Start An Organization
If you have any questions related to forming a new student organization, or reactivating a previously registered organization, please contact Student Involvement for assistance. Student Involvement, csidesk@uwm.edu, (414) 229-5780 or Union 351.
Things To Consider Before You Start
Currently, there are nearly 300 student organizations at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). While the university if supportive of co-curricular and extracurricular experiences, the institution has a responsibility to manage the resources needed for such a large number of organizations. There is also a limit as to how many students may be interested in joining a new organization with so many student organizations already available to them.
Consider the following questions
- Does our proposed organization overlap with any existing organization? Check the student organization list by CLICKING HERE. If there is some overlap, what makes the proposed new organization different from similar organizations?
- Does your student organization have enough interest among students to last for multiple years?
- Has a similar organization been active on campus in the past? If so, XXXXXXX
- Will the proposed organization require special resources (facilities, equipment, etc.) to operate and if so, how will the organization gain access to these unique resources?
Tips For Success
- Read and respond to emails. Include all officers in the cc line of emails.
- Respond to requests in a timely manner.
- Organizations that have one or more individuals serving as officers who have been an officer in a student organization before have a much higher success rate than other student organizations.
- If you have any doubts or questions, contact Student Involvement for assistance. Student Involvement, csidesk@uwm.edu, (414) 229-5780 or Union 351.
Each student organization must provide the full name, UWM student identification number, phone number, and email address of four UW‐Milwaukee students currently enrolled at least half-time to serve as officers. At least one of the contacts for the organization must agree to have their name and phone number or email address released as the public information for the group.
Requirement Details
- List four UWM students enrolled in a degree program, on a fee-paying (Segregated University Fee) basis for at least half‐time (6 credits for undergraduates and 4 credits for graduate students) as contacts within the Org Registration and showing in the online membership roster.
- Have a membership consisting of at least 3/4 students enrolled for a minimum of one semester hour of credit at UWM. To comply with this requirement, organizations are required to keep a current roster of membership in the official organization online platform (currently Presence) at all times.
- List the name, office location, telephone number, and email address for at least one faculty or staff advisor who is employed by UW‐ This information must appear in the Org Registration and in the membership roster online. The name and UWM email address for the faculty/staff advisor’s supervisor must also be provided so that liability protection for the advising role can be documented.
- Disclose any community, state, national, or international affiliations of your student organization by listing them in the Org Registration in the Affiliations section.
- Constitution/bylaws of the affiliated organization(s) can be submitted electronically as PDF or by using a website URL.
- Certain types of student organizations, such as fraternities/sorority organization and Sports Club groups, may have additional registration requirements that must be met.
- Additional criteria for registering a student organization on campus can be found in the organization publications section of the Student Involvement website, under Student Organization Resources.
Forming a local chapter of an external organization
What is the registration process for new student organizations?
To access all of the forms listed below, log in to Panther Presence using your UWM username and password. Then find the form using the Form tab and the search function. For additional information contact Student Involvement at activities@uwm.edu. Please include the proposed name of your organization in the subject line of the email message.
Student Involvement processes new and reactivating organization registrations all year long. However, the month of September is when current organizations must renew their registration with UWM. As a result, final approvals for new and reactivating organizations do not take place in September. All new and reactivating organizations that have completed the registration process during September will be approved at the beginning of October.
Next Steps
To begin the new or reactivating student organization process, complete the “Application for New or Reactivating Student Organization”, found in Panther Presence in Forms. After you submit this form, feel free to continue with the next steps. Please be sure to follow the sequence completing step 1 before moving to step 2 and so on. You will receive more information via email.
Step 1: One officer must complete online Officer training and update the organization registration information. a. One officer must complete the module Organization Registration and Officer Training online in canvas course Student Organization Training. to learn how to use the Panther Presence tools. Go through the Officer Training PowerPoints in detail, take the Officer Training Quiz and get an 80% to complete your Officer training. b. Notify Student Involvement at csidesk@uwm.edu once you have completed your training in canvas. A portal in Presence will be created for your organization (This is why you need to notify Student Involvement, so this can be created). Login to Presence at uwm.presence.io using your UWM username and password. It will then be your responsibility to edit this portal (also called “organization registration” under the details tab) so that you can continue to the next steps in the registration process. a. Once the organization portal is active, update the organization registration with the names, UWM emails and phone numbers of the four primary officers and the Faculty/Staff Advisor. There are other items to complete on the registration such as dates and times of meetings and so on. b. Use the pencil icon on the details page. Provide complete and accurate information for your organization officers and advisor. Then submit this information using the green button in the upper right corner. This document will help guide you through this process: How To Update Your Org Registration Step 4: Submit a Charter Application Submit either a Basic Charter Application (recommended) or a Standard Charter Application form in Presence. You only need to submit one charter application and can choose either the standard or basic type. If you wish, you may write and submit a full constitution document (with or without bylaws) for review in place of the charter forms. A Student Involvement staff member will be tracking your progress through this process and will be emailing you to let you know if there’s anything incomplete or concerning. They will also let you know when you have completed all required steps and are able to schedule a Charter Meeting. The Charter Meeting is the last step in the registration process and serves to review all materials submitted and answer questions the organization leadership may have. Organizations with a “New Org Forming” or “Reactivation in Progress” designation have 60 days to complete the registration process from the day that their online portal becomes active. If your organization needs more time to complete the process, please contact Student Involvement as noted below. If you have any questions throughout this process, please email us at csidesk@uwm.edu, call us at 414-229-5780 or stop by Union 351!