One of the many great things about AUSA is the innovative and independent nature of our chapters.

Whether it’s the Captain Meriwether Lewis Chapter in Tacoma, Wash., or the First Militia Chapter in Northeast Florida, you can bet they are working hard to educate, inform and connect soldiers and civilians through a wide array of professional development and educational programs.

Too often a chapter’s great ideas and best practices never make it outside the originating chapter’s footprint.

That is why this month, AUSA national headquarters created a Facebook group for chapter presidents and other chapter leaders to share best practices, release information and promote regular communication among the 119 AUSA chapters located around the world.

To support this new endeavor, AUSA staff members will monitor the web, chapter newsletters, and chapter reports and products for ideas and innovations that members of the Facebook group will find relevant or beneficial to their operations.

For example, the Tuscon-Goyette Chapter recently sent an email to all its members highlighting the importance of promoting AUSA membership while interacting with family and friends during the holiday season.

Instead of each chapter writing an original email, the message was posted to the Facebook group so that anyone can replicate it and use it for their chapter’s promotional efforts.

While the staff members at national are excited to post and promote new ideas, tips and tricks, they also recognize that the greatest benefit of the new Facebook group will be the information and insight shared among chapter leaders.

When a chapter president wants to know if other chapters have had success raising donations through crowdfunding, the most important feedback they can receive is from a fellow chapter leader who has already tried crowdfunding in the past and can share his or her experiences in a way that can translate into action.

With the new Chapter President’s Facebook Group, those experiences can be shared with a simple click of the mouse.

The group already has 61 members from 45 different chapters and is constantly growing.

If you are a chapter leader, have a Facebook account and want to stay up to date on how other chapters are achieving excellence, email Angelina Flores at AFlores@ausa.org and ask her to send you an invitation to the Chapter Presidents Facebook Group.