Donations?
 

Who donates money to their HQ?

Who donates money to their chapter?

What would you say the distribution of your donations is? In other words, what percent goes to HQ, what percent goes to chapter?

Depending on the season I volunteer anywhere from 5-20+ hours/week for AOII on the local level. Trust me, it's worth more than cold hard cash any day :D

I have donated plenty of gift items for recruitment giveaways, goodie bags, etc to my own collegiate chaper and to the local collegiate chapter(s) over the years. Couldn't tell you how much I've spent on these types of donation, though. When it comes to recruitment support, it's a lot easier to make a "stuff" donation than giving a "cash" donation! Now that our local alumnae chapter is active and official again, I'll be paying local alumnae dues and serving as a committee chair there (in addition to my other local AOII work).

I'm also a dues-paying member of our AOII Always program for alumnae. I also make a small annual monetary donation to our Foundation.

I donate $$ to our Foundation.

I donate time and/or material gifts to my chapter. Maybe I've heard enough lectures from our Financial officers that I don't want to make the chapter treasurer's job more complex figuring out how to code it and make sure it doesn't put the "non-member income" too high for the IRS rules (yes, things *could* be 'under the table' but that is not something I want to encourage)... so buying the chapter gifts is just easier. When I was still living in the same city as my chapter, the alum club would take donations internally and then buy something big for the chapter (TV/ computer/ furniture).

I donate time to my chapter and money to our Foundation and our Crescent Catchers. And of course time at an international level too.

Since I started the thread, here's what I do..

I have an automatic draft on my bank account of $10/month that goes to our HQ's general fund to retire their debt on the IHQ property. Not a major amount, but it's not like I miss it.

As for my chapter, during Rush, I slip the Recruitment Chair a $20 about every time I see him. No telling how much I've given away there :D

As for time, I'm a chapter advisor and serve in several capacities (we have an advisory board). I'm the financial advisor as well as the advisor for the Honor Council (J-Board). I also serve as Recorder and newsletter editor for the Alumni Chapter.

ktsnake, you are to modest, but I think a lot of people do the same thing and I know We wish there were more.

:)

I normaly dont donate to IHQ even though I have in the past.

I donate in other was as many do. Last year at Founders Day, I donated a lot of items for the Auction, the first that we have done.

I donate to the Chapter for LXA Great North American Food Drive, the largest in the country.

Last weekend, I along with another Brother Bought all of the food for the recruitment BBQ.

I go down several times a year as am also on the Housing Corp. The Building Committee and Alum Group.

I have placed in my will that all of my assests will go to the Fraternity. No Kids, No Wife.

I guess it is a living will so to speak. I found out when I was in Indy for G A, that anyone who does that will be listed on a wall area. Figure What the hell, I will go down in infamy some where!:D

For you new Alums. remember what your Greek Organization ment to you and never forget them!:cool:

how do you go about asking for donations...or should we wait for them to donate

since we just started we have to alumni's

some of the girls were thinking of sending a letter with options on where they would like their donations to go like recruitment, socials or travel expenses

but i don't want to be rude...so how do i do this?

Hey you :) Since your chapter is fairly new, the best advice I can give you is to start great relations with your alumnae NOW!!! There is nothing more annoying then NEVER hearing from the undergrad chapter and then randomly getting hit up for donations. If you actively keep your alumnae involved through regular contact throughout each and every semester, I think it will be much easier for the alumnae to be willing to donate to the chapter. I don't think it's rude to request money from alumnae especially because many of us are in the position to give SOMETHING (even if it's just $20.00). I know there are threads about this though and I do think it's rude when you never hear from people and then get hit up for money (sorority or otherwise). Alumnae understand and remember what it was like back in the day, so that shouldn't be a huge issue. What I suggest to all undergrad GLO's is even if they simply send out a newsletter via email several times a year (since stamps and printing is very expensive for chapters) this is better then nothing.

Thanks for the advice!

