Involving Greek and Non-Greek Organizations
 

My goal for this upcoming semester is to be elected for Philanthropy chair of my sorority. As Philanthropy chair, I want to encourage non-greeks to get involved with our philanthropy events. Like I want them to form teams for our Jello tug of war or our dodgeball event.

Basically I really want to build a bridge between Greeks and Non-Greeks and even if I don't get Philanthropy chair, I still want to encourage everyone to participate. Do you guys have any ideas of how to do that?

- Longer lead time so that you can have more promotion

- Teaming up with a non-Greek organization and promoting the event as such (ex. "Student Council and XYZ Sorority bring you _______.)


These are just off the top of my head. I believe there are a few other threads about this, so I'd browse the community service forum. Good luck.

Start from scratch and understand why the non-Greeks on your campus do not want to be involved. How that works depends on the campus.

Totally agreed.

I think that's a great idea! As for some non-greeks not being involved, it's totally up to them--but keep in mind that not everyone can afford to belong to a Greek organization or they might have numerous other obligations (student council, religious fellowship programs, etc.).

My chapter did a broomball tournament that attracted a good number of non-Greek teams. Here are some ideas:

1) Other orgs don't have the funds that many Greek chapters do, so you have to make it affordable for them. That may mean tiered pricing, it may mean a longer leadtime, or it may mean that you somehow pair up Greek/non-Greek teams (e.g. Team Chi Omega/Lacrosse Club). Or is there something they can do in kind? Like, if a group of people at the student paper want to form a team, can they swing some free ads in return?

2) It has to be an event they really want to do, because it is so much fun and/or unique. Softball tournament? Meh. Jello tug-of-war? That might get some bites. Remember, non-Greek teams have nothing to gain by signing up the way the Greeks do, so the tournament itself is the thing for them.

How about a flag football or slow pitch softball tournament? It's fun and it'd raise some good money.

It's easy to think of events. What isn't easy is to figure out why most of the non-Greeks haven't been attending the events. Co-hosting an event with a non-Greek organization doesn't always work.

That's why it depends on the campus and why there is a disconnect between Greek and non-Greek events.