External Relations Committee

Roles and Responsibilities

The External Relations Committee is responsible for handling communications with external stakeholders such as judges, schools, alumni, partner organizations, and invited speakers. They are tasked with managing speaker correspondences and mediating with external parties (excluding companies and sponsors). For instance, the external relations associate is in charge of communicating to invite public and private schools to events like MV and Sipnayan.

Communication channel

As long as the setup of the activities continues to occur in an online setup, emailing shall be the main channel of communication, unless otherwise stated.

Who to Contact

Identifying which parties to reach out to will be a collaborative process. While the External Relations Committee will facilitate communication, decisions on which individuals or groups to engage are typically made by the following:

• Project Heads

• Pool Heads

• Department/Office Heads

• Programs Committee

A planning meeting should be conducted to finalize the list of target organizations and individuals. To obtain their contact details, refer to the ExRel's Office Database.

Note: Communications with companies or potential sponsors are not within the External Relations Committee's scope. These matters should be referred to the Corporate Relations Committee.

As this will likely be the bulk of the work of the Externals Committee, it may serve beneficial to ready these outputs prior to contacting potential partner organizations:

Message Templates

Given that information shall be disseminated in bulk, it is advised to prepare templates to simply paste into the draft per message in order to enhance efficiency. Some of the most used template types include, but are not limited to the following: 

• invitations,

• follow-up messages

• acknowledgement messages

• responses to a decline or acceptance of partnership invitations, and 

• announcements.

Moreover, the templates may be applied to an emailing platform or any instant messaging platform provided that:

• The content of the message remains formal and appropriate;

• The partner organization consents to communicating in such platforms (by default, communication is done by emailing); and

• All the members of the committee consent to communicating through such channels.

• Partnership Package (and Brochure): This summarizes the duties that the core team or pool is willing and must comply with in exchange of benefits we may guarantee from a partner organization for the project (See subsection on Partnership Packages). 

Furthermore, as the Externals committee finds organizations willing to accept the partnership invitation, the additional documents must be prepared for the partners:

Memorandum of Agreement (MOAs)

This document formalizes the partnership with each organization that accepts the partnership invitation. Although the contents may vary per memorandum, all fully accomplished documents must generally contain the following:

• The full name of both AMS and the partner organization;

• The agreed benefits each party shall receive: changes of the partner’s package due to  negotiations must reflect here; 

• The duration of the validity of the partnership: the day, month, and year must be explicit; and

• The signatures on behalf of both parties: anyone from the Externals committee, project heads, department heads, or the ExRel Office Head is eligible to sign the form

  • Before any party signs the document, an unsigned copy must first be sent and approved by the Office of Student Activities (OSA). Guidelines for this procedure may be read here.

• Trackers: Once the partnership has been established, the committee has the responsibility of ensuring that both parties are promptly meeting their own set of obligations. A unique tracker shall be sent to each partner, so kindly ensure the following:

  • They are able to access and edit the document;

  • Each responsibility is included in the tracker; and

  • No party has access to the document other than the partner and AMS.

Moreover, once this file has been completed, please note the guidelines for the proper usage of the trackers (See subsection on Tracking).

⏰Reminder: Memorandums of Agreement (MOAs) must be sent out to approved partners at least one (1) month before the project implementation; and be fully processed with OSA at least two (2) weeks before the implementation of the project or special effort.

As noted previously, these packages summarize the duties and responsibilities the core team will be requesting from the partner organization, in exchange for benefits the core team may offer. With that said, the Externals committee will be free to craft the packages on behalf of the core team, provided that they consider the following:

• The nature of the project: Certain projects may benefit from certain responsibilities better than others. Having that said, here are some recommendations you may refer to when drafting the package:

  • For projects heavy on webinars or other synchronous activities: add webinar attendees or participants in the partner’s responsibilities

  • For projects needing a wider audience: add more requirements in the posts to like and share (whether Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)

  • For projects involving sales: consider adding pledges or minimum number of products bought under the partner organization’s name

  • For long-term projects: consider extending the validity of the partnership to a few more months, if not the entire semester or school year.

• The number of people in the core team/pool who can and are willing to provide the partner’s benefits: Note that the more responsibilities imposed, the more benefits the partner should receive.

Once a draft of the packages have been made, the Externals Committee will need to seek approval from the project heads and the ExRel Office Head, together with the consent of the core team to comply with such requirements.

Tracking

• The Externals Committee must regularly update the set of trackers made available to the core team.

  • Real-time updates are ideal.

  • Daily or weekly updates are acceptable if real-time updates are not feasible.

• The committee is responsible for disseminating materials from partner organizations that require core team interaction (e.g., social media posts to like/share).

  • The platform of communication is at the discretion of the committee.

  • Regular updates must be reported to the ExRel Office Head.

• While the ExRel Office and Executive Committee may assist in certain tasks, the primary responsibility lies with the core team.

  • Explicit consent from the core team must be obtained.

  • In the case of noncompliance with responsibilities, the entire core team holds liability on behalf of AMS.

• The committee may follow up with the core team on their responsibilities:

  • Every 2–3 days is recommended.

  • Follow-ups with the ExRel Office and Executive Committee may be done weekly.

• Once AMS responsibilities are fulfilled, the committee may follow up with partner organizations:

  • Ideally done every two weeks.

  • Monthly checks are still acceptable.

• If a partner organization fails to comply with agreed responsibilities:

  • With project heads’ approval, the Externals Committee may terminate the partnership.