We do keep close tabs, I still see them everyone and one is scheduled to marry in November. So, that will be fun.

Your alums are your best fundraisers. They need to lead by example of course. For example, our Alumni Chapter President will always put something in the newsletter that says "Join me in donating...." And, despite the fact that there are definitely alums that make more $ than he does, he probably has donated far more than any of us have.

Keep in mind, we received our charter in '02, so we're probably in a similar situation.

Also, when an alum donates, they want to see results. So show the alums what you can do with that $. In our case, the alumni chapter basically controls all donations and ensures that they go where we think they should -- like x amount to scholarships, x amount to the building fund, etc.

We've also received a lot of help from area alums of our fraternity who have since affiliated with our chapter. Recently, a couple of them bankrolled a VERY nice recruitment video complete with digital effects, etc.. which our actives will pass out to prospectives during Recruitment.

Again ktsnake is right.

jono who is on site for BN Zeta is President of the Chapter Alum Assoc. at FIT.

They have I beleive a $25.00 years Alum Dues. Some give more as ktsnake said and some do not give at all.

But, with this money, they gave $500.00 to each member of the Chapter that wanted to attend our General Assembly. They had 4 Brothers there.

Oh yes, a little can go a long way especially if a lot of Alums donate.

For those that have few Alums as ktsmakes Chapter does, it gets it ingrained in them. They donate, it halps the Active Chapter, or puts out a news letter for Alums about events for getting together and having a good time. Remember, that is what being a Brother/Sister is all about. Remembering and talking and who is doing what. Marriage, kids and jobs. :D

I was an advisor for a year - as far as time I donated a few hours a week to helping out with things, especially helping the secretary out with his duties, and talking to the President every couple of weeks.

At this year's alumni weekend, I'll probably give some money. I'd like to do it every year from now on.

Our House Corporation Board sent chapter alumnae a letter a fewe years ago telling them what was happening and asking them to donate to a specific thing, in our case living room furniture and the response was great. Most people will give if they are asked, they just have to know what it's going to be used for.

Do you happen to have a copy of that letter you'd be willing to share (either here or via PM/email?)

We have an option on our expense reports (for the volunteers) to donate our money back to the Foundation instead of being reimbursed directly and I started doing that last year. Since you've already spent the money, you don't seem to miss it when you don't get reimbursed for the phone calls, mileage, or whatever. It adds up throughout the year, especially if you travel.

As for the chapter, our alumnae club has been making bid day bags for a few of the chapters each year and I donate things for those. I contribute to all of the fundraisers we do as an alumnae club. I can't afford to give too much, as a single mom.

I donate between 2 and 5 hours a week to being a province director. I can afford time more easily than money!

If I ever win the lotto though... endowed scholarships, big money to the Foundation (as well as a bunch of other charities).

Dee

I am at a crossroads here. I have to send out a letter to alumni requesting donations. Unfortunately, we dont have a house, ergo no furniture, etc. Obviously I can't say, "hey can you get us a house?" I have two letters drafted and I'm not sure which one to send. In one, I start by saying that we've been going for 15 years, hope for many more, then say we lost our most recent house and need money because rushing will be hard, etc. In the other one, I explain why we lost the house and ask for donations/ help finding another one. I think a lot of alumni are at the end of their rope with us(we only had the house for 1 year) but there are a lot who have never been to the new house and dont know our situation. help!

slayer, can you obtain any help from your National Housing department and/or whatever you call your chapter support personnel? They may be able to provide you with a timeline, letters, volunteer recruitment tips, and general assistance for fundraising, etc.

You may want to send the initial mailing asking for help and NOT money. Now, hear me out :) Let them know that your chapter is currently unhoused, and you would like their assistance to locate a temporary/permanent new housing for the chapter. Let them know what your chapter needs, and ideally wants, in their housing and what they can do to help. Once you make that initial contact, FOLLOW UP. Personal contact makes a world of difference on the alumni level.

