Team

From AFSWiki

Note - in Global Link a "Team" is called an "Area Team" as the cost of making the change to the term "Team" was too high and the project too risky.

Groups of AFS chapters and individual volunteers in a defined geographic area are encouraged to organize and apply for a Team Charter. With approval from the National Council of AFS-USA, chartered Teams act on AFS-USA’s behalf to promote AFS in their geographic area in accordance with the policies, procedures and standards of AFS-USA. The volunteer leadership, mutual support, and economies of scale provided by Teams are valued as important benefits to AFS-USA. In order to become chartered Teams must meet the following criteria and fulfill the following responsibilities.

Contents 1 Team Chartering Criteria 2 Responsibilities of Teams 3 Team Membership & Leadership 4 Team Elections & Term Limits 5 Travel 6 Co-Support Funds 7 Team Charter 8 Annual Team Assessment 9 Administrative Oversight

Team Chartering Criteria

• Be in good standing with Compliance Standards by completing the annual review of Compliance Standards, as established by the 2010 National Volunteer Assembly or as amended by future NVAs, or as amended by the National Council in response to changes in the U.S. Department of State regulations or AFS-USA policies and procedures.
• Have a biennially elected team chair
• Have a team treasurer not from the same household as the chair
• Have a defined geography, currently based on zip codes, to be determined by the team volunteers, and subject to review and approval by the National Council
• Account for all local funds according to AFS-USA corporate financial requirements
• Meet, to the best of its ability, commitments for hosting and sending numbers
• Ensure that chapters within the team are appropriately chartered annually.

Responsibilities of Teams

Administration

• Conduct annual team meeting and, in alternate years or when a vacancy occurs, election of Team Chair
• Provide representation to the National Volunteer Assembly
• Communicate and meet hosting and sending commitments
• Monitor use and reporting of co-support funds
• Provide a forum for communication among chapters, individual team volunteers, and the greater organization
• Fundraise within the area
• Manage public relations and marketing within the area
• Provide additional back-up, oversight, and coordination of participant and host family support
• Coordinate orientations for compliance and quality
• Complete an annual Team Agreement and Report of Cooperation and participate in an Annual Team Assessment process.

Hosting

• Coordinate, monitor, and communicate about the host family recruitment and participant placement process with chapters and team volunteers as well as with assigned staff throughout each hosting cycle.
• Ensure that all host families are fully screened and that all host family paperwork including the complete host family application, signed School Placement Acceptance Form (PAF), and references are sent to the Hosting Staff in the Regional Service Center prior to the students’ arrival.
• Provide support for participants and host families in conjunction with chapters and assigned staff, including the documentation of all monthly contacts throughout the program period.

Sending

• Coordinate, monitor, and communicate about recruitment and selection of outbound participants for departures (Year, Semester, Short Programs and Teacher Exchanges)with chapters, team volunteers and assigned staff.
• Provide support to all outbound participants and their natural families throughout the application process and in conjunction with chapters and assigned staff during the program year.

Orientations

• Conduct or ensure that participants attend the following local orientations:

• Host Family Pre-Arrival Orientation
• Post-Arrival Orientation for hosted participants
• Mid-Year Orientation for hosted participants and host families. Note: The Mid-Year Orientation is optional, but encouraged.
• Pre-Return Orientation for hosted participants and host families

• Organize and implement the Arrival and End of Stay Orientations for hosted students

• Organize and implement Pre-Departure Orientations for sending participants in conjunction with the local chapters

• Conduct re-entry orientation for outbound participants returning to the area.

Volunteer Development and Training

• Coordinate recruitment, selection, orientation, training and recognition of local team and Team volunteers.
• Plan, strategize, and facilitate new and existing chapter development within the team. In the case of existing chapters, this should be done in conjunction with the current chapter volunteers.
• Plan fun for returnees, volunteers, and program participants

Communications and Community Development

• Create ongoing and active communication, support, and coordination of chapters and other local units existing within the team.
• Provide active support of hosting and sending schools, and coordinate recruitment and development of new schools to support the expansion of program activity in the area.
• Promote connections and relationships with other organizations and stakeholders that will further the implementation of the mission of AFS.

Team Membership & Leadership

All active volunteers for AFS USA need to be registered. It is the responsibility of the Team to not knowingly allow individuals to participate in any AFS activity as volunteers without being registered.

Membership on the team will be open to all registered volunteers who live within the defined geography of the team. All volunteers within the team who have been registered for at least one month will have voting privileges and will elect the Team Chair.

The volunteers in the team will appoint or elect an Team Treasurer and a contact person for the primary functional areas of hosting, sending, support, and volunteer development. The role of these contact people is to be a resource for team volunteers, and also serve as a contact point for staff.

