What would you do? (semi-long post)
 

Would like to know your opinions on this topic..

Where should I begin..
My frat currently is going through problems that are not unfamiliar with some Fraternities and Sororities. Basically our main focus for this upcoming semester and year, is Recruitment and Money, but already, with school not starting for at least another 2 weeks, both issues are our main problems and this moment. (We have good plans for fundraising and so on)

Heres the story: We don't have a fraternity house, but in the past we have had guys live together in an apartment so we kind of made it into the frat house. Now everyone has separated. Our rush and social chair are the only ones living together in their own apartment, and at the end of last semester, they volunteered their apartment to the Fraternity to be used for Rush and general frat parties.

Heres where the conflict arises: Our rush and social chair live with another roommate who is not part of the fraternity. Our rush and social chair has come to us and has said now that if we have parties at their house that his roommate must get 25% of the profits (since the roommate lives there). Now my initial reaction is... NO!! (and still is) Mainly for the reasons that, 1. WE HAVE NO MONEY!!! (meaning, we barely have money to begin with, so why would we give away the little money we do have (or the little we will make) to some stranger just because he lives at that house.)

We are at a point where we need membership, but at the same time, I just cannot give out 25% of our profits (even if it was 1%!!) to some guy that's not even apart of fraternity especially when we have no money, also add to the fact, that our last parties we barely broke even. To make things worse, since we barely have any money to begin with, the brothers will be funding these parties out of their pockets, and to think that our out of pocket money is going to some stranger is hard to grasp. This whole issue has my frat divided.

Now, we do acknowledge that we need an increase in membership, but should that come in the expense of giving up our money to a total stranger. Another problem is that the house that their volunteering is the only possible house to have parties. All other brothers live in houses where there strict rules about parties from their landlords.

I was recently elected President and this is the first major issue that has come to me. Now being the stubborn person that I am... I have decided (as of now) that we will not give money to their roommate, and that we will have to come up with an alternative way for recruitment. Maybe a more scaled down version, like pizza and wings night, or sports weekend,.. etc.

I wanted to know what do you guys think about this issue. What would you do? Would you just suck it up and give the roommate the money and hope we get a good amount of potential rush for the semester? Would you negotiate with them? (have the roommate only make money from regular parties but not rush parties?) or would you just forget it and look for an alternative?

I have already made my decision, which is no! Whether or not it will be the right one, we will soon see, but to be fair, I will be meeting with everyone this weekend to discuss and possibly come up with a compromise or some more alternatives.

I also want to say that from time to time I will be posting questions and subjects of interest. You never know who might be having the same problems as you. I look to you guys as my counselors and advisors sometimes, and your opinions and inputs are greatly appreciated!:)

I'm guessing that y'all do not have any interest in him being a member. That might be the easy solution. :p

Moving on. From a fraternity perspective, my gut reaction is no as well. That he should not receive any of your proceeds. However, some sort of compensation should be arranged.

For example, if you were to use another space, then you would need to pay for the use.

So perhaps you agree on a set and small "usage" fee. This does not have to be monetary either. Maybe the chapter cleans the house for the semester (or year) as part of the agreement to hold functions there. Or perhaps y'all invite him to your general parties and he doesn't have to pay if you charge admission.

One additional piece of unsolicited advice. :D Be careful with this. You do not want to put a wedge between the two members and their roommate. If this escalates in any way, you might not only loose the use of the apartment, but could cause hard feelings between all parties involved. :(

First of all, if for a chapter party, you are charging at the door at someone's house/apartment, you are totally screwed risk management wise. Check with ZBT HQ, but I'm willing to bet that situation is in total violation of all of your national risk managment policies. In other words, if something happens at a party at these guys' apartment, your national insurance won't cover you at all. On the campus I advise, only one chapter has a house, but everyone holds their parties at the local American Legion Hall. I would strongly encourage you to look into a third-party location like the Legion, KC, VFW, bar or restaurant, etc. for your own protection and peace of mind.

co-sign on this post. and if you choose to do the parties anyway, didn't these 2 guys know they would have an independent living with them? Did he agree to this when he moved in with them? I'd be pretty upset if I had two roommates who wanted to use my home as their fraternity party house.

Your home is your castle. Not if you have an independent who should share Privicy with no one but his room mates.

Dont just step on his toes, he has rights also. He is paying rent just as you are.

Find another place is first thought. If he is going to be gone, then ask him if it is okay. He wont want to come home to His place if it is a mess. So, make sure it is cleaned up upon his return and his space has not been invaided

Invite him if you think he would become a member.

He might like it. Well, if you do not think you want him as a member, then why did you become roomates?

Maybe I'm confused but something's been bothering me since the first time I read this post on the "Greek Life" board. How do you make a PROFIT on recruitment parties? Or for that matter, any party? I thought the "pay to enter" type of party was outlawed years ago. I know you're a small group and are most likely going to be able to fly below the radar but fundraising for operating expenses is against IRS regs for non-profits. Operating expenses may come only from member dues. Non-member income can only go for philanthropic or educational purposes. Yes, I know, what are the chances that you'll be audited or caught but your national might have something to say about having parties to raise cash.

At my school, I believe that none of the MCGLO's have houses and they're all smaller in number than the GLO's. So we've actually had to get creative, because money and recruitment are two big things that we consistently have to think about. I don't know if this is feasible where you go to school, but we actually have our parties at a nightclub in town. They gave us two options: if we do a Friday or Saturday party, we need to guarantee a certain number of people or we get charged but if we can get that quota, we get a certain percentage of the club's profits for that night OR if we do a weekday party, there is no quota and no matter what, we get a certain percentage of the club's profits for that night. The club provides all the alcohol and security and insurance, and all we have to do is print flyers and promote the party to everyone we know. We also do smaller events like going out for wings or bowling or having a barbecue and volleyball game in the local park.

This is my question too.

You state that the guys are paying out of their own pockets for the parties so how are you making a profit?

Of course, the easy solution would be to make sure you don't make a profit. I don't a thing about charging to get in, but if you can only charge enough to cover 99% of the costs. No profit, nothing to pay him. Yes, it may seem snarky but I see him as an unscrupulous profiteer. Does he plan on helping you for this "fee"? Is he going to attend the parties? If he plans on attending the parties anyway, and isn't expected to help at them or clean up after them than what is his problem?

As was also said, he HAD to have known that he was moving in with two fraternity guys so common sense would say he knew there would be parties and he was hoping for a great social life (with no fraternity member expenses).

The term "mooch" comes to mind......

Okay..

#1: You shouldn't be charging at the door in the first place.

#2: If you are doing that, a public internet message board is not the best place to discuss it.

#3: Y'all need to revamp your rush tactics. Beer, chicks and money just don't get 'er done anymore. You need to recruit men that believe in your vision and are willing to work to build your chapter -- unless you're just in it for the beer and chicks..

***

There is no possible way that your chapter can continue operating the way it has been. My best advice to you is to use your presidency to change the direction of your organization and try to get closer to what y'all were founded for (I doubt beer and parties played much of a role).

What % of your revenue comes from these parties anyway? You might just need to up dues.

I would agree with most everyone else in that parties are not the best way that you should go about raising money...especially if you advertise such a party as an official event of your organization. I'm not aware that all chapters of all fraternities are organized as non profit, but even so this can be a risk management nightmare. I'd say if you still insist on raising money this way at least take the party somewhere else so you'll at least eliminate one potential problem by getting the non member out of the equation.