Forming a New Affiliate

How To Form An Affiliate

Related resources: Affiliate Resources Page

There are obvious advantages for having an AIS affiliated club close to home, but not everyone is close to an AIS affiliate. It is very easy to form a new affiliate.

First, you need to find a couple of AIS members near by. If you do not know who lives in your area, your region membership chair should be able to help you make this determination. Otherwise, the AIS membership chair (email: memsec@irises.org) can help. With only a couple of members you can start with a president and a secretary/treasurer. All officers must be AIS members however you can encourage membership in the local club without requiring they belong to AIS.

To register as a new AIS affiliate, an application for affiliaton form must be completed. A fillable and printable form is available on the AIS website under the 'Regions & Local Clubs Information' tab. It may also be obtained from the AIS Affiliates Chair (email: affiliatesliaison@irises.org). Essentially it says you agree to follow the ethics and rules of the AIS. New clubs do not have to pay the yearly affiliation fee of $30 for the year in which they apply. Complete the form, submit it and your request will be approved by the AIS board. (NOTE: starting in 2026 this process will be done electronically. Watch here for updates.)

Clubs determine when and how often they choose to meet. It is great fun to have a program and get to know fellow iris lovers. Often lasting friendships develop and certainly there are great opportunities to share plants and organize tour gardens.

AIS has a packet that is very useful for recognizing and completing other paperwork for your new affiliate. This includes becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization under the AIS group exemption. The packet has sample bylaws and outlines the required steps that need to be taken. This is the current (posted June 22, 2015) packet (PDF). This is where you can also find the AIS 501(c)(3) Determination Letter (PDF) that will be acceptable to banks, post offices, etc. for showing your non-profit status.

As an affiliate of AIS, you are insured against outsiders who may attend your events and have some accident. For special tours, conventions or shows that you hold you may obtain a certificate of insurance which some venues require before holding events. Details and a form for requesting the certificate of insurance are on the AIS website.

Some suggestions for regions on facilitating the formation of a new club in an area can be found in this PDF containing suggestions from Gary White.

We hope you will have many happy experiences as a new chapter and keep in contact with the various AIS chairs so that we can help you make the most of being an AIS affiliate.

Please let us know other resources that would be/would have been helpful when forming a new club and share your experiences. You can add them in the Comment Box or edit this page. Thank you!

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-- BobPries - 2016-04-18