Non-collegiate sororities: the list
 

I thought I'd put together a list of non-collegiate sororities.

To be on this list an organization meets these criteria:
* must have more than one chapter in more than one city, town, or community (therefore is not a local)
* may not be part of NPC, NPHC, or MCGLO (multi-cultural Greek-letter org. e.g. Hispanic, Asian, mixed)
* is not affiliated with a fraternal organization (e.g. Eastern Star/Masons, Rebekahs/Odd Fellows)
* its chapters are community based; there may be collegiate chapters but the emphasis on on the community chapters
* its members are adult women, generally out-of-school
* its membership is by invitation
* it has a ritual and secret work known only to members

Beta Sigma Phi (www.betasigmaphi.org)
Delta Theta Chi (www.deltathetachi.org)
Delta Theta Tau (www.deltathetatau.org)

P.E.O. Sisterhood
www.peointernational.org

Phi Beta Psi (www.phibetapsi.org)
Psi Iota Xi (www.psiiotaxi.org)
Sigma Phi Gamma (www.sigmaphigamma.com)
Tri-Kappa (www.trikappa.org)
[I think these are good links....I tried most of them.]

added 9/05:
National T.T.T. Society
http://www.altrue.net/site/tttsociety/

There are many women's organizations that provide networking, lifetime friendships, opportunities for action and involvement in the community or nationally, and tremendous civic service. In the large sense of "sorority" or "sisterhood," these qualify. But I'm narrowing it down to the "special circle," those who are invited to share a particular sisterhood. I think you all get it....

Are there others to add to this list?

AGDAlum

It looks like most of these were founded in Indiana. Does anyone know why?

wow there is a tri kappa.. :eek:

It was around long before the Ku Klux Klan, so there's nothing "eek" about it.

It actually wasn't, as the KKK has been around since the Civil War... but it's still nothing to be eek about. :)

Hence why they go by tri-Kappa. *shrug*

~ Mel.

While Tri-Kappa is a great organization (I know lots of members who are diverse in ethnicity), the "KKK" was headquartered in Indianapolis for years and year. :EEEkkk::: is reasonable at first glance.

Re: Non-collegiate sororities: the list
 

Your PEO link is messed up.

Oh, I completely agree that the eek is reasonable-- and I would have to wonder if it hurts their membership roles a bit.

~ Mel.

Just until she has a chnce to fix it, P.E.O. - http://www.peointernational.org/

Thanks for putting this list up, AGDAlumn!

I visited all the sites and probably from a web design two really stand out from the others.

But what surprised me was their membership info for most. I felt that you had to know the chapter to be able to check it out. I wouldn't just drop $70 on an online membership form without meeting the members, but there were not always links to the chapter or chapter president.

Membership is what keeps all of us up and running.

I checked out their sites and they seem like very well-put together organizations with purposes. However, I didn't notice any chapters here in Mississippi...

As a member of one of these organizations, I am so happy this thread was started! I had no idea non-collegiate sororities existed when I graduated from college. I thought my chance to be in a sorority had passed. I love being a Beta!!

As many of my sisters and PNMs who frequent the Beta board know, I think our Int'l webpage needs a HUGE facelift. It just doesn't get updated enough and there isn't a lot of info provided about the organization, IMO. Hats off to the organizations who have a comprehensive site!! Hopefully someday we'll be there with you!

It does not hurt their membership in the least. Tri-Kappa has a ton of chapters and sisters, but all of them are located in Indiana. The people of Indiana are very familar with it and to join a sorority there as a non-collegiate is extremely common. My boyfriend's family is from there and they were joking that if we moved there I'd have women from each sorority knocking on my door checking out the "new prospects".LOL;)

maybe they have high membership in Indiana but I'd imagine expansion is difficult-- I know in NJ, a kappa-kappa-kappa shirt would NOT go over well. Ha, go to Newark, and I think their lifespan would be all of 1 minute.

No matter how great the organization may be, I would never in a million years join it. the fact that they would keep that name knowing people would associate it with a very very negative connotation is more than enough reason for me...

AXORissa-I agree with you that where I live, being in a sorority called TriKappa would not go over well with my friends or family. However, it is a sorority that is ONLY in Indiana and the poeple of Indiana are very familiar with them and know who they are and that they are NOT associated with the KKK. They do not wear the letters KKK at all. They only say "Tri-Kappa" and they only wear the words"Tri Kappa" spelled out. It's more like the first name of the sorority is Tri and the second is Kappa.

Like I said, I personally couldn't join a group with that name based on where I currently live but maybe if I was living in Indiana and everyone I knew was in it and I saw all the good they did, maybe.....I could get over it.

And I am sure they love their name and their sorority just like you love yours. you wouldn't want people telling you to change your name because it's too close to XO would you? Of course not:)

I wondered about that too. It was the main question that I asked the ESA HQ lady. As it was explained to me a couple of years ago, the online form is placed on the public side so that more people can have access. They don’t actually charge your credit card until you speak with an ESA. They use the form to gather information and forward it to the chapter(s) nearest you. At that point, you have several options. One is that you can be a MAL. There is programming and even fundraiser options for St. Jude that you can do on your own. Second, you can join an existing chapter. You may need to be extended an invitation. Third, you can grab at least 9 others and form a new chapter. They reimburse up to $300, IIRC, in start up costs.

