Need help with *everything*

[pbear19]

Hello! I recently stumbled upon this board and I am so happy that I did. I hope you all will forgive me for my complete ignorance, but this is why I am asking questions.

I am a member of a local service sorority that is thinking about trying to go national. We all know that this is a process that will take years and a lot of hard work. We don't want to affiliate with a national, because we think our organization would provide a great alternative to some of the other service sororities out there now.

I'm graduating in May, but I'll be staying here in town. So it looks like I will probably be leading the project of going national. (I can keep working on it for years, and I've been active in the organization for five years already.)

My problem is that I know absolutely nothing!! Since this is not an official project yet, I'm trying to learn as much in advance to be able to present to the sorority. We don't want the rest of the university to know yet that we're thinking about this, because it's not official. So I can't go around asking other students, advisors, etc. about their opinions.

I guess I would just like some basic ideas of where to begin. We would like to be incorporated, but need to know where to begin. I know we'll need insurance. Also, we'll probably have to change our bylaws so that we have local and national bylaws, correct? And do we need to be affiliated with some type of national organization like National Panhellenic or is that only for social sororities?

I'm sure I sound completely ignorant, but I would just really like some advice on what needs to be done first, before we even think about going to other universities and seeing if there is interest. If anyone can help, I'd appreciate anything you have to say!