Structure & Policy

Global Autism Collaboration

1) The mission of the Global Autism Collaboration (GAC): To network and collaborate with autism organizations worldwide to generate necessary legal and social change to deal with the global autism health crisis.

The GAC is a body that actively seeks to welcome new members through a collaborative effort of inclusion.

2) The core values of the GAC include:

  • Autism is an epidemic
  • Autism is treatable
  • Many cases of regressive autism are preventable
  • More research is needed on the epigenetic and environmental causes of autism
  • Research is needed for efficacious treatments for autism
  • Communication, networking, and collaboration are needed among autism organizations worldwide

3) Members of the GAC will:

  • Subscribe to the GAC's core values (#2)
  • Be a nonprofit organization or group, such as a
    • government approved nonprofit corporation
    • not-for-profit group, including both off-line and online support and social networking groups, for example, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Yahoo, and others.
    • a for-profit organization that must be classified as such solely due to lobbying activities
  • Permission to become a member of GAC shall be at the sole discretion of the GAC Advisory Committee
  • Have at least 10 members in the group
  • Appoint a representative and an alternate representative to participate in at least 80% of scheduled conference calls
  • Place a banner, designed and approved by GAC, on the homepage of their Internet website

4) GAC consists of three levels of membership:

  • Regional. Provides information and services to families and professionals in a city, state or portion of the United States.
  • National. Networks with other national organizations and provides information and services to families and professionals throughout the United States
  • International. Provides information and services to families and professionals in a region or throughout a country other than the United States.

5) Membership in the GAC:

  • Organizations and groups must submit an application to join the GAC
    • Applications are forwarded to the advisory committee and may take up to 12 weeks to be reviewed.
  • Once approved, membership must be renewed every 2 years
  • Membership removal is decided by two-thirds vote of the GAC Advisory Committee, and the decision will be at their sole discretion.

6) For-profit organizations/companies may become supporters of the GAC

  • Three tiers of supporters, based on their annual donation.
    • Diamond - $5,000 or higher
    • Gold - $2,500 to $4,999
    • Silver - $500 to $2,499
  • GAC's website will dedicate a page that will contain logos of the organizations with embedded links to their websites.
    • Diamond supporters will be listed first; gold supporters will be listed second; silver supports will be listed third.
  • Supporters will be given a GAC banner to place on their website
  • Supporters may not use the GAC banner for any other reason (e.g., brochure) nor promote their support for the GAC in any other written or verbal form without the expressed written permission of the GAC.
  • Supporters will also be mentioned in GAC's e-enewsletter
    • Diamond supporters will be listed in each issue
    • Gold supporters will be listed in every other issue
    • Silver supporters will be listed in two issues a year
  • Permission to become a supporter of GAC shall be at the sole discretion of the GAC Advisory Committee
  • For-profit organizations/companies may be removed as a supporter by a two-third vote by the GAC Advisory Committee, and the decision will be made at their sole discretion. The donation will be prorated and refunded.

7) Monies raised by the GAC through for-profit support and other fund-raising events:

  • May be used to support the "Parents as Partners" research initiative
    • RFPs to fund specific areas of research will be written and distributed by members and supporters of the GAC
  • May be used to pay for press releases that are deemed important by the GAC advisory committee
  • May be used for other initiatives, projects, and programs that are agreed upon by a majority vote of the GAC advisory committee

8) Terms of the Officers and Advisory Committee members

  • Officers
    • Steve Edelson will be president for a 4-year term (term: September 2010 to September 2014)
    • Teri Arranga will be the vice-president for a 3-year term (term: September 2010 to September 2013)
    • Ed Arranga will be the coordinator for a 3-year term (term: September 2010 to September 2013)
    • At the end of the officers terms, the advisory committee will elect or re-elect officers
  • Advisory Committee
    • The initial advisory committee will serve a 2-year term (September 2010 to September 2012)
      • This Advisory Committee may add additional committee members, requiring a two-thirds vote by the committee itself, as they see fit.
    • GACs membership will elect new advisory committee members in September 2012