Now like I said this is from an old conversation and I don’t have the papers in front of me, but I think that is how it works. I would strongly suggest that a person with interest in any group to call them first to get a better idea.

But there is a difference-- I wouldnt be insulting anyone by being a Chi O. They werent formed and dont act purely out of hatred for people who arent like them. Its a HUGE difference. I guess people in Indiana dont care? But I dont really care about the Tri-Kappa name, since I'd never move to Indiana or be a part anyways.

(and people DO mix AXO and XO all the time, especially if they went to a school with no AXO. And on my own campus we get mixed up with APO since we dont have XO.

When I went home wearing letters... it wasn't until I went to an event with a lot of people I had graduated with, that several of them were coming over to me to see my shirt nad make sure the third letter wasn't another K. I was like, no it's not, see "gamma" I joined a sorority. Then of course they all were in shock because they didn't expect me to do it, but it was funny how at first they were coming over not because they knew I was wearing sorority letters, but because they wanted to make sure I wasn't wearing "KKK".

The girl I used to be best friends with before we both left for college started teasing me about if it had been KKK had contradicting it would have been since my family background is Jewish (which by Hitler standards makes me Jewish dispite the fact that I'm Lutheran). It was funny.

Anyhoo... random side babble... I'm done now

If they want to be Tri-Kappa, then that's fine....I KNOW and THEY KNOW it doesn't mean Ku Klux Klan. Anything else is none of my business.







I was so tempted to write so much more.

This is a really close-minded statement.

(1) of course people in Indiana are concerned with the legacy of the Ku Klux Klan.

(2) just because Tri-Kappa happens to have three initials in common with another group doesn't mean they have ANYTHING to do with each other. My initials are J.E. and I'm nothing like Elton John.

(3) Indiana loves you. Why don't you love Indiana?

There's also a local fraternity at Dartmouth called Tri-Kappa, which HAS been around longer than the KKK (that's what I was thinking of).

As for they should change their name because people would think it's something it's not...umm hell NO - it's three Kappas. The Ku Klux Klan is abbreviated with three English letter Ks. It's totally different, even though the letters look the same in each language. That would be like the Asian Students Association telling Alpha Sigma Alpha we need to change our name because people sometimes write it "ASA."

Actually...Epsilon Sigma Alpha has colligiate chapters., also. :)

How come you aren't listed on the greek life page????? Get on there girl!

Sometimes I think I've been living in a cave. I'm completely unfamiliar with non-collegiate sororities. Just like I was completely unfamiliar with alumnae initiation into Panhel sororities. I'm sorry that I've been so clueless because both ideas strike me as marvelous opportunities for women!

Can a member of a Panhel sorority be a member of a non-collegiate sorority? Please excuse what might be a dumb question. I think it's time to start opening the windows of this cave! :cool:

Absolutely! I know quite a few Beta Sigma Phis who are in NPC organizations. Many of them are on GC.

Erica:)

I know there are a number of historically African American non-collegiate sororities as well. This is a partial list:

Gamma Phi Delta

Iota Phi Lambda

Eta Phi Beta

Thanks for posting the link to my sorority (although we do need to update our website too ). :D

Nonetheless, if anyone has any questions, please feel free to PM me.

To other sororities come to mind that may qualify too:

Delta Lambda Delta and Theta Kappa Sigma.

http://www.deltalambdadelta.com/home.htm (Multicultural nonacademic)


http://thetakappasigma.expage.com/ Christian Based

actually there is a whole boatload of Christian orgs:

http://www.angelfire.com/ga3/blklion99/christian.html

Very interesting to look at these sites. I was interested in BSP for a while (well, I still am), but couldn't find the time to work it into my schedule - - and unfortunately the age gap between myself and the members in the chapter here was pretty large... I don't know, it still interests me. (And on an aside, I have a goooood friend who's mom is a TriKappa - - she's awesome! :))

I found some more!

Phi Tau Omega National Philanthropic Sorority (reference on the website of the Arma, Kansas, Public Library) -- Google doesn't turn up anything

Interestingly, on the website for Heartspring, an agency in Wichita, KS (www.heartspring.org), under "Caring Hearts," there are references to *four* sororities:
Sigma Alpha (somehow this org's website is hosted by Heartspring??)
Chi Sigma Sorority (no web info?)
Alpha Iota Sorority (no web info?)
Lambda Delta Tau (no web info?)


(BTW, Heartspring was founded as the Institute for Logopedics. That used to be the national philanthropy for an NPC group -- KAT? or KD?)

