Anime Ascendant

An anime club help site that offers advice and support

Category Archives: Other


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COVID-19: Can Anime Clubs Survive?

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COVID-19: Can Anime Clubs Survive? + Alternatives to Meeting in Person

With the coronavirus epidemic, also known as COVID-19, canceling building openings and gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus, do anime clubs have a chance to survive?

Yes, they can. To take a step in the direction of the times when anime and manga fans made friends online–“OMG, so retro,” may be your thought process–then, yes, anime clubs can survive by going back to the internet.

Ways to keep a club going without meeting in person:

The essence of running events online isn’t different from running events for in-person events. 

  • Book a venue or space. Book a space online. If it’s a Google Hangout or YouTube Live, make sure you have a Google account and create a Hangout or YouTube Live event (literally search how to do these). If it’s a Skype, Facetime, or conference call event, make sure you have an account with the respective apps or get a conference call number and code. If it’s a webinar or Netflix Party app event, make sure you have an account on that platform or app.
  • Make sure the event title, date, location, and time(s) are correct and booked. This isn’t different from in-person events. Just make sure the event title is short.
  • Create physical flyers, posters, and marketing materials. Create digital flyers, posters, and marketing materials. You can make a digital flyer that can go on Instagram or social media through Canva.com.
  • Distribute physical marketing materials. Send digital marketing materials on social media and through email. Also post these on your websites if you can.
  • Follow up with people who are in the club by phone, email, and texts. This isn’t much different from in-person events since cold marketing or sending out marketing materials don’t work the most to get folks to events. It’s more important at this time to follow up with possible attendees.
  • Order supplies and food for the event. Make sure your computer or phone is set up for the online event. This means making sure your laptop has a camera, its microphone and speakers work, and any clamps, tripods, headphones, and gear are nearby.

The important part about being a club is being connected.

That means reaching out to the club leadership and members to check in. If a friend is nearby, call them, text them, connect with them and make sure the COVID zombie apocalypse hasn’t taken them.

Have some ideas? Write it below!


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How Do I Keep My Anime Club From Falling Apart?

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How Do I Keep My Anime Club From Falling Apart?

I’m trying to make my club better. We’re halfway through the year and our club is basically tearing apart. It was going well at the beginning of the year but now it’s getting boring (and people are leaving).

Besides, “What do I do?”, the real question here is, “How do I keep my club from falling apart halfway through the year?”

Why It Happens

Usually when that happens, it’s because there isn’t structure (consistent and interesting screenings or officer presence) or there aren’t any new ideas coming through the regular meetings (same thing every week in and out).
One other thing: usually when a group falls apart, it may be because there is someone or something that is really negative. People don’t want to feel any negativity since they’re using your group as an escape from it. Pinpoint that negative piece and take it out, even if it is an officer, because that negativity will drive members away for at least 2 or 3 years.

What to Do

After the Officer Meeting: Once you’ve figured out what’s making your group so boring, negative, or complacent and you’ve talked it over with your officers, send out an email saying that things have changed and why. Apologize for the hiccup and show how you’re changing–and how they can become active members to make your anime club the best club at your school. An example of this type of communication is Domino’s, who used study groups to make new and better pizzas, and sent out flyers and emails apologizing and saying how they’ve changed. Now Domino’s is on the same playing field as Pizza Hut and Little Caesar’s.
Activities: Change how a meeting is run like putting a loyal member in charge of a regular meeting or do mini activities like scavenger hunts, guest speakers, and parties. Check out “Fundraising Ideas Inspired by Japanese School Festivals” and “The Ultimate Anime Club Meeting Ideas and Activities List“.
Marketing: The way to get people to return is to also look at your marketing. Are you guys putting up flyers and talking to friends? Are you emailing folks about your meetings and events? I would sit down with your president and the other officers and see how you can get people interested in the club and/or anime again.
If you don’t think these will work or it’s too late for them to work, still do them and come up with a game plan for next year to prevent this from happening. Planning ahead will fix many hiccups along the way.
Hope this helps!
Do you have some other ideas for solving this problem? Leave a comment!


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Taking Over an Old or Inactive Anime Club

So you’re taking over an old or inactive anime club, and it looks like there’s a lot of dust to wipe off.

Make sure your club is still recognized.

For schools and libraries, clubs usually have to be recognized every year, so you’ll need to redo the application process or meet with the person in charge. The good thing is, if the original advisor for your anime club hasn’t left, you don’t need to make another constitution or find another advisor (unless they say they don’t want to be the advisor again).

Community clubs don’t need official recognition.


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Downloads

Need a document soft copy? Need some useful worksheets to make running an organization easier? These downloads are free and helpful!

Anime Club Contact List

Good for anyone to use as a contact list.

What’s a contact list? A contact list is a list showing any member’s information in case you would like to contact them for future events.

Why is it good to use? Whenever a member signs into a meeting or event, you can contact them for future events (see Marketing), add them to email lists, or use each sign in as a point (see Using a Point System).

