Beating "Small Chapter" syndrome
 

I was just wondering if anyone had any brillant ideas for how to overcome "small chapter syndrome" (definition: a good, strong chapter who, because of their diminuitive size, has trouble reaching quota, COBing, etc.)

I swear, it would be so great just to stand up during Recruitment and say, DAMNIT! if you and your friend will just pledge, and the chapter gets quota, then the small chapter will no longer be small!! 1 + 1 + 1. . . =TOTAL

Just to clarify, I am trying to get opinions on chapters that are strong already in chapter operations, scholarship, philanthropic, etc. You know the chapters I'm talking about, the only thing that seems to hurt them is numbers.

I am the president of the smallest NPC chapter on my campus, and I am trying to figure out a way to best describe my "MIGHTYMOUSE" chapter to PNM's during my introductions.

When we were a 12 man colony, we signed some of our best people because we offered nearly instant leadership opportunities. For small chapters I'd assume things are similar.

The leadership opportunities and strong sisterhood is what makes us an attractive choice even though we are smaller than the other two groups on campus (for now!) GOOD LUCK, I know how recruitment can be tough when you are up against larger chapters but remember if you keep the quality of members strong, the quantity will rise along with it!

good luck,
Sarah

My chapter was, and still is, what you describe. Most sororities returned for rush with about 70 sisters; one year we returned with 10. (!) The good news is that my chapter has slowly been growing - they're now up to around 35.

We always made sure to display prominently all the awards that the chapter had won, and to talk about them, as in "We have a very strong academic program, and we actually had the highest GPA of any sorority last semester." We also played up the opportunities to move into a leadership role more quickly.

To make us "look" larger, we held our formal rush parties in the smallest room available, and positioned balloons, decorations, and tables so as to take up more space. This cut down on the glaring size difference.

We also held informal rush throughout the year, and we were not afraid to take one-person new member classes... like you said, 1+1+1+... = total.

We do all those things

*make the room smaller to appear bigger (did that make sense?)
*boast leadership opps.
*display awards prominently (to be the smallest chapter and win the biggest school spirit award is no easy task)
*show excellent sisterhood year round
*COB with small pledge classes year round,
*competitive grades (we have a 3.012, which is something we are proud of, but all the npc sororities are STILL higher--top is 3.34 with 100+ members!)

you name it, we do it.

I was on the panhellenic side of recruitment last year, and I continuously heard girls saying "gosh they seem so sweet and fun, but I feel bad that I'm going to cut them b/c they are the smallest on campus and I don't want to be in the smallest group." OVER and OVER I heard that!


The major drawback to being in a small chapter is you have to WORK! I mean if 5 people miss an event, it can be a big deal. SO you have to schedule things carefully so you don't have burnout or overprogramming.

I hate to say it, but the magic pill here was our house. You can't be a "real" fraternity around here unless you all live in a big old house. Stupid, but unfortunately, sometimes perception is reality.

We have a small chapter here, too (well, we're huge compared to some sororities at other schools, but when you're competing with sororities around 150 members... well, you get the point) and it's a struggle sometimes, but part of why we stay so small is because we refuse to "settle" on girls, and we're finally getting rewarded for it. We had girls preffing the large sororities and choosing us. And I mean actually CHOOSING, not just being cut by the other sorority. It's a real thrill, sometimes, to hear about people doing that. And, yeah, our rho chi from last year said that she heard from several girls things like, "they're nice, and they'd be my first choice, except with the big sororities noone cares if you miss an event." Now, maybe it's just me, but it's kind of nice to be cared about! I went through as a sophomore, so I knew the other sororities' reputations, and it was kind of neat to hear about people saying good things about DG... and our rho chi said that she honestly didn't hear about anyone trashing us... ahh... the rewards for picking quality over quantity! And, we do ultimately want to grow. Noone wants to stay at 85 members when total's 100, but we want both quantity and quality, b/c that's what's most important.