AGDAlum

Sorry Confused
 

Ok so I am reading the thread and I got a little confused:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: So lets say that u are in an NPC/NIC and I also see a lot of people in Alpha Phi Omega and Beta Sigma Phi (say your in all three)how would ESA or PEO fit into all that ?? Would there be a conflict with ESA or PEO and them? B/c I really dont see people on GC with ESA or PEO signatures?? :( sorry I am just confused!! :confused:

Now, You can be in a "college" sorority AND a non-collegiate one at the same time. Lots of our members were/are in two. But usually they are only active in one or the other-usually DTT. If they are ultra active in their NPC alumnae group they usually do not feel the need to join ours. PEO is not a greek lettered organization so I am not sure how they fit into all of this-I am assuming they wouldn't be considered a greek organization at all. But I could be wrong about that as I am not in PEO. [/B][/QUOTE]

Unless the organization's rules forbid it, you could join as many organizations as would invite you. Since most orgs want you to be a participating member, if you were known to belong to 4 groups already the 5th might pause before extending an invitation!

P.E.O. (always written with periods after the letters) was founded at Iowa Wesleyan University in 1869. The Original Seven had become fast friends during their college years. A chapter of I.C. Sorosis (now Pi Beta Phi) was chartered in December, 1868. Not all seven were invited to join I.C. and they refused to affiliate without their friends. So, they created "a society of their own," which was publicly announced to the campus on January 21, 1869. P.E.O. expansion took the community route as sisters graduated and wanted to perpetuate their sisterhood in the towns to which they moved. As the years passed the IWU rules for student orgs conflicted with the P.E.O. Constitution. After much deliberation, the collegiate members chose to become the Beta chapter of Alpha Xi Delta which was chartered on June 7, 1902.

Found a new one!
 

A P.E.O. friend mentioned that she's a T.T.T. I'd never heard of it, so I looked it up:

http://www.altrue.net/site/tttsociet...on.php?id=4533

From their website:

It started with a casual remark. Bess Cook Budde and Gladys Stewart Walters were talking. Bess noted that there were many things for boys to do in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, but not for girls. It was January 1911.....Gladys envisioned clubs being formed by women in their hometowns, each with the same name and same ideals. The focus would be on service embodied in charity. She believed charity was three-fold: thought, word and deed....
She shared the idea with Bess, who liked it immediately. They gathered four friends and met for the first time on June 30, 1911. The T.T.T. Society was born.....Today, nearly 5,000 members in 12 states carry on the work of the six founders.

When Chi O colonized at my school, there was rumor floating around that we'd once had a chapter of Chi O at our school. How did the rumor begin? Someone said, "We once had A Chi O here" which people thought "We once had a Chi O chapter here..."

Pretty funny. Same thing happens with AOTT and ADPi.

Tri Kappa
 

Thanks for bumping up this thread. I am from Indiana originally, and yes, there are several greek-lettered social/philanthropic groups for women there. Kind of like the Junior League for small midwestern towns. My mother was active in Tri Kappa, and I was initiated when I graduated from HS. I can assure you that it had N-O-T-H-I-N-G to do with the Ku Klux Klan! We had quilt raffles to raise money for scholarships, and I think the chapter in my town may have had a bridge club. Pretty benign!

At least in the town where I grew up, joining was not a huge issue. Either by rule or tradition (I'm not sure which) you only joined one. As one other poster pointed out, you were more likely to be pursued by several organizations once you moved to town. Some of the female teachers at my HS were in Psi-otes (Psi Iota Xi) and were "recruiting" a group of us senior girls, but since I was a Tri Kappa "legacy," I didn't get the hard sell. ;) I went to college out of state and then moved away, so I was only active for a very brief period of time, but I can tell you that the members of all of those groups in Indiana do very good work.

ETA: and we used to sell an awesome cookbook!

[mini-hijack]

I had gone to a Scottish Heritage weekend, and purchased my Clan's insignia as a pin. One of the things I really love about being part Scots is (for the herald-correct) each woman can keep her own Clan's tartan, insignia, etc even after she's married. Technically, few other ethnic groups permit that.

So, I wore the pin to church the next Sunday, and after the service, my pastor said, "Wow! That's an interesting pin! What is it?"

I said, "It's my Clan insignia!" (with more pride than I should admit)

He looked at me, startled, and said, "You're in the Klan?!"

And that's the day that my pastor learned a lot about Scots history....

[/mini hijack]

Here is another GC thread on this topic
 

This has already been discussed here on Greekchat:

Greekchat Thread: Sororities For Adults

Hope this helps and give you more info and insight on such orgs.

Re: Re:
 

That's funny...on my campus, we had one local fraternity, Beta Sigma Chi, who is now a colony of Kappa Sigma. Apparently, with the colonization, some of the guys had a falling out and they split. There is now a Delta Rho on campus made up of some of the guys who left from Beta Sigma Chi, as well as few other guys who dropped their membership in their other organizations. It's not officially recognized on campus yet, I dont know if they have plans to try to become official. Honestly, I dont think anybody knows anything about them except what I've stated here. Maybe I should email one of them think link to Delta Rho Sorority and see what they think? ;-)

One other thing I thought of...My mom is a member of the Red Hat Society, and I always tease her that it's a sorority as well. They sure do act like it, and it's a pretty well known organization around here. http://redhatsociety.com/