Do national offices ever have trouble collecting dues?
 

This is something I've been wondering about.

I had heard of some chapters not paying their dues, but what happens? Does the chapter get fined but still goes on?

-Rudey

Re: Do national offices ever have trouble collecting dues?
 

For Kappa Sigma, members and chapters can be suspended for not paying dues. Punishment starts with a fine, and eventually gets more severe if there is continued non-compliance.

I know the fraternity as a whole has a strict policy on collecting dues/insurance payments, and chapters that aren't meeting their financial obligations can eventually be shut down.

In Delta Zeta, if a member does not pay dues after (I think) two months, her name is sent on to a collection agency. She is also put on financial suspension, in which she can't vote in meetings, can't attend any DZ events, and is not supposed to represent DZ in any way.

But overall, the chapter doesn't get fined for one member's non-payment of dues. I'm not exactly sure what happens if the entire doesn't pay, or is late. But if it keeps happening, the chapter would eventually close.

Re: Do national offices ever have trouble collecting dues?
 

Members of a Local Chapter who do not pay dues are suspended there.

Chapters who do not pay dues can be suspened or Charter Revoke if it becomes to serious.

Some one will ask why, DA!

Well, it cost money for the local Chapter and The National to also survive!

There are always a handful of chapters who are either really disorganized or late with their International Dues to our Headquarters. We have fines, an "alert" status, and a "probation" status for Financial issues. We have a deadline at the end of the year and if you don't pay by then, your chapter loses it's vote for the year and your delegate can be turned away at Convention. The threat of that usually gets them to pay up. It's harder to get the Form 990 done than to get them to pay the International Dues. Tax forms are intimidating and if you don't have impeccable bookkeeping through the year, that form is a nightmare.

What are the tax forms? Chapters have to fill out special tax forms?

-Rudey

All chapters of Kappa Sigma are required to fill out a 990 form. Our treasurer usually handled it, with help from the president.

I've heard of chapters getting to be as much as $20K in the hole with HQ. Charters can be suspended over this kind of thing, but it happens seldom. HQ has become a lot more proactive in the last 3-4 years than they had been in the past.

Form 990's are tax forms that all chapters have fill out because of their tax exempt status. They are long and detailed and a royal pain. I was a Finance Advisor to a chapter that had so little income, I got to just check a box on the form and send it in. Then when I was on our International Finance Committee, I had a chapter in my province that didn't do any of their finance reports for a whole year. They had a $300,000 budget with a huge house, employees, etc. I had to re-create the reports for the whole year and do their 990. That was my last year on the finance committee!

Chapters that don't do this form can jeopardize the tax exempt status for the whole organization.

I guess my chapter is a little more relaxed on dues in the sense that we don't send brothers to collection agencies or the like.

We have about a 97% collection rate per semester. If a brother gets behind one semester without being on a payment plan or some type of payment option we have him sign his papers and volunteerily leave the chapter.

If the dues are collected at the Local level, it then becomes a lot easier to pay on The National level.

The key that My Chapter found was to use someone like Omega Financial to collect dues. We tried everything including putting Alums in charge for taking dues and House payments. The Member had to sign along with Parents to be responsable for any money not collected. While you say this takes it out of the Members Hands, YES it does. Many times it is to easy for a Brother/Sister to let someone slide which puts a burden on all Members and The Chapter.

Even if the agency takes a small %, it is better than not getting the Dues Money at all which is one of the life bloods of any National Organization.

Take out the money coming in, then take away:

Homecoming Floats, Social Events, Recruitment Events, Charity Functions, and keeping the House up to snuff.

Someone once said hey, We are a Business, Yes We are and it needs to be run that way.


Rudey, a very good question and we can only hope some will realize this!