I come from the same type of chapter, as well. We are usually in the top 3 in scholarship (#1 last year!:)), we won the greek spirit award and the award for most improved chapter, and we're always in the top 2 or 3 in intramurals.
I think that CarolinaDG made an excellent point about quality over quantity. One thing that we changed while I was in college was that we stopped doing things that made us look desperate. For example, we started to cut more people than we had in the past so that we looked more selective and not like we were inviting back everyone so that we could have higher numbers at the next round of parties (yes, recruitment guests really do notice if everyone is invited back).
I have another question for members of small chapters. I came from a small chapter at a small school (about 2000-2500 students) and one of the biggest problems that we face is reputation and rumors. This is compounded by the fact that we have sophomore recruitment, and the women have a full year to make up their minds about the chapters. We do everything we can to extoll our virtues, like leadership and awards, but no one wants to join a chapter that everyone thinks is struggling. Also, because we're so small, many recruitment guests have not had contact with us to know what type of people we are (I got some really crazy questions/comments ranging from "I heard that all of you have boyfriends, and I don't. Does that make a difference?" to "I heard that you guys do nothing but study.") What kinds of things do you tell recruitment guests that have a preconceived opinion about your chapter?

EXACTLY! I just wish girls would understand that just because you are small, does not mean that you are struggling. That is why I started this thread. I am trying to find the best way to explain that to our PNM's. I know how to tell someone one on one, but like I said before, I want to shout it from the roof top to all of the PNMs.
That is one of the biggest problems we have faced in the past, because of our normal social contact rules. My chapter of 30 cannot possibly know as many PNM's as a chapter of 100. Nor can we GET to know all of our PNMs during the summer. (even though we aren't supposed to contact them, many larger sororities know the girls coming through before our summer recruitment rules begin, allowing them to have normal social contact with them in the summer.) So by the time we get to meet them at summer panhellenic events, or sometimes even during rush, they already have formed opinions about us, which they have learned (most of the time) through other Greeks (Greek unity is good, but not THAT good on our campus.)

What does that leave us? 30 minutes (at the MOST) during Recruitment events talking to 3 or 4 girls at a time trying to convince them that we are cool, intelligent, respectful women. Sometimes it's like deprogramming a bug. Which is, obviously, something that is hard to do.

Do you mean that just because of the sheer size of the other chapters, there is more of a statistical probability that they will know the incoming freshmen (I assume this is freshman rush). Do a lot of people from the same high schools attend your college?

If sororities on your campus are in contact with PNMs when they aren't supposed to be, why aren't you reporting them to Panhellenic?

I don't mean any disrespect to you or your sorority, but if this frustration is what PNMs see when they go through recruitment, they aren't going to want to belong to your sorority. I advise one chapter who was down to 26 girls (total is 60). The chapter was in danger of losing their house and didn't have a lot or respect. Instead of thinking that this was it, they did recruitment as if they were just as big as the other sororities!! And they went out and SOLD their sorority. Their confidence and energy was infectious, and they went from 26 girls in the Fall to 63 by the end of the spring!

I would advise that you take a different approach to talking with the PNMs and getting your message across if your current methd isn't working. Make sure your first round of parties is a real attention grabber, and don't be afraid to be different from the other chapters. It's what can set you apart from the rest of the sororities and make you the chapter that shines through.

I don't think that is what is happening with our chapter at all. We are not in danger of losing our charter or anything. We are not frustrated with being small. We kindof like it (but we aren't limiting ourselves by wanting to stay small... we'll be happy to accept anyone that exemplifies our ideals) What we don't like is being known as the "small sorority" like thats a bad thing. Because when the campus perceives it as a bad thing, that is when things actually start to go bad.

My girls really have insane pride for our chapter, as well as the spirit and vivaciousness (sp?) that a lot of girls respond to, but then only half of them (roundabout) have the guts (faith?) to take a chance on "the small sorority". I guess that's where the SELL comes in: we're selling us, but we only close the deal half the time.

Does that make sense?

