I, for the record, am also in a national non-NPC.

1. We understand you are not a founding sister. Why I don't get is why you joined KBG when you could have joined a NPC, if you wanted that. Why did you join if NPC is what you want?

2. Yes, NPC women DO know what it's like to have someone tell them that "Oh, I'm not joining your sorority. I'm going to be in Delta or Alpha, not in yours". It happens constantly.

3. Seriously? A free credit card? Maybe I'm missing something, but I seriously doubt that has a shred of truth to it.


I really think that your chapter is recruiting wrong. My national, non-NPC chapter does two phases of recruitment: (1) a modified formal, with PHA and (2) informal.

The girls we bring in through formal recruitment join because we fit their ideal chapter, either via sisterhood or the programming. The girls who join through informal join because we are not a traditional NPC organization. We are smaller, with professional programing based in the sciences and engineering.

If you are marketing yourself as a "knock-off" NPC, it is no shock you are having membership problems. You need to demonstrate what you have in common with your Panhellenic Sisters, but also what makes you different.

Once our chapter started operating in that way, we haven't had an issue with numbers. We are at a lower total than the NPCs on campus, but it's one we have set and we maintain every year. We cut women regularly, rather than allowing anyone to join (which is another HUGE mistake some small groups make. Quantity is NEVER equal to quality). We have made well above our desired quota every year.

It's not that being in an NPC gives you a magical house with Tiffany's bracelets and free credit cards. It's that they have many things to offer and they are marketing it as such. Your chapter is currently not.

See, here is your problem. Your defeatist attitude. People pick up on that easily.

Turn yourself around. Take a minute and calm down. The situation is not as bad as you are making it.

Focus on what you feel your chapter does right. Maybe it is a philanthropy / fund raiser event. Maybe y'all are known on campus for showing the most spirit during homecoming week, something like that.

The way you are going now you are just showing all your negatives - and every chapter has that. The difference is that successful chapter, no matter the council, accentuates the positives about their chapter.

It can be as simple as effective marketing.

Uhh...were we supposed to fend for you?

If you're having issues recruiting, you need to step up your efforts, not try to switch organizations.

Campi correct is you're speaking Latin and pretentious if you're speaking English. :D

Thank you. You're the only one who hasn't yelled at me or told me to go off myself.

I feel like you're just following along in the thread just to nit pick at me...

Ding ding ding!

I have seen the credit card in person as the person was ever so eager to thrust in my face. We're not trying to appear as a knock off. There are just a lot of things that my sisters can't control. Like if 5 of us show up to an event there are 30 other girls in a sorority to counter us. Sometimes we can only do so much. Someone can't show because they're at work, class, or won't be in town. It's not their fault, but we do our best with what little we have. Unfortunately the little we have just isn't good enough sometimes.

Actually from the information given it is very easy to figure out your college and then go from there.

See, that's a problem right there. Like how I'm on GC making a fool of myself, I'm doing it alone. I do this all for my sisters. A lot of times I feel as though if the chapter were to close then they wouldn't care. If I don't roll up my sleeves and strap on my boots then almost nothing gets done. In short, they're just...lazy. Trust me, I wear my letters all the time, go to Greek oriented activities to show support for others, participate in fundraisers and other meetings. Just this semester me and TosfadKBG were elected onto the Greek Council. I didn't do it for me. I did it because if I didn't then KBG would have missed the opportunity. Again I mean, you're right the attitude definitely has to change. I just can't bear the whole weight on my shoulders.

Read the book I heart recruitment it will help.

Oh I've got it. I'm the only one who reads it. :)

This isn't how rush works. Quota = number of women rushing divided by number of sororities. Total = maximum number of women that can be in a chapter. If groups can't fill quota, the number is probably being set too soon during formal rush. If groups can't get to total and are constantly open bidding, then total is too high.

You are an associate member of your school's CPC so I'm guessing you don't have to worry about any of that crap.

