Chapters
A national association. A local address.
ALA is a nationwide association, with members practicing in 34 states and counting. Chapters are how that national network shows up where you work: local education, local tours, local relationships. New chapters are starting each year, and the next one could be yours.
Where ALA gathers today
Home base since 1999
Illinois
Where ALA was founded and where the Illinois Society of Architects brought a legacy dating to 1897. Monthly programs, the Fall Conference and Product Show, tours, and the Design Awards gala anchor the calendar.
Chartered October 2004
Wisconsin
ALA’s first chapter beyond Illinois proved the model travels: the same practical education and networking, tuned to Wisconsin’s architects and market.
Who Starts a Chapter? Anyone.
There is no seniority requirement on leadership. Chapters have been started by people at every stage of a career, and each stage brings something the others cannot.
On the Path to Licensure
Associates
Organizing a chapter before you are licensed puts you in rooms most people wait decades to enter. You bring the energy and the network of your generation; ALA brings the structure and the credibility.
Building a Practice
Licensed Professionals
A chapter puts your name in front of every architect, client, and vendor in your market while you build the local network your practice runs on. Leadership and business development in the same hours.
Been There, Built That
Seasoned Veterans
You already have the relationships; a chapter gives them a place to compound. Shape the profession in your state and hand the next generation the network you had to build the hard way.
Chartering now
Your state
Members already practice in 34 states. Where enough of them gather, a chapter follows. ALA encourages members ready to lead one.
Raise Your HandWhy start a chapter
Starting a chapter is not starting an association. The hard parts already exist: membership infrastructure, continuing education, the magazine, the contracts, the awards program, and a national office that answers the phone. What a founding chapter president adds is local leadership. What you get back is real.
Stand out in your market
Founding chapter leadership is a statewide, recognized role. It puts your name and your firm in front of every architect, client, and vendor who touches the chapter.
Bring CE home
Host accredited learning units in your own market instead of traveling for them. Your members keep their licenses current close to home, and your chapter sets the topics that matter locally.
A network that returns work
Referrals between members, relationships with local sponsors and product representatives, and a bench of peers to call on hard questions. One connection that leads to a commission pays for years of dues.
National backing from day one
Membership systems, dues processing, CE tracking, free member contracts, the Design Awards, and Licensed Architect magazine all come with the charter. You lead; the association carries the overhead.
Dues people say yes to
ALA keeps dues affordable on purpose. Recruiting locally is easier when the value is obvious and the price is not the obstacle.
A voice for your state
ALA’s roots are in writing the first licensing law in the country. A chapter gives your state’s architects an organized voice on licensure and practice issues that land close to home.
How it starts
It starts with a conversation, not a committee. Reach out to the ALA office and tell us where you practice and who you already know. We will walk you through the charter process, help you gather a founding group of licensed architects, and put the national toolkit behind your first event.
Wisconsin started exactly this way in 2004. New chapters are forming each year, and ALA actively encourages members who want to bring one to their state.
Start a chapter
Bring ALA to your state.
Call the office at 847.382.0630, email ALA@licensedarchitect.org, or send a note through the contact page. A person will get back to you, and the conversation costs nothing. You do not need a founding group, a business plan, or a title to start it. Curiosity is enough.