Alot has already been said, but my chapter went from the smallest to one of the larger houses in the 3 years I was there. When I joined we were small (90 in our house, other houses average 120-150). We did tons of COBing. Real recruitment parties for COB girls so they knew what recruitment was all about. We also used the small room options. We also had a system where we would have at least 3 girls talk to each PNM at each party for formal recruitment. This made us look bigger.
THIS WORKS! Last formal recruitment we came in with the most girls (and first time at quota in a while). We went from smallest to top recruitment house quick. We managed to COB a few girls after that and initiate around 50-60 girls.
If you need any specific tips PM me.

Do you mean the rush groups rotated enough so that each sister talked to three rushees or did ya'll "hotbox", 3 sisters talking to 1 rushee at a time?

I'm not absolutely certain that this happens, because I'm not in one of the sororities that does this, but rumor has it that some sororities just build into their dues the rush fines... For example, they invite girls out to eat dinner with them before rush, get caught, and hand over the $500 or whatever it is for a fine. Like I said, I don't know for sure that this happens, but it wouldn't surprise me... one of my friends already had her sign made up by one of the girls in a larger sorority... back in JUNE!

no, there is no "hotboxing". we are just that good!;) at CU we get between 700-800 girls the first few datebooks usually 600 left by bidday). That means for small houses you usually have to double rush for the first party (possibly second datebook too, depending on size). Its harder to get to know 2 girls at the same time, but we begin learning *how* to recruit early. That way by actually parties everyone is comfortable and abble to handle 2 girls and how to move conversations along so more sisters get to talk to each PNM. Its a lot of work but its worth it.

Believe me, IT DOES! It has been a big problem on my campus for awhile....

As for advice to build a smaller chapter? COB COB COB!!!! Get those girls in the off season when larger houses aren't recruiting.

I agree with my fellow PHI-ster. COB does so so much. On average over the past 3 years we have gotten around 15-20 girls each year from just spring COB. (2 years we had classes of 20ish, 1 year we had 6, but we had a huge fall class so we couldnt take more).

Ivysis, thats the same way we built our numbers.

My Soph. year we were lingering somewhere in the middle in terms of size (low being 60-70, high 100), but then we Spring COB'ed and got 15 girls.... and it took off from there. We COB every quarter that we can. We've been one of the the biggest houses since we started this system. In addition, I've seen other chapters on my campus whom were smaller have similar success by doing this.

There will always be women interested in recruitment, and you can use this to your advantage!

Ok. To all you COBer's out there, what kind of events or tactics do you use to COB? We've been doing that for 5 years, and we never get more than 5 girls a semester, sometimes just one or two. We have many girls attend, and many are interested, but they just never give in.

Our campus is a suitcase campus, and many girls that come here REALLY don't care about the sororities, except for the 200-250 that go through Recruitment plus maybe (what we know of at least--our barrel of fish if you will) 15-30 more girls that express the slightest interest but don't go through formal recruitment. Out of those 200-250, we place about 150 girls, b/c financial requirements and time requirements turn alot of girls off (rural, suitcase school, I reiterate).

So there is some knack that we are not getting. This year, we are not going to cob all semester, like usual. We are going to COB the first few weeks after Bid Day, and then just focus on our pledges, so they don't feel like their not good enough. Then if someone during the rest of the semester approaches us, then, fine, but we aren't going to go on the prowl all semester. This is what some of our National officers suggested, so we figured, why not?

bets, i PMed you. hope that helps. youre in AR....im in SE Oklahoma. How far is where you are from ft. smith? (i am in need of intelligent people....i got accused of being a "book reader" today!)

Ft. Smith is on the other side of Arkansas (NWest) by Fayetteville (Pig-phhhooey territory). Jonesboro is in NEast AR. We are about 45 min away from Memphis, and maybe 4 hours or so away from Ft. Smith? It's hard to guage if you don't go there often b/c there is no direct interstate that goes from here to there. You have drive down almost to Little Rock and then back up.

Intelligent people and book readers are good! Is that a bad thing in your area? ;)

bets--

do you all have any rules about "replacing" yourself? My chapter is at a school where the # of rushees (70s) is very low in comparison to the # of sororities (8). So, COB is SOOO important. But, we always had a rule that before you graduated, you had to "replace" yourself. It may sound sort of odd, but it really does work.