Unless you fall under a minimum amount for student organizations IN GENERAL, you can't get "kicked off" for numbers alone - at least I have never heard of such a thing. When sorority chapters get pulled for numbers, it's their national headquarters that does it, NOT the school. The most I've ever heard of a school doing is removing a group from on campus housing because they don't have enough members to fill it. And as you know, not having a house does not equal not having a chapter.

No one likes a martyr. I'm not yelling at you, just being truthful.

There's another girl on here trying to (in effect) change her chapter from being super laid back in rush to having them do the whole matching clothes/mani-pedi thing. It is the opinion of many who have read her thread that she is going to epic fail because she's going about it all wrong.

People join groups for all different reasons and it's possible that many of your sisters joined because the chapter was more laid back and didn't give a hoot about Greek Council or any of that stuff. If that is the case, when you make a big deal about doing things like that like you're saving the world, it's not going to go over well.

Yeah, I know. None of the GLO have houses. The city prohibits it. But yeah, you're right, what meant to say was total.

Instead of moaning about your recruitment problems, it sounds like you need to find a way to get your sisters motivated to participate in general.

I guess it's just where I live is where the problem is. The more girls you have the more awards to activities you get. New members see this, they go "Ooh, shiny!" And then they want to join. I joined KBG because they're nothing like that. We make all kinds of handmade crafted gifts for each other. (Some better than others, lmao) I know it looks really hypocritical on my part, but SigmaDiva's right. I'm at the end of my rope and I don't know what to do. Off campus groups get a REALLY bad rep and I just don't want that to happen to my girls. KBG already gets mixed up with KBS, KGD, and KTE. It's so frustrating hearing people say, "Aren't you guys off campus?"

You go Gusteau!

I'm not attacking you - actually this is as nice as I've been to crazypants people on GC in a while - I'm just saying - changing orgs isn't necessarily the solution to your problem.

If the members are lazy as K_K suggests, they're going to be lazy members of an NPC chapter. If you have problems like this now, it's unlikely that an NPC would be willing to absorb you just to close you down.

It's not a complete solution, but a good way to get the ball rolling would be to find the things that motivate your sisters. Reward them for working hard by having a spa day, or something fun to do after. Make things fun for them, instead of stressful. Get them all to read I Heart Recruitment (book club style if you have to). Part of the problem with motivating members of small chapters is that it's just so stressful to deal with. Find a way to mitigate that.

Set realistic goals that challenge the chapter but don't beat them. Things like "talk to one new non-member outside of class per week." Take the rejection in stride and move on to the next.

You know what I heard as an active? "I don't want to join Alpha Gamma Delta because they're all fat." That became "I don't want to join Alpha Gamma Delta because they're all stuck up bitches" in my last year as a collegian. Of course none of it was true but it was what those girls thought. I can't hate them for not getting how awesome my organization is, and most of them found happy places elsewhere.

And get K_K off the internet. Girl needs to take a pill.

It's not recruitment that I was concerned about, although that was one of the points I was trying to make. The conversation just sort of veered towards recruitment.

Truth. You're not at the kind of campus that national sororities are chomping at the bit to get onto by any means necessary, even if it means taking a chapter full of lazy asses. NPCs that absorb local groups nowadays want one of two things: 1) a super desirable campus with lots of membership opportunity (UMCP or Penn would be a basic example) where even if they send tons of volunteers and $$, they will recoup their investment quickly or 2) a group that has their act together and is already strong.

Refer to yourselves as Kappa (or Beta if that floats your boat) rather than going by the letters.

And the off campus groups are another whole issue, but trust me, the NPC groups are probably bashing their heads in over them too.

I've received a lot of helpful information. Thank you for being patient with me. I still have a lot to learn in this game. :)

Only if Kaorin_Kanoe was less pathetic and more entertaining.

Correct and I blame unnecessarily patient GCers for why lazy people keep coming to GC for answers when they actually have non-GC sources for information if they were humble enough to pursue and receive the information.