Without knowing more details it's hard to give anything but general suggestions, but I hope these help a little. Feel free to PM me if I can help with anything else.

Excellent advice.

And if need be, you may also want to request help with rush. That may be a more urgent need with it coming up soon.

And when you request help, especially monetary donations, be as specific as you can. i.e. "We need $100.00 for subs from El-Cheapo Sub place and sodas;" and/or "We need an alum to co-sign so we may reserve a conference room for rush at the Alumni House."

And please, please follow up and be sure to send thank you letters. As AOIIalum said, personal contacts go a long way with alumni.

An important thing for alumni to remember is to update your contact info if you move. You have no idea how many mailings we get sent back to us whenever we do alumnae newsletters, reunion invitations, etc. saying that we have an invalid address or that the person doesn't live there anymore. However, many of those same alumnae whom we can't get in contact with seem to be the ones that get mad when they don't hear about things. Funny how that works.

If you are looking to save money see how many alumnae would want email newsletters... ask in the next one and thats an easy way to keep in touch..

Personally I give $ to our national foundation each year and countless hours as a advisor.

When one of my chapters needed $$ it coincidentally came near our founders day they invited any alums and asked for X amount of dollars stating so much for the dinner, so much for the National foundation and so much for the chapter... while each alum paid like $$ 40. for the bruch it was done at the chapter house and university baquet hall for like 20 a person and they split the 20 between the chapter and our NHQ.... and the alums got a great campus tour, update on the chapter, and some fun sisterhood!!

Unforunitly, NHQ do not have the money to help as they will say.

I know from experience. So, where do you as an Active Chapter turn to? The Alums of course!

There must be reasons for Alums to donate Money to the Chapter.

Do you as a Chapter keep them informed of events and happenings? Important!

Do you envolve Alums in events, Homecoming, Founders Day ?



OKAY, You have certain things that are listed that you need money for, how many other times have you asked for Money?

We do an Auction at Founders Day and Home Coming. I have bought a lot of items and given many more for it. Guess who Bids, Alums, they feel good about over bidding on items and have a great time of it. Example, An Alum flew in from Island off of Wahington State, brought a glass mug. He Won it!:) Took it back with Him to Island.:cool:

So try to do things that make it fun for them to come back and bring the Family to have a good time.

Oh, if you have meetings that cannot be attended by wives, Have Something Planned for Them!

Ask a Sorority that YOU are close to and see if they will help!:)

Chapter Solicitations
 

My profession is fundraising so I have a little bit of experience here. Best advice is to make it easy to give and be sure to send a thank you promptly. Include self-addressed envelopes with a nice letter. The letter should detail, in specific, what you will use the money for. Last year, my collegiate chapter needed money for Homecoming to execute their Seasame Street theme--the list they sent detailed that Big Bird's feathers would cost them $20, among other things. Since I have a soft spot for Big Bird, I sent my check immediately. :) I would stick to projects rather than just asking for general funds--some alum might not be comfortable giving if they think its will be used for the beer fund (of course, some may.) In the end, they just want to know that their money will be used responsibly or the way it was intended.

I'd also advise including a list of chapter donors in your alumni newsletter if you have one--this will recognize those that give, and possibly shame those who don't into sending their check pronto. :) Possibly consider making a competition by class-- e.g. "The Alpha Class had 100% participation. Thank you!"

For my own giving, I give to my chapter and my org's Foundation annually. I volunteer for the Foundation. I have given to chapters I advise and I have supported projects at chapters other than my own, particularly new chapters. Generally, if I am asked, I give something.

Which reminds me, I need to pay my alumnae dues!

Oh totally. We had a ten year anniversary formal a few years back and we sent all the alums with addresses on our list formal invites.

Over HALF of the invites came back invalid. It was quite frustrating.

And it's especially frustrating that the alumnae programs and updates weren't managed very well early on, so we have people listed as alumnae that we've never heard of as well as those emailing us at random to say they are alumnae but were left off of the list.

We stick to email updates.