The primary purpose of Regional Communities is to better assemble geographically connected and culturally aligned members with common interests so as to facilitate network-driven communication and outreach to grow ISPA’s global footprint and relevance.

Beginning a Community: A potential new Community starts by with submission of an application to the ISPA board. This application will include Community name, justification, interests/scope, proposed activities, founding Leader and Vice-Leader names and contact information, and names and contact information for 10 supporting ISPA members. A Community will be officially recognized after an approval vote of the ISPA board.

Ending a Community: Communities can end due to: 1) inactivity; or 2) request. Communities will be dissolved if inactive for two consecutive calendar years. The ISPA Board will annually review the health and activity of each current Community to insure they are meeting this requirement. The membership of a community can request it be dissolved if they feel it no longer serves a useful purpose within ISPA.

Expectations of a Community: Each community should be active in meeting the needs of its members and ISPA. Activities of each community can vary according to need but should include:

1. Hold a minimum of one in-person meeting, which must occur every two years at either ICPA or ECPA.
2. Conduct an election of Community Leadership at the Community Meeting in alternate years.  Leadership positions are a two-year term. 
3. Have a minimum of 10 ISPA members identified as community members at the end of each calendar year.
4. A minimum of quarterly contact with community membership. This can be a newsletter, email update from community leadership, or other form of engagement.
5. Maintain a current community profile and contacts on the webpage.  Communities will have the option to provide updated content for their page, but it is not required. 
6. Community leaders must prepare an annual article in the ISPA newsletter and an annual activity report, minutes, or another way for the board to better assess community viability.
7. Organize an oral session once every two years at ICPA or other relevant ISPA-affiliated conference (ECPA, ACPA, AfCPA, CLAP).
8. Organize a minimum of one webinar on the ISPA platform every two years.

Membership: Once a community is formed, any ISPA member will be able to join through their account on the ISPA website. Each member may affiliate with as many communities as they desire.