Chapter 1:  

Defining Your Group

By Felice Yeskel, Ed.D.

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What is it you want the group to

WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?

accomplish?

Whether you are just starting your group

WHO?

or organization or are in a group that has

existed for over a decade, when defining

In any group it is important to have a

any group, there are three basic things

sense of who you are.  It may sound a bit

that you need to figure out.  These can be

ridiculous, but really taking the time to

stated in the form of questions you will

think about who you are, and more

need to answer.  The first is:

importantly, who you are NOT, can give

you the sense of direction and foundation

Who?

that is vital to the survival and healthy

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Who currently makes up your group?

growth of your group.  If you are forming

a new group it is important to identify

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Is this the ideal composition for your

who you want your members to be.  This

group?  

will be your base.  However, the process

of discovering who your membership is

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Who else would you like to attract?  

can still be very important even if you are

part of a group that has existed for some

The second basic issue is:

time.  In this case the question is, who are

you now?  Sometimes a group will con 

Why?

tinue to act as though its current members

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Why have you created this group?  

were the founders of the group even

though the founders may actually have

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Why is it needed?  

come and gone years ago.  Perhaps all of

the women left the group two years ago

The third issues is:

but that fact has not been acknowledged.

Perhaps a significant number of your

What?

members are bisexual or transgender men

and women while you continue to call

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What makes your group unique?  

your organization "gay and lesbian."

Being part of a group on a college cam 

This chapter was adapted from an earlier version written during Spring `95 by Universi 

ty of Massachusetts, Amherst undergraduate intern Brian DeOliveira.

D e f i n i n g   Y o u r   G r o u p     M  3