NPC's RFM Update 2013
 

I didn't see this posted anywhere and thought it had some good current statistics on RFM, quota growth, etc.

https://www.npcwomen.org/resources/d...Update2013.pdf

That is very interesting. Thank you for posting it. I was worried that they had changed RFM somehow when I read the title of this thread.

I didn't know you could also have a minus flex list. If you have a first/second/third bid list, why would you need such a thing?

My thought too. It seemed like the report was implying that a chapter could be TOO successful. Maybe one our local RFM whisperers can explain it for us?

flex lists are not bid lists. plus and minus flex lists are used when issuing invitations for the next round of parties. If a chapter is having a really good year and more women are accepting, then the minus list is used to adjust their returns. The corollary of this is that 1 or more other chapters may be having a "down" year as a result of the other one have a good year and so women would be added from their plus list. This evens out the number of invitations in the system.

Oh, ok. That makes sense. Thanks! Although I thought you could have a first/second/third list for parties too (I'm probably teetering into MS territory with that comment).

Flex minus lists can be really helpful to prevent an unexpectedly-strong performing chapter from having a gazillion more girls at their parties than they actually need. (Maybe not a gazillion. But you get the idea.) It's actually a really good sign for a chapter to have it's flex-minus list used, because it generally means that they are performing better than their average over the last few years. (Now, that doesn't automatically mean that it's a really bad sign if a chapter has it's flex-plus list used.)

I think chapters sometimes don't understand the importance of the flex lists, which is a really fabulous tool that can be used to help ensure no PNMs slip through the cracks.

Outing myself as a total geek, it's an interesting read! There were a few things that are really clarified for all the discussions we've had here about how it works.
One in particular is about upper class quota. I've read here several times that a chapter is not obliged to participate. However,

"Once a Panhellenic has voted to establish an upperclass quota, individual chapters may not opt out of accepting those women without consulting their inter/national organization, the FSA and the RFM specialist before recruitment begins."

So while it may be true that they don't HAVE to participate, they better have a reason that headquarters will accept. And we all know headquarters wants us to maximize membership, so "we think we're too cool to accept sophomores" really isn't going to cut the mustard.

I'm definitely going to keep this at the ready for all the questions that come up starting in about 2 months!

I think that some of the upperclass quota confusion might also stem from the fact that some campuses have "free" upperclassmen, rather than an actual quota and completely separate RFM calculation. On those campuses, I think it's fair to say that upperclassmen are just like quota additions.

It'd be interesting to know how many campuses have an actual upperclass quota, with the full methodology applied, how many treat them as quota additions, and how many make no concessions at all. Well, it'd be interesting to me. :)