Format: Word

Anime Club Event Checklist

A good checklist for planning an event.

I recommend every officer to use this!

Format: Word (to edit) and PDF (to write)

Budget Excel Worksheet

Good for officers trying to plan the year’s expenses.

Formulas are already in this worksheet so that your information can be added up automatically.

Format: Excel

Planning Film Guide (provided by High Plains Library District)

Great for people planning to screen any anime, movies, OVAs, and films.

Library clubs and school clubs can especially benefit from this guide.

Format: PDF

Point System Worksheet

Good for keeping a point system in your club.

Formulas are already in this worksheet so that you can calculate the points per member automatically.

Format: Excel


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Welcome to Anime Ascendant!

Hello, there! You have entered Anime Ascendant, a website dedicated to anime, manga, and Japan-related clubs. How do we help you? We offer support for these clubs in the form of advice, links, forms, contests, and programs.

If you have any questions, please Contact Us, and we’ll be sure to get back to you with some great answers!


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About Anime Ascendant

Anime Ascendant is a website designed to assist secondary school, university, and community anime, manga, and Japanese culture clubs. Anime Ascendant offers support for these clubs in the form of advice, links, forms, contests, and programs.

From the Creator
Being a part of so many organizations, being an anime fan, and being a webmaster has all contributed to the makings of this website. I’ve spent part of my college career being all these separate roles–club member, anime fan, and webmaster–but I didn’t think to put it together to make a website for anime fans with anime clubs. Why isn’t there a concise, updated, and informative approach to running an anime club on the Internet? Anime Ascendant’s current theme rose out of this question.

History
Anime Ascendant first started out as an anime e-zine in 1999 under the name Operation Anime. In December of 2000, the creator re-launched Operation Anime as a website helping anime webmasters. In 2003, Operation Anime was re-vamped into its current namesake, Anime Ascendant, still offering assistance to anime webmasters. Now, over 10 years later, Anime Ascendant has evolved into a website helping anime, manga, and Japanese culture clubs.

Creator
The creator of Anime Ascendant, Jd Banks, has held the roles of Founder, President, Ad Hoc Committee Chair, Student Advisor, Vice President of Finance, President’s Cabinet Commissioner, Creative Consultant, Historian, Executive-at-Large, Webmaster, Publications Chair, Tutoring Chair, Chief of Staff, Student Organizations Liaison Commissioner, Student Government Liaison, City Youth Ambassador, Diversity Program Lead, and Active Member for multiple organizations and programs during her life in California. Now Jd resides in Japan as a teacher with her husband.

Disclaimer
Although most of the information provided on this website comes from years of experience, Anime Ascendant is in no form an advisor on tax purposes, constitutional or by-law verbage (the exact wording), or personal discretions. Anime Ascendant is a guide to clubs. By using the advice from Anime Ascendant, the user understands that not everything will work, and cannot deem Anime Ascendant as responsible for monetary, emotional, personal, mental, or physical damages incurred.


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How to Run a Club

Decide who will be the officers.

The officer positions that need to be filled immediately are: president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and one other position of choice. For a list of officer positions and what they do, please see Appendix C.

 

Meet your advisor or get a new advisor.

Advisors are great guides to your club. They usually know what past club members have done and they can point you in the right direction for information. At schools and libraries, advisors can also help you get a meeting room and market your club events.

 

Update your club’s constitution.

If you didn’t do this during the application process, you should do it anyways. Most club constitutions are old and dusty, so keep it updated for the next club president.

 

Find out how much money the club has.

For middle schools and high schools, go to your student government (ASB) and find out how much money your club can get for the year.

For universities and communities, inactive clubs may already have a bank account. Check with your club’s previous advisor or president about the bank account.

For libraries, inactive clubs

 

Make a yearly schedule.

With your officers, plan out what days and times your club will have meetings and events. It’s a good idea to pick a theme and assign officers to specific meetings or events.

 

Here’s a list of meetings and events you should schedule for the year:

-Regular meetings

-Officer meetings and retreats

-Big or signature events

-Fundraisers

-Trips to different places (museums, theaters, homes)

-At least one transition officer meeting between old officers and new officers

 

Make a yearly budget.

Based on your schedule, think about how much you can spend for the year. How much can you spend for meetings and events?

 

Make a solicitation packet.

This is a packet of papers that will be sent to companies and organizations to ask for donations.

 

The packet has:

-a letter from the president explaining what your club does

-a short history of the club and the good points about the club

-a list of the year’s events and programs, and how much each event may cost

-a list of sponsor ranks (Gold, Silver, Bronze) and what they get out of donating to your club

-an application form for becoming a sponsor

-an optional application form for a sponsor to be a guest speaker

-a letter of thanks

 

Look at your yearly schedule and your budget, and re-budget.

If you’re like most clubs and you’re starting from zero, you’ll have to re-budget throughout the year.  Please read “How to Spend Little Money on Everything” if you need ideas for keeping costs low.