Advisory boards
 

I was just named to my chapters advisory board as their financial advisor. We just created a 7-member advisory panel for our active chapter -- and I guess my job is to directly mentor our treasurer (I always get stuck with the all-work, non-glamorous details :D ). Does anyone else have an alum advisory panel? What is it that you do?

Congratulation and empty your mail box!:)

Will tell you what I tried to PM you!

The two toughest Jobs of any Chapter are:

Treasure position. Keeping members paid up to fund the Chapter.

Alum position. Keeping the Alums coming back and donating money to the Chapter.

Mentor as best you can, I am sure you will!:cool:

All chapters should have an alumni/alumnae advisory panel/board.

I serve on the board for my collegiate chapter as both the scholarship and music advisor. Come December if no one has stepped up, I've offered to advise the panhellenic delegate and editor/historian offices in addition to what I already advise.

If you are unsure of something your Fraternity HQ should have a manual for each advisor telling you of your responsibilities, the responsibilities of the office you advise, and policies pertaining to that office.

Remember as an advisor your job is to advise...........answer questions, give advice if you see something beign done or not being done, and sign off on the paperwork, not do the job for the officer you are advising. :)

I serve on two boards for different Lambda Chi Alpha chapters: my alma mater, Illinois State (serving as an at-large member, a.k.a. I don't hold an office) and Northwestern (Secretary-Publisher, in charge of minutes-keeping, alumni communications, etc.). Both groups have their own set-up, and both work.

For example, Illinois State has a President, Vice-President, Secretary, Housing Corp. chair & Treasurer. The other five members serve as at-large members. We meet 4x/year (twice each in Chicago & Normal--we meet @ school during Homecoming & Founders Day activities).

Northwestern has more officers (President, VP/Alumni Affairs, VP/Housing Affairs, Treasurer, Secretary-Publisher & "High Tech", the web guru) & meets monthly. There are generally more alums attending @ NU than @ the ISU meetings, partially due to geographical proximity.

In both instances, we have undergraduate representation: the president, treasurer, house manager and the alumni affairs coordinator. It's important to have these guys invested as full, voting members of the board--they're our lifeline to what's happening in the chapter house.

If you have any questions, PM me...

Interfraternally,
Bill F.

I wouldn't seek out to much advice on this, because this is an area where "too many chefs..."

I'd start with your fraternity's guidelines, and then refine it to meet your chapter's needs.

FA is one of the most important gifts you can give to your fraternity. If a chapter doesn't have money, doesn't pay their bills, everything else is secondary (you can have a great brotherhood/ sisterhood but that doesn't help the future of the organization if you're broke).

Pi Phi provides extensive manuals and training for advisors, especially FA so checking with your HQ would be a good idea. First of all, you need a treasurer's manual so you know what the CT is supposed to be doing (it's enlightening to then go to lunch and casually quiz them!) I served on an advisory board for 8 years, 5 years as chair, 2 years as financial and 1 year recruitment. I'm not an accountant but the things that I needed to know as advisor did not require being an accountant-- it required patience, organization and the willingness to be the bad guy when women weren't paying their bills.

Tom -- PM box is emptied.

I guess this is similar, but...

For Kappa Sig, we have the District Grand Masters who oversee the district, and on the chapter level we have Alumnus Advisors and Assistant Alumnus Advisors ( of which I am one). Generally each of the Assistant advisors helps out someone on the executive committee, with the Alumni Advisor overseeing the President, as well as everyone else as he sees fit.

Re: Advisory boards
 

Congradulations! Here's some input that you can apply to your position:

1. Create an Excel file that keeps all information up to date from your treasurer. Make it so that your pricing model can pull in accurate current funds, pending funds, donated funds, and potential funds through formulas. This tool will help you maintain a detailed analysis of where your organization stands and what's in the pipeline for your future.

2. Create an endowment for your Alumni Association(which I highly recommmend), such as purchasing bonds, stocks, or a Saving Plans for the future of your organization through your donation/fundraising efforts. Ask area alumni to donate to the endowment. Keep a close monitor on current market trends and volatility that may be to your advantage. A little investing can go a long way if you execute the right strategies.

3. Ask for help in this message board if you need a lift. There are pleny of us Financial Analysts, Traders, and Accountants that can give our two cents.

4. Have fun with what you're doing. ~Cheers

Boodleboy322

Originally posted by ktsnake
I was just named to my chapters advisory board as their financial advisor.