members of the organization will do everything reasonably possible to ensure the safety of all participants in activities run by the organization, they accept no responsibility for any injury which may occur. This will be made clear to all participants prior to their participation in any case. 

Article Ten – Changes to the Statutes 

Any changes to the Statutes must be supported by ¾ of the active members of the organization. Any proposed changes must be announced at least two weeks prior to the vote and the proposed changes must be made available to be read by any member of the organization. 

After any approved changes to the Statutes, the Board of the Local Committee shall inform IFSA Board at board@ifsa.net about such changes. 

Article Eleven – Access to Information 

Any member of the organization may apply for access to information concerning the organization. If such a request is made, the requested information must be made available within 7 days from the request, or if this is not possible, at the earliest possible time which shall not be longer than 14 days. 

Access to requested information may be refused if it relates to personal, legal, or other matters which are considered confidential by the Board. 

Article Twelve – Winding up 

In the event of the organization’s winding up, the possible funds of the organization should be directed to a recognized charity. None of the members should gain any personal gain from the breaking up of the organization. 

Application form 

Have you read through the document and decided to apply to become an IFSA member? We are very happy to hear that. As you might have noticed in the chapter Procedure to become an IFSA member, you need to submit the Statutes of your organization together with the filled Application form. 

The Application form is a Google form that you need to fill in. You can access the Application form here:

Part of the application for ordinary membership is a document you need to sign, as well as to provide an official signature and stamp from your faculty. You can download this document here, and attach it in section 4 of the application form. 

We will look forward to receiving your application soon!