TAS AmericasCommunity leaders
For associations and those who lead them.
Hometown associations, alumni clubs, chambers of commerce and congregations were looking after newcomers to the United States long before any website existed. TAS Americas exists to make them stronger, never to replace them. Your association joins at no cost for its first 90 days, and keeps everything that makes it yours.
Everything on this page, one window at a time.
Choose a topic. It opens in its own window: keep it in the centre, dock it as a side panel or expand it. Open several and switch between them below.
6 topics
- 01
Every kind of association the communities of the United States have built.
Old or newly formed, registered or informal, twenty members or twenty thousand, in Los Angeles or among Americans in Lisbon: if people have come…
Open window - 02
What your association receives, and what it keeps.
The arrangement is simple. Your association gains the strength of a network across the fifty states and gives up nothing of its own.
Open window - 03
The Mutual Aid Compact.
The Compact is a commitment between the associations of the network. When a member dies far from home, or a family is struck by a sudden…
Open window - 04
When a member dies far from home.
A calm orientation for the family and for the officers of the association, in the order in which things usually happen, whether the death occurs…
Open window - 05
Register your association.
Associations join at no cost for their first 90 days. The network is for associations in any of the fifty states and Puerto Rico, and for…
Open window - 06
Questions leaders ask.
Associations join at no cost for their first 90 days, and membership is free for each of your members for their first 90 days. One membership per…
Open window
Every kind of association the communities of the United States have built.
Old or newly formed, registered or informal, twenty members or twenty thousand, in Los Angeles or among Americans in Lisbon: if people have come together to look after one another, there is a seat for them in the network.
Hometown associations
Organized by country, region, state or town of origin, they are the first door a newcomer knocks on, and often the bridge that funds a school or a clinic back home.
Alumni associations
Graduates of the same university or school, in every city where they have settled, opening doors for the classes that follow.
Chambers of commerce
Business owners, traders, restaurateurs and founders who speak for their community’s enterprise and trade between countries.
Professional associations
Doctors, nurses, engineers, accountants, lawyers and teachers trained abroad, guiding colleagues through licensing and recognition.
Student and scholar associations
The first community of a student or researcher who has arrived alone, on campuses from Boston to Berkeley.
Cultural and language-school associations
Weekend heritage-language schools, dance and music ensembles, and the committees behind every festival, parade and national day.
Faith communities
Congregations, parishes, mosques, temples and synagogues that care for their members in every season of life, and in its last.
Associations of Americans abroad
American clubs, chambers, alumni circles and parents’ groups in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Oceania.
What your association receives, and what it keeps.
The arrangement is simple. Your association gains the strength of a network across the fifty states and gives up nothing of its own.
It receives
A place in the network
Your association joins at no cost for its first 90 days.
The benefits, for every member
Each of your members can hold the member card and use the programs negotiated by TAS Member Services across all twelve areas of benefit.
Visibility
Families, students and professionals who arrive in your city find your association through the network, in their own language.
A voice
Your association tells us what its members need most, and we carry it into what is negotiated on their behalf.
Practical resources
Free guides your officers can share, Scam Watch alerts for your members, and the Consular Desk for questions about documents, foreign consulates in the United States and US embassies abroad.
The Mutual Aid Compact
A place among the associations that stand together when a member dies far from home.
It keeps
Its name
Your association is listed under its own name, in its own words and its own language.
Its money
We never ask for your accounts, your dues or a share of anything you raise.
Its leadership
Your officers, your bylaws and your elections remain yours alone.
Its independence
Your association joins a network. It does not become a branch, a chapter or a subsidiary of anything.
Its members’ privacy
We never ask for your membership list. Each member joins for themselves, and we never ask anyone about immigration or residence status.
Its other affiliations
Federations, sister-city ties and partnerships you already hold continue exactly as before.
The Mutual Aid Compact.
The Compact is a commitment between the associations of the network. When a member dies far from home, or a family is struck by a sudden emergency, the associations of the Compact stand together. They share the work, guide the family, and help to bring the member home or to give them a dignified farewell where they lived.
It is the oldest duty of the hometown association and the congregation, carried now by many associations at once and across borders, so that no single community has to pass the hat alone. A family in Houston whose relatives live in Guatemala, or an American family in Madrid whose parents live in Ohio, finds associations on both sides of the journey ready to help.
When a member dies far from home.
A calm orientation for the family and for the officers of the association, in the order in which things usually happen, whether the death occurs in the United States or, for an American, abroad.
In the first hours
If the death was sudden or unexpected, call the local emergency number; the police, a doctor or the medical examiner will explain what happens next. Tell the family, and agree on one person who speaks for them.
Tell your association, and tell us
Contact your association’s officers and write to us. Someone in the network who has walked this road before guides you from here, in your language.
The death certificate
Ask the hospital, the funeral director or the civil registry for the official death certificate, and request several certified copies. Almost every later step asks for one, and some countries also require an official translation.
The consulate or embassy
When the person held a foreign passport, contact that country’s consulate in the United States. When an American dies abroad, contact the nearest US embassy or consulate, which can help the family with a Consular Report of Death Abroad and the return of remains. Either explains the documents needed and certifies certain papers. Neither normally pays the costs.
Bringing them home, or a farewell where they lived
The family decides. A licensed funeral director arranges either. Transport home needs permits, preparation and airline arrangements, which the director obtains; a local burial or cremation follows local rules and the family’s faith and customs.
The papers that follow
An insurance claim, a bank account, a lease, an employer, a pension or a university: keep one list, and ask us for referrals to qualified professionals where they are needed.
The community’s part
The associations organize the remembrance, support the family in the weeks that follow, and keep them in touch with home. No family walks this road alone.
General information, not legal advice. Procedures differ from state to state and from country to country; the funeral director and the consulate or embassy confirm what applies.
Register your association.
Associations join at no cost for their first 90 days. The network is for associations in any of the fifty states and Puerto Rico, and for associations of Americans living abroad anywhere in the world. Associations in Canada join through TAS Canada; TAS Latin America welcomes associations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Questions leaders ask.
Does joining cost our association anything?
Associations join at no cost for their first 90 days, and membership is free for each of your members for their first 90 days. One membership per adult; children under 18 are included on a parent’s membership.
Do we give up our name or our independence?
No. Your association keeps its name, its funds, its leadership and its independence. It joins a network; it does not become a branch.
Do you ask for our membership list?
No. Each member joins for themselves and may name your association, and we link them to it with their consent.
Will you ask our members about their status?
Never. We do not collect information about immigration or residence status from associations or from members, and we never sell personal information.
Is the Mutual Aid Compact insurance?
No. It is a commitment between associations to stand together. It is not insurance and creates no right to payment. Members arrange insurance through licensed providers.
We are an informal group without registration. Can we join?
Yes. Any community of people who look after one another can join, provided one named person speaks for it.
We already belong to a federation. Can we still join?
Yes. Membership of the network sits alongside any federation, council or partnership your association already belongs to, and changes none of them.
Our association is outside the United States. Can we join?
Yes, if it brings together Americans living abroad, in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, the Middle East or Oceania. Other associations abroad join through the house of their region, and every house recognizes the same card. Associations in Latin America and the Caribbean that do not serve Americans abroad will join through TAS Latin America, which is open.
Our association is in Canada. Where do we join?
Through TAS Canada, the house of the family for Canada. The card and the Compact are the same.
Can our members serve as volunteers?
Yes. Members who wish to give their time serve as community ambassadors, association liaisons, interpreters, guide writers, mentors and welcome volunteers. Serve with us.