Chapter Affiliation Requirements (CARE)
Chapter Affiliation Requirements (CARE)
Chapter Affiliation Requirements (CARE) are a set of performance guidelines designed to help chapters deliver consistent benefits to members. CARE consists of elements in six key areas that are necessary for running a chapter like a business: Board of Directors, Communication, Finance, Governance, Membership, and Programming.
CARE Office Hours
The CARE survey submission deadline is January 31, 2026. If you submit the survey by the early deadline of January 16, 2026, your chapter will be entered into a raffle to win a prize.
ATD Chapter Services will host drop-in office hours to answer any questions regarding your chapter’s CARE submission or the new CARE survey platform. Register ahead of time to block time on your calendar! Please find the schedule and access links below.
If you cannot attend office hours and have questions regarding your chapter’s CARE submission, please contact your Chapter Relations Specialist.
2025 CARE Submission Summary
Prepare your chapter for the CARE survey throughout the year by using the resources on this webpage and the CARE workbook.
CARE Resources
The 2024 CARE Submission Summary includes results and demographic information based on responses provided by ATD chapters on their 2023 activities.
A reference guide that lists all CARE and CARE Plus components.
The Monthly CARE Tracker or the Game of CARE is a monthly roadmap to ensure the board stays inline to complete their goals, and each CARE and CARE Plus elements.
Get a head start on completing and submitting the Chapter Affiliation Requirements (CARE). Join the NAC as they review best practices, tools, resources, and the survey platform to ensure you are ready to submit CARE by January 31.
Use this guide to conduct a risk assessment for your chapter.
Use this template to produce an annual report for your chapter and achieve CARE element 6.3.
Addendum Document Resources
A chapter's membership roster should be in Excel format, and list the chapter's active members as of the end of the year.
Template in Excel format that chapter leaders should use to submit their board roster with the CARE submission. (Updates should be sent to the chapter relations manager when changes occur.)
The chapter operating plan provides a framework for doing business effectively and managing resources efficiently. Leverage the Operating Plan Template to create a plan for your chapter.
Recommendations on how to accomplish:
Identify the objectives, tasks, and timelines associated with each annual goal and major strategy area based on member needs.
Annually review and update, if necessary, your operating plan to ensure it aligns with the chapter’s mission and vision.
Use the operating plan to identify how the chapter will address CARE elements throughout the year.
Review examples from other chapters:
Preparing and managing a chapter operating budget helps leaders plan for and deliver products and services that meet member needs without exceeding the chapter’s financial resources. Utilize the balance sheet template and income statement template to compile information about the chapter's financial position.
Recommendations on How to Prepare a Budget:
Develop a budget:
1. Assess the chapter's current financial position.
2. Review the chapter's goals and existing programs and services based on members’ needs.
3. Estimate revenue for the coming year.
4. Estimate expenses for the coming year.
5. Prepare budget worksheets for each program and administrative area.
6. Compile program and administrative budgets into an overall annual chapter budget. Use the budget template if your chapter does not have an existing budget.
7. Have board approve final budget.
Publish final budget in chapter newsletter or member mailing or make them electronically available to members.
Review the budget at midyear (recommended) and make adjustments as necessary. Establish a reserve account for unexpected expenses.
Review examples from other chapters:
• Baton Rouge Chapter's Budget Spreadsheet
• Nebraska Chapter’s Transparent Budget Reports: Budget Template and Expenses Reporting
• Sample Association Financial Statement
Frequently Asked Questions
Chapter Affiliation Requirements (CARE) are a set of performance guidelines designed to help chapters deliver consistent benefits to members and operate as a business. CARE helps ATD chapters across the country to deliver a consistent member and brand experience, which ultimately helps demonstrate the value of chapter membership to your members and prospective members.
Completion of the annual CARE survey helps and will continue to help chapters remain in alignment with state and legal requirements, chapter services to determine how to best support chapters, and chapters to benchmark their efforts against others.The foundational level consists of six major areas (Board of Directors, Communications, Finance, Governance, Membership and Programming) encompassing the minimum standards required to maintain chapter affiliation. This level will most resemble the CARE your chapter is familiar with today and will continue to require additional documentation for CARE achievement, such as income statement, balance sheet, incoming board roster, goals for next year, and year end membership roster).
At the foundational level, chapters will continue to meet the basic business requirements of running a chapter, which includes items like filing 990s annually with the IRS, involving members in board selection, and more.
A second, optional tier, known as CARE Plus, was added in response to chapter leader feedback that they are looking for both more guidance on operations and more benchmarking data. To create these elements of this tier, more than 600 chapter leaders were surveyed to identify the strategies that many chapters already had in place. CARE Plus is a collection of these strategies and its purpose is to provide chapter leaders with recognition opportunities, a personalized road map to help identify gaps and strengthen chapter operations, flexibility for self-paced growth, formalized processes to address common chapter challenges, and a growth mindset.The CARE Plus elements will align with the six, main CARE components: Board of Directors, Communications, Finance, Governance, Membership and Programming. Each component will have a range of five to 10 elements the chapter can choose to complete. Not all elements are required for completion, unlike in CARE, and allows chapter leaders to select those items that are most pertinent or achievable to the chapter. Sample CARE Plus elements include items like having a succession plan, maintaining a cash reserve, holding a new member orientation, and more.
While it’s important to have a point of contact to oversee the CARE process for your chapter, CARE is every board member’s responsibility. Contributions from every chapter leader creates a more informed board on and also decreases the time commitment for any one board member of administrator.
The chapter's National Advisor to Chapters (NAC) and Chapter Relations Manager (CRM) are both available to support you through every step of CARE. Resources can also be found in the Chapter Leader Community.