Starting a community sorority
 

Hi. A group of 4 women, including myself, have all come together and decided that although we are all graduates of 4 year colleges we want to step out of the box by starting a community sorority. Our sorority will consist of professional women (any race is welcome to join) who want to give back to there community by dedicating there time and effort. We have decided to make it a non collegiate sorority because we feel that a college education should not be required to develop a sisterhood and to give back. We have been working on putting this organization together for several weeks now and feel we are ready for recruitment. Only problem is we don't know what steps to take to get this project up and running. I'm asking for some advice on how we can start promotions and recruitments. Any advice will be helpful. Thanks in advance.

Weeks?

Aside from that, what makes your organization different from the hundreds of other organizations that are out there? Answer that question, and it should help you figure out how to go about promoting your organization.

y organization has a strong concentration on catering to women that either couldn't afford to go to college, didn't have the credentials to get into college or women that couldn't or didn't find the sorority of there choice. Community service is key. A lot of organizations basically have that same focus. As far as promotion I mean spreading the word. Since we aren't college based I'm finding it quite difficult.

And yes I said weeks. About 16 to be exact.... maybe I should have said months. Sorry

The bold is what I was getting at. There are already several organizations that fit this niche. What's wrong with those organizations? Did any of you pursue any of those?

Well google doesn't help much. When I would research these community sororities they consisted of all white women that were 50 years old or older. We are all 25 years of age and older.

I'm not sure if this would help, but did you look through the different orgs on Greekpages.com? There are MANY listed there.

All I can say is browse these forums. Community organizations have been discussed several times.

Check this out too: http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=93174

Ohmygosh! I absolutely MUST have this. It's how I feel after working with graduate students. You made my day, thanks much.

A bit violent...but I like it.:D

Do you have a website which outlines your goals, philanthropy, vision, intent? Have you made any partnerships and done the community work yourselves (supporting your philanthropy) to be able to ask others to join you? Spend time doing the work first and then recruit. People don't want to join anything they perceive as not legit or that doesn't have a good foundation for longevity. And I agree, there are so many orgs out there that it's going to be hard for them to expand at the rate they would like. You have orgs that have never gotten beyond a few chapters because of this. Try researching some of the other orgs out there first; you may be able to help them expand and improve upon what they're offering if you and your friends have great ideas.

And as far as catering to women that can't afford sorority membership or don't have degrees, both Sigma Gamma Rho and Zeta Phi Beta address that issue with our affiliate organizations for non-degreed women. While it's true that some women probably want to be part of something they can actually call a sorority, there are others that want the stability of being connected to a larger organization while still having their own sisterhood.

Really, isn't this what groups like the Junior League already do? Why does everything have to be a sorority even when you're long out of college?

Don't the chapters of community sororities like Beta Sigma Phi tend to take on their own personalities depending on the demographics of the people who start it and join it?

Yes! Beta Sigma Phi is always looking for women who are willing to start new chapters, especially younger women in the age group described here...EVERYWHERE!!! :)

The thing with the older nature of some of the groups you found is they don't WANT to be old, or they will die out in the coming years. I'd find one whose mission matches yours and go with that. I don't know much about community-based sororities (only know 1 woman who's in one), but I'd DEFINITELY try to work within an existing framework. Recruiting and maintaining members is going to be much MUCH harder than you think and having a national (or equivalent) to support you is going to make a world of difference. Good luck!