It seems that you are getting girls to the house, which is half the battle, but closing the deal isn't happening. What sort of activities do you do at COB? Any idea why the girls who come don't end up pledging?

As someone else said, there are always girls who want to join a sorority, they just don't know it :) You have to sell it to them!

Yes, we always talk about that, but it's not a RULE, persay.

Our events consist of every member and pledge being responsible for bringing 1+ PNM to an "open sisterhood." So they come "just to hang out," not to get "rushed", because thats basically why these girls aren't in sororities, b/c they don't like rush. We go to play lazer tag, do philanthropic events, rollerskating, any activity where you get to be dorky and casual. Through
the evening, you get to know the girls, and in casual conversation (sometimes a formal welcome) we let them know that if someone is interested, we can start to get to know them with the prospect of them pledging. Then we put those girls on a make believe "list", and we make sure they are invited to EVERYTHING they can come to for the next few weeks, like intramurals, games, 1 social, sisterhoods, anything so that they feel like they are a member. We even invite the fence-sitters to come to a pledge meeting to see "what's up". Somewhere along the way, after the chapter has expressed interest, we (myself and the NM educator) take girls aside and offer them a bid, giving them a deadline to respond if it is needed. The other girls that never said that they were really interested in pledging, we still invite to stuff, but mostly we just invite them to other sisterhoods, because we can keep a better eye on them at those.

It is a combination of factors as to why the girls don't rush. Part of the reason is b/c of finances, many of the girls that come to our school are working HARD to pay for college, and a sorority would break their back. Part of it is time restraint, b/c our greek system has a MAJOR problem with overprogramming. The whole "they don't know it yet thing" is really true, and so we try really hard to convince them, but it is in the end our fault b/c something we do) or don't do, doesn't sign the deal.

But we're not giving up! While we try to get new girls, we are becoming SUPER tight as a chapter, because we are always spending time with each other as a whole chapter.

Shoot, I don't know the answer, b/c if I did, there would be no question!

I'm feeling negative today, so a few cautionary words...

What do you do on a campus where even the biggest chapters have COB? What do you do to get them to look at you, the smaller chapter, then?

What about rush burnout? COB is a great tool, but if it really is continuous, you spend more time rushing than enjoying sorority life. (I'm talking four months of several events a month. Yes, I've seen it.)

And don't rely on COB as your only method of getting new members. You end up with a chapter where no one has been through formal as a rushee, making it harder to put on a good rush. Or worse, you end up with a chapter that thinks formal is stupid and does it because they have to - wasting their time and money, because the rushees can tell when the sorority doesn't want to be there.

Plus, a lot of the girls who join other chapters will form their opinion of you during formal rush. You want them to say, "Mu Mu is a really nice sorority," not "Oh my gosh, they had the worst rush parties" or "They're not a real sorority; they don't even participate in formal rush." Rushees are more willing to take a chance on the smaller chapter if they know the other chapters respect them than if they're known as the chapter you join if you can't get in elsewhere.

I guess what I'm saying is that COB is great if used properly, but you cannot neglect formal rush, either.

FuzzieAlum, good point. The AEPhi chapter at Duke has all but disappeared, in part (I believe) because they do not participate in formal rush. :(

My chapter does a lot of COB rush, but our largest new member classes have always come from formal rush. We participated in fall formal rush, then held a COB rush week some time in the middle of fall semester and another early in the spring. (This will be changing as my campus is changing to deferred rush.) So we weren't constantly having rush events - but we were constantly rushing, in that we made ourselves very visible on campus and made an effort to get to know unaffiliated women. If someone approached one of us with an interest in joining, and a rush week wasn't coming up within the next month or so, we would strike while the iron was hot - we'd try to arrange for her to meet as many of the sisters as possible (take her to dinner, etc) and then vote on whether to bid her. We got some great sisters that way.

Our formal rush was in the spring semester so we had informal in the fall and COB after formal. We focused on recruiting classmates and dorm or floor mates. One fall semester seven of our nine pledges came from one dorm. Also, every sister was required to join a club or activity outside of the sorority so we could meet new people.
If finances prevent people from pledging, you might want to consider fundraising as a way of covering fees and expenses.