Rather than assign or elect a "contact person," as outlined above, teams may choose to appoint and/or elect volunteers to fill one or more of the following leadership positions:

• Team Hosting Coordinator
• Team Sending Coordinator
• Team Support Coordinator
• Team Volunteer Coordinator
• Team Returnee Coordinator
• Team Orientation Coordinator
• Team Fund Raising Coordinator
• Team Publicity Coordinator
• Liaison Coordinator

All Team Leadership members listed in the annual team annual agreement and report of cooperation should understand that their roles are to train, lead and coordinate other volunteers in the Team, performing those functions outlined in the job descriptions for each position.

Team Leadership Team members should attend scheduled training for their positions and should recruit several other volunteers to assist them in their respective roles.

Team Elections & Term Limits

Team Chairs will be elected biennially. Once completing these two years of service, a volunteer must leave the chair position however s/he can be re-elected as Chair-elect after at least one year off. The Team Chair will serve as the first representative to the National Volunteer Assembly.

Teams who host and send more than 80 participants combined will be able to send more than one representative to the National Volunteer Assembly. Teams sending more than one representative to the National Volunteer Assembly will elect these additional delegates each year at the Team annual meeting.

Travel

Arrival and departure sites for hosted participants will be negotiated based on input from the Travel & Logistics Department. This is an area that is still being researched and a proposal will be developed Fall 2008.

Co-Support Funds

Teams will be provided Co-support funds based on the number of hosted and sent participants in their team. Accounting and reports of expenditures are required.

Access to National Funds

UPDATE FOR 2010

• The team can draw on co-support payments from AFS-USA to sustain its efforts in providing programs. Co-support payments are termed as such in recognition that these amounts will likely only partially cover the actual costs of program and recruitment activities in the team. Supplemental fund-raising activities conducted by the team or local teams may be necessary to meet the actual financial needs of planned activities
• Teams will receive co-support payments based on the actual number of students hosted and sent from their team.
• The distribution of co-support funds during the 2010 transition years will be as follows:

• 3rd week of January 2010 Teams will receive $50.00 per NH09 host participant (or one half of the amount indicated in the Agreement)
• 2nd week of April 2010, Teams will receive full co-support payment for the total number of SH2010 hosted and sent participants as determined by participants linked to their team in Global Link and confirmed by the Hosting and Sending Departments.
• 1st week of May 2010, Teams will receive an additional $50.00 per NH09 hosted participant (the remaining half of the amount indicated in the Agreement)
• Last week of October 2010, Teams will receive full co-support payment for the total number of NH 2010 hosted and sent participants linked to their team in Global Link and confirmed by the Hosting and Sending Departments

• Requests for Advances in 2010

• During the transition year, as Teams adjust to the new payment cycle, they will be allowed to apply for advances to their co-support funds between May and october in order to help cover the costs for inbound and outbound orientations
• Advances will be approved for anticipated costs in excess of what the team has in its accounts, and teams will be asked to provide some documentation regarding their expected costs
• In addition, teams will only be approved for advances provide that their monthly and year-end reports have been submitted. In the case of Teams this will apply to reports for both the Team accounts as well as accounts held by affiliated chapters within their boundaries

• Change for 2010 - Teams will be able to roll-over their co-support funds from year to year
• Starting in 2011 co-support payments will be paid twice a year:

• April for SH hosted and sent actuals
• October for NH hosted and sent actuals

Team Charter

(formerly the Area Team Agreement)

Annually, teams must submit an Team Charter to the Learning and Volunteer Resources Department providing the following information:

• Roster of team leadership
• Roster of affiliated chapters
• Roster of individual volunteers who work with the team but are not affiliated with any chapter
• Roster of any schools in the team not affiliated with a chapter but which are served by the team
• Reports of any team funds raised and spent during the year
• Financial/legal team documents as required by AFS-USA
• ZIP code list outlining the geographical boundaries of the team

Teams will be provided with all information related to the above items currently in our system on an annual basis for review and update

Annual Team Assessment

Teams will be evaluated annually using objective quality standards which reflect clear, articulated expectations in areas including but not limited to on-time placement, paperwork completion, liaison assignment, monthly contact documentation, orientation requirements, and volunteer registration and training. The annual review will also include data from the customer service evaluations.

All data will be reviewed and compared to a 3-year average to determine trends. If the review results trigger concern, a committee of the National Council, will make recommendations regarding next steps.

Administrative Oversight

• Teams are expected to operate under the provisions of these criteria and responsibilities and under the terms of the Annual Agreement and Report of Cooperation to ensure program quality and continuity.
• The National Council may revoke the team charter and dissolve the team if rules, standards, laws and/or regulations are not followed.
• A team may choose to dissolve. All funds held in the name of AFS-USA belong to AFS-USA.