Originally Posted by Abitworried (Post 2045179)

Hey guys,

I recently went through rush during the Spring and got a bid from the fraternity that I wanted. However, after accepting my bid I realized that the fraternity has about 23 active members with 12 pledges for Spring. Also, I heard that only one person crossed during Winter. Rushing for other fraternities throughout the week I thought most chapters hovered around the 50-60 range and this gotten me a little worried about the growth of the chapter I'm in. I understand I'm only a pledge, but having 23 active members can't be a healthy number, can it?

I will say that the morale of the fraternity is very high though. Almost every active was at every rush event and the bid party they hosted for us was a blast. I really lack the experience in the running of a Greek organization so I was hoping the experienced members on this forum could share some insight.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Abitworried (Post 2045179)

Hey guys,

I recently went through rush during the Spring and got a bid from the fraternity that I wanted. However, after accepting my bid I realized that the fraternity has about 23 active members with 12 pledges for Spring. Also, I heard that only one person crossed during Winter. Rushing for other fraternities throughout the week I thought most chapters hovered around the 50-60 range and this gotten me a little worried about the growth of the chapter I'm in. I understand I'm only a pledge, but having 23 active members can't be a healthy number, can it?

I will say that the morale of the fraternity is very high though. Almost every active was at every rush event and the bid party they hosted for us was a blast. I really lack the experience in the running of a Greek organization so I was hoping the experienced members on this forum could share some insight.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2045213)

Yeah, you're going to be broke, which will very seriously limit what you can do, as well as your ability to grow in competition with other chapters (assuming they're actually 50-60). That's not necessarily deadly, but it is a significant challenge to overcome.

Right now you're a pledge. You got a bid from the place you fit in and wanted to be. You're love for the org will grow over time. Just focus on that.

When you reach the backside as an active, there will be opportunities to step up as a leader, regardless if you have a position or not (which may be hard to avoid with 23 guys). When you get there, you can look around beyond your campus and find there are methods to rapidly increase size without harming quality. It comes with growing pains, but gets you in a fiscal position of being able to compete with major leaders on campus. As long as you stay on top of it, you should be able to do great things.

While this greek experience will be different than being in a 60man or 100man chapter, the potential benefits you can realize by being successful are just as high as the challenges you face. Just make the most of your experience, and enjoy it while it lasts.

Originally Posted by lucgreek (Post 2045228)

Since when does low numbers mean a chapter is broke and can't do anything? One group on my campus surged to 50 or so members while the other 3 had 30 or less and none of the groups had any sort of financial difficulties and had similar social calendars. I've seen just as many large chapters with financial difficulties as smaller chapters.

Unless you have your national organization shouting for more numbers (and, unfortunately, all too often national groups make numbers the only measurement of success), some chapters don't need or want to have that many people. I know, I know, quality and quantity aren't mutually exclusive but there are some chapters that really enjoy being smaller and cater to that type of audience.

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2045213)

Yeah, you're going to be broke, which will very seriously limit what you can do, as well as your ability to grow in competition with other chapters (assuming they're actually 50-60). That's not necessarily deadly, but it is a significant challenge to overcome.

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2045213)

Yeah, you're going to be broke

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2045361)

There is a difference between financial difficulty and buying power.

Quick math lesson, X dollars times 20 guys is less than X dollars times 20+anything, especially X+50 which is where he said the other fraternities are.

At any location, dues rates are not just set randomly, they are normally within a range of what the market will bear. In other words, if you raise dues another $100/yr it would lose you more members than the increased income would replace.

As a social fraternity you need Y number (normally 14-20/yr) and Z quality (locally defined) of events to show your members their monies worth in social events. That costs X money. Your competitors for recruitment & social market share have presumably 200% more than you. That doesn't mean you fail, it means you have to be twice as good as them to stay competitive.

If they pay you 1000/yr dues, and 400 of it goes to social, you need to make that 400 seem like it was worth 1000 to the guy. If you don't do that, then you will have trouble retaining guys &/or collecting dues. That's not particularly hard to do, but it takes hard work and creativity. If you are a small chapter versus a couple other larger chapters, then you won't be able to out compete them financially in social events. You can only lean harder on the hard work/creativity and take fun classy guys.

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2045361)

If you are a small chapter versus a couple other larger chapters, then you won't be able to out compete them financially in social events.

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2045361)

If you are a small chapter versus a couple other larger chapters, then you won't be able to out compete them financially in social events.

Originally Posted by lucgreek (Post 2045376)