You're not on your own. You may not be a NPC member, but you do have a national headquarters. Talk to them. Stop spreading your dirty laundry on the intarwebz.

Now I am heading back over to the umbrella to borrow AOII_Angel's cell phone. Gotta make a call to my headquarters to find out why my free credit card, bracelet and diamond earrings were lost in the mail.

Your city doesn't prohibit sorority houses.

This is how I know you're dumb. This cannot be for real.

I have nothing to say. *smiling and waving at everything soaring over my head* I just want to get in on this beach umbrella. It's been a long day. Daiquiris, anyone?

Call my HQ while you're at it...my freebies are 18 years late. LOL.

Seriously, though. NPC membership doesn't have those kinds of perks. Yes, some GLOs do have the option of getting a credit card with their logo on it, but you have to pay the bill. If your "rush crush" is dumb enough to pledge XYZ just because she can get an XYZ credit card, you should be counting your blessings that KBG doesn't have that option! Also, I agree with what AOEforme said, your chapter should really adjust how you target women for membership. Competing head to head against NPC chapters isn't in your best interest. Highlighting the advantages of not being NPC, aiming for a membership number that works for you (not necessarily chapter total for the campus) and looking for women who would be interested in a group that may be less expensive (since you don't have such high national fees as an NPC would) through informal recruitment would help.

well shoot. I didn't make the cut at the Tiffany necklace/bracelet/diamond earrings/violet volcano/catsuit/credit card chapters. Oh well. BUT, where I'm from, beach umbrellas are mandatory, and we have blenders.

For smoothies. Of course. What else?

but thats how the trainwrecks get started. i love me a good trainwreck. *munches popcorn*

DITTO! well not quite that late, but better jump on this quick before HQ runs out!

smoothies? i could go for one. or for a marg. either works :D say, any room left under that beach umbrella?

It's entirely possible that you are pleasant in person, but on GC, you're coming off as a nasty, bitter bitch. All I'm saying is that, if you're presenting yourself as hostile toward NPC groups and defeatist about the future of your own org, it's no wonder that women aren't interested in getting to know your group.

As others have said, the issue is NOT what other sororities are or aren't doing. You're going to have to accept that there are women who simply do not want to join your sorority. These are not the women you should spend your time courting.

The larger issue, as has been stated, is the lack of unity and motivation within your chapter. That issue has to be resolved first, before y'all can form a united front in the matter of recruiting quality women who want to join your sorority.

As I said, I know exactly what you're going through. You need to take a step back (no one is telling you to "off" yourself) and understand how horrible your initial post on this topic really was.

You're on here talking to men and women who have devoted their lives to their organizations, through thick and thin, and you're asking us to help you jump ship because the going has gotten rough.

And as I recall, the ladies of the local didn't exactly exemplify the high ideals that are expected of Phi Mus. If one of the 26 NPCs came to your campus (Phi Mu) only to be disappointed by the way in which many of those women acted, why would any other NPC want a liability like that? Ask yourself that!

That was a different sorority hon. :) http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=72635640049

Just one more reason why KBG should probably get on "Beta" as a local nickname at K_K's school.

Hahahaha, just when I was going to come on and say "disregard"...thanks, though! Yeah, apparently those ladies didn't live up to the ideals of Phi Mu.

Wait, what happened with Phi Mu and the local? I am intrigued/curious.

Phi Mu used to be at Frostburg. They closed in the late 1990s.
KTE was founded by former members of that Phi Mu chapter.
In 2009 Phi Mu was going to come back and recolonize their chapter with KTE.
KTE did some things that weren't cool.
Phi Mu said forget you.
The End.

Greek Chat Cliff Notes: yet another reason I *like* 33girl. I'll throw myself in front of the knife for you any day, just because of this ^^^.

ETA: and isn't it Drole who does translations for incomprehensible posters? It's been a while.

Services haven't been required *tips hat*

I just wanted to say that I agree with eveything you just typed about 33girl.

awww, thanks girlies :)