dakareng's idea is a great one.

My thought is -- whatever you plan, don't call it a "meeting!" Sounds long, dull & boring. No one has time for that!

You make an excellent point! Maybe they DO think it is going to be extremely time consuming. I'll add a line to my current letter to clear that up.

Thanks!

Yep, most people immeditatly think that it's too time consuming. When we send out our invitations for teh first meeting of a potential new group it is simply a large postcard withthe date, place and time. We give no information of what except to say we're looking to start a new group. We save all of the details for the meeting when we can actually discuss it all.

And we don't call anything a meeting and we don't have them either.

I haven't gotten to that point yet. The letter I sent out was just asking if they'd be interested in helping me get a new chapter started. I would like one or two people to help me plan a recruitment event.

An idea that's worked for us in terms of bringing people back is to just invite them to hang out for a casual night of food and drinks. We've found that when women hang out a few times and have fun, they're more likely to want to give up a few Saturdays a year to do community service. Maybe a memorial day BBQ that spouses and kids are welcomed to as well......Once you get people's emails/phone numbers, just keep inviting them to stuff. Good Luck!

Locally in-Charge
 

Hi All:

I am also starting an alumnae chapter of my organization and I'm having trouble getting women interested in the sorority. Do you all have ideas on events that would attrack huge numbers of women in a metro area such as NYC? I'm the only official member here and the closets chapter is the undergrad chapter I graduated from --- 3 hours away! My sorority is helping me form, but I'm struggling to recruit the required number needed to become an official chapter. Any advice would be much appreciated. Greek love.

Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Inc.
Gamma Xi Alumni
NYC Recruiter & coordinator

P.S.
 

P.S. When I'm say I'm struggling with recruitment I mean so far there's only two people involved-- me and one prospective member -- and I need at least ten people to "officially" start a chapter. Thanks.

Hey, that's one more than I've gotten so far! I sent out letters, and everyone says they'd love to come to events, but don't have time to help start the chapter.

Your first mistake was mentioning it in the letter. We send nothing more than a postcard with the location and info for the first informational meeting and THEN give them details at the meeting on what's involved. Women are more likely to say yes when they realize that it's not a huge commitment and when they are surrounded by other women who are interested.

I agree with what she says. I made the mistake of putting it on the informational flyer too.

I think you're right. But fortunately, I didn't send out that many letters yet. I was amazed to find that there are 500 Zetas that live within a 45 minute radius of me.

I'm going to take your advice and just invite them to something. Now... what should I invite them to? Any ideas?

how about a movie night? pick a movie that will be premiering during the time you'd like to get together. try to find one that is interesting but maybe PG or PG13 and encourage them to bring their children. This will be good in two ways: they won't have to talk if they don't want to and they may be more likely to come if they don't have to find a sitter (if they have kids). Then everyone can spend the time before and after the movie talking and getting to know one another and hopefully discuss planning another event. If enough people RSVP perhaps you can get a discounted rate.

This is just an idea, I'm not an alum yet, but it seems doable.

I would suggest using some of your sororities main principles, aims and missions to contruct this. Yes, it should be social, but I also think that you should remind the women what they are missing by not being an active member.

You've got to remember that these are alumnae and doing a free program rather than something they have put money into will get a wider interest. Sisterly bonding is important, but you can also accomplish this by working together for a cause that your sorority supports nationally. And when you're working together with the interests and inactive members, you can chat with them about joining the sorority. And you can chat with the people who come out just becaue they're interested in the kinds of things you are doing.

Also reach out to active members near and far. You never know who might show up just to support the founding of a new chapter or give you a lead on prospective members they've been talking too.

Gamma Phi Delta Sorority, Inc.
NYC Area Recruiter & Member