There are many advantages to being a smaller chapter. I don't think that being a smaller chapter is always a bad thing. You may have half the number of members as the next organization, but there are pros and cons to everything. I have friends that go to other schools and belong to organizations that have 100, 150 and sometimes more members. One of my friends tells me that he can never remember all the guys, he forgets names and stuff, and I could never imagine trying to get to know that many guys on a personal level. I thought it was difficult when our chapter was at almost 70 members. We have now declined drastically due to this and that politics, but mostly because we began a process of weeding out those that weren't helping the org, we'll call them the "wasssssssup brothers." Needless to say, after all the petty bickering and shat that still goes on, I think we are closer than ever before, and with the uncertain future ahead of us, I think we are ready to make probably one of the biggest decisions in the history of our org; going national.

This is a really good point. I know quite a few people who can only recognize other people in their organization when it's letter day. I can't imagine feeling the same bonds of sisterhood with 100 women as I did with 30. I loved my small chapter and I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything, but it does get frustrating during recruitment when you're competing for girls you really like and they decide that they want to be in a larger chapter instead.

There are always pros and cons to being bigger. My chapter has been hovering around 40 members for the past two years. Let us call that size medium, not to big not too small. It is nice to know lot of those guys really closely, but I still do not know all of them realy well. That does not mean that I would not take a bullet for anyone of them or if they would do the same for me. I just want to have as many quality men to have the positive experience I am having as a Pi Kappa Phi. When you limit your group to a smallish number then you are not giving others an oppurtunity to have the same great experiences you have.

Fuzzie--

You're entitled to being negative :)

Let me just say that I know chapters who just don't do it with formal recruitment. It's unfortunate, but not everyone is good at each thing, and COB is their outlet. Now, I agree that on many campuses, COB is not the best way to go, as it's looked at badly if a chapter has to COB after formal recruitment.

If all of the chapters have to COB after formal recruitment, then the ceiling is set far too high for the campus. Most NPC sororities base their "standards" on the campus total. For instance, one of the chapters in my province is on a campus where they are the largest sorority with 40, but campus total is 60. SO, when HQs looks at those #s, the chapter gets warnings about low numbers. Obviously, the ceiling on this campus should be lowered, but many times, Greek Advisors aren't educated on this.

I still believe in the thought that there are always girls who want to pledge, but they just don't know it. That may sound silly, but if the system is offering all that it can, people will want to join! I mean, who wouldn't want to be Greek ;)

Good point as usual, my sister! :D

The issue that we had on my campus when I was active was that the type of women who were drawn to formal rush were not drawn to my chapter. :( During the first round, the rushees had to attend all seven sororities. When it came to second round, the majority dropped us. One year a rep from International was visiting during rush, and she thought that we were great. We did everything that we needed to do to have a successful rush. The next day fewer than one quarter of the rushees returned for round two. Our rep said that we had done a great job and didn't know what had gone wrong. We had to COB in compete. We were smaller than the rest, but that didn't stop us from having fun and contributing to the campus.

Yeah, I've heard about sororities that have to introduce themselves to their rush rotation groups. I can't even imagine!

Also, another little problem that we have... sororities that have met total and quota are still COB-ing, they just do it secretly so that panhellenic doesn't find out. Does anyone else have this problem?

If they had a lot of graduating seniors, some of the bigger chapters which had met quota would tell the women who didn't get bids during Spring Formal Rush to wait until the Fall semester for informal rush. It wasn't really secret though. I'm not sure if there was anything wrong with that.

I don't believe that there's an official recommendation or regulation against inviting PNMs to open events even if a chapter is at quota/total (correct me if I'm wrong, please!) Sure, it's not ideal from a smaller chapter's perspective and it probably wouldn't encourage a strong Panhellenic spirit on that campus. Of course, they're doing some kind of stealth bid process and unofficially pledging girls, there's a problem. But, if they're abiding by their organization's recommendations for COR, there may not be much that can be done.

