How to Start a Model UN Club at Your School

Founding a Model UN club, step by step

1. Find a faculty advisor. Almost every school requires one. History, government, English, and economics teachers are the natural first asks, but any teacher who likes debate will do. Be specific about what you need: a signature, a classroom one afternoon or lunch a week, and a chaperone for one or two conferences a year. Students will do the teaching. A teacher who hears “you will not have to plan anything” says yes more often.

2. Learn your school’s approval process. Ask the activities office or student council how new clubs get recognized. Common requirements are a form, a minimum number of interested students, a written purpose, and sometimes a vote. Find out the deadlines too, because some schools only approve clubs in the first weeks of term.

3. Write a one-paragraph charter. Keep it short enough that an administrator reads all of it. Say what the club does, who can join, how often it meets, and what it aims for. For example: “The Model UN Club trains students in research, public speaking, and negotiation by simulating United Nations committees. The club is open to all grades, meets weekly, and attends one or two conferences each year, starting with local events.” If your school wants a longer constitution, this paragraph becomes its first section.

4. Name your officers. Four roles cover a new club. Titles borrow from the real UN Secretariat, which students tend to enjoy, but the jobs matter more than the names. If you only have two founders, one person can hold two roles for the first semester.

5. Recruit your first members. Posters bring in a few curious students. Personal invitations bring in the ones who stay. Ask two or three teachers to name students who argue well in class or write sharp essays, then invite each one directly. Set up a table at the club fair with a sign-up sheet and a one-line pitch: “Debate world problems, travel to conferences, no experience needed.” Tell friends in debate, speech, and student council, since those students already like talking in front of a room. If some students are unsure what the activity involves, send them our plain-language explainer on what Model UN is before the first meeting.

The first four Model UN club meetings

New clubs lose members when the first month is all lectures. The rule for the launch is simple: students debate in the very first meeting, before they know any rules, and run a real mini-simulation by the fourth. Each meeting below fits in 45 to 60 minutes.

Pick simple topics for the first simulation. Students should be able to form an opinion without an evening of reading, so school phone bans, clean water, or plastic waste work better than nuclear arms control. The point of meeting 4 is to feel the whole arc of a committee once, from roll call to vote, and to have the student chairs run it. Give them the chairing script a week ahead so they can rehearse the opening lines.

After these four meetings, switch to the printable Model UN club starter kit, which lays out eight meetings in more detail and ends in a full 90-minute practice simulation. This article covers the planning around the meetings; the kit is the one-page companion you print and hand to your officers.

Running weekly Model UN meetings

Once the launch is done, the danger shifts from confusion to boredom. The fix is a rotation: each week has a different focus, and every fourth week is a mini committee. Students always know what is coming, and nobody sits through three procedure lessons in a row.

Short formats keep lunch-period clubs alive. A 20-minute moderated caucus on one narrow question, with 30-second speeches and a strict chair, fits easily into a lunch break and gives everyone a turn. Another reliable format is the crisis minute: the chair reads a two-sentence breaking news update and each delegate has one minute to respond in character. Both need zero preparation from members, which matters in exam season.

Rotate chairs every mini committee. Chairing teaches procedure faster than any lesson, and it builds the bench of students who will run the club later. Keep a shared copy of the rules your club uses; our guide to Model UN rules of procedure covers the motions and voting thresholds most US conferences use. When you want to give delegates real feedback, score one mini committee a month with the delegate scoring rubric and hand each student their sheet.

Picking your club’s first Model UN conference

Your first conference should be close, short, and friendly to beginners. A one-day conference hosted by another school in your area is ideal: no hotel, no flights, a small number of committees, and often a novice committee or beginner training session before debate starts. Students come back knowing what a conference feels like, and the ones who loved it become your recruiters.

Travel conferences come later, once the club has a core of students with a few events behind them. Large university-hosted conferences run for several days, and delegates are usually expected to arrive with position papers and a working grasp of procedure. Sending first-timers to one can be discouraging.

When comparing options, look at dates against your school calendar, whether the conference offers beginner committees, how country assignments are made, the registration deadlines, and the delegate handbook’s rules on dress and devices. Our conference directory lists events by region so you can shortlist a few nearby. Register early, because committees fill and some conferences cap delegation sizes.

Budget and funding for a Model UN club

Meetings are nearly free. Conferences are where the money goes, and costs usually come in three parts: a school or delegation fee, a fee per delegate, and travel, which covers transport and, for multi-day events, hotels and meals. These amounts vary widely from one conference to the next, so check each conference’s registration page and build your budget from the published fees. Watch for early registration discounts and late fees.

Before collecting money from families, ask your advisor whether the school or district funds student activities, since some will cover registration for approved clubs. After that, the fundraising ideas that suit a Model UN club tend to be ones that use what members are already good at:

• A bake sale or food stall themed around the countries members represent.
• A paid public speaking or debate workshop run by club members for younger students.
• A trivia night on world affairs, with a small entry fee per team.
• Asking local businesses or parent associations to sponsor a delegation.
• Charging a modest entry fee at your own in-school conference in year two.

The treasurer should keep one spreadsheet with every fee, deadline, and payment, shared with the advisor. It also becomes a key part of the handover document later.

Hosting a small Model UN conference in year two

Once your club has attended a couple of conferences, running a small one of your own is the best next step. It gives every member a secretariat job, it can raise money, and it puts your school on the local circuit. Start small: one day, two or three committees, your own members plus a few invited schools.

Plan backwards from the date. Several months out, book rooms with your advisor and confirm the date does not clash with other local conferences. Then choose committees and topics, assign chairs from your most experienced members, and have them write short background guides. Open registration with a clear deadline, send country assignments a few weeks ahead, and train chairs with the chairing script and rubric. On the day, keep the schedule simple: opening ceremony, two or three committee sessions, a lunch break, voting, and a short closing with awards.

Your first hosted conference will have rough edges. Visiting delegates forgive a late lunch; they remember well-run committees, so put your best students in the chairs.

Keeping the Model UN club alive after the founders graduate

Many student clubs fade within a year of the founders leaving, because everything the club knew lived in two people’s heads. The fix is boring and effective: a handover document, updated every term and passed to the next officers before the current ones graduate.

It should include the charter and any school paperwork, the advisor’s contact details, the meeting room booking process, a list of conferences attended with dates, deadlines, and notes on each, the budget spreadsheet, fundraising results, the training rotation and any lesson materials, and the recruitment plan for the club fair. Add one page of lessons learned, written honestly: what went wrong, what to try again.

Pair the document with succession. Recruit younger students on purpose, give them chair and officer-in-training roles by the spring, and hold officer elections early enough that outgoing officers can shadow their successors for a few weeks. A club with members in every grade will outlast its founders.

If you are an advisor who would like outside support, such as a coached training session or a mock committee with written feedback for your delegates, see our programs or contact us about sessions for school clubs. Students who want to sharpen their own skills before leading others can start with a free trial class.