OTOH--COR is a wonderful way to maintain a strong chapter. Even if they can't extend bids, those chapters probably have a good idea of who they would *like* to bid when and if the opportunity arises. Perhaps, in an ideal system, the stronger chapters would happily pass the names and contact info of PNMs that they are unable to bid onto the smaller chapters. I doubt that scenario actually happens often, if ever.

I would imagine that most sororities on an International level encourage some form of COR. Doing so would hopefully eliminate the need for a chapter to actually have to introduce themselves during recruitment ever again! The plan may differ whether a chapter is at or under quota/total, but what better way to keep a chapter in the forefront of PNMs minds by getting to know them--and the PMNs getting to know the chapter--in a more casual and friendly matter? COR used properly, it's an excellent way for a smaller chapter to gain new members outside of the formal Panhellenic recruitment events.


Fraternally,
Christin

I agree if everyone is COBing ceiling is too high. But those one or two smaller chapters don't have the power to change it. Of course the bigger groups don't want to shrink, so they will vote against lowering ceiling. I just wonder what a smaller group can do in a situation like that.

I know there are a lot of wonderful rushees who don't want to do formal rush. But the best of them still join the larger orgs. The struggling groups end up "convincing" girls to join - girls who are anti-Greek but like this "different" group. It ends up getting more and more different until you have girls insisting on talking about porn, religion and politics at formal rush parties to "make a point" about how stupid the system is. (No, I'm not joking.) Obviously, that's not where a group wants to end up. A group can be different, but when you start attacking the system you are a part of, well, that attracts a limited number of people.

In an environment like that, what can the small group do? It's hard to sell the "leadership" roles of a smaller chapter if even the big chapters have half the sisters holding offices. COB won't work for you. Is the only option to give up your charter and say, sorry, we're out of here?

BUMP!

I wanted to bring this up again as reminder to PNMs to look closely at ALL the sororities, not just the ones that are "major" on campus.

Sure, OSS (Oh So Small) Chapter may not have as many sisters as the others, but that doesn't mean that YOU can't be a part of the revitalization!

It is very heartbreaking for a "small" chapter to work just as hard or harder than the larger sororities and not get half as many New Members.

As others have posted in this and other threads, if one sorority folds, that negatively affects the rest of the Greek organizations.

If your formal rush is over and you didn't pledge, consider COBing!

I'd like to throw in my $0.02 here.

My chapter started out last year with four women (yes: 1, 2, 3, 4) on campus. It was a make-or-break year. Well, we made it. We rushed with six actives and a little help from our lovely sisters from another chapter in our province. We stressed the leadership opportunities inherent in Kappa and how those were magnified in a small chapter. We told PNMs that they had the chance to change the face of Kappa, to make it what they wanted it to be. We also stressed the fact that, in a smaller chapter, you have a closer sisterhood and you know everyone better. Our new sisters chose to be proactive in the shaping of our chapter's future, and it's turned out wonderfully.

Good luck to you.

KittyCat, what a wonderful way to embrace the positives of being smaller while showing the PNMs that the chapter would welcome having a lot of members! I'm curious, how large is your chapter now, compared to a year ago?

It's been my experience before that sometimes, in a chapter smaller than the others on campus, they talk about how close they are and how much they like being so small and close-knit. Of course, that is a benefit of having a smaller chapter, but no chapter will grow if it gives the impression that the members like being smaller.

It makes sense to think about emphasizing the opportunities to really have an immediate, positive impact in a chapter. How exciting it would be to have a huge (but close!) new member class who'd be able to truly impact the present and future of their sorority. Just because ABC chapter on XYZ campus may be small now, they could be the campus powerhouse in 2-4 short years. I can give three examples from my own alma mater that illustrates how chapter fortunes can change in less than four years. With two chapters, each one had very successful recruitments a couple years in a row and virtually doubled their chapter each time. Now, both chapters are two of the strongest on campus. The third chapter had a couple of less than successful recruitments and are still working their way back. They've got great members and a very strong sisterhood, they just have about 1/3 of what the other chapters are returning with. It's hard, but it can be done.

Christin