Finance programming!! HELP
 

I am the VP Finance of my sorority and I am looking to make things a little more interesting. I feel like all I do or talk about is money, and paying dues. Is there any chapter programming ideas that I can do that falls under my office that is kinda exciting? ANYTHING AT ALL!!

Being your the VPF it would have to involve money but I would think that if you talk with your exec board they may be open to some "out of the box" programming. Like bringing in speakers to discuss how members should handle their personal finances ie budgeting and saving for retirement.

Do you have a budget? I was thinking about something like.. instead of doing a pie chart on a poster board or power point to show where your dues go, you could bring in REAL pies (depending on the size of your chapter) and use actual pieces of pie that everybody can eat afterward. (Food always makes things interesting, in my experience!)

Or, use sisters for the pie chart. Like, if dues are $50, get 50 sisters to participate. Split them up into groups to show, relationally, where their dues go (20 sisters to social, 15 sisters to supplies/postage) or something like that. You could even give the sisters involved a color or something and have all the blues go to one area, the reds to another, etc. Then have them guess which group is the social budget, which is supplies, which is the recruitment budget, etc. I think having them up and moving and involved as well as giving them a visual will keep them interested.

How about doing a program on managing your personal finances?

You could bring in someone from a local bank to talk about the importance of establishing credit, and how credit cards, car loans, leases, etc.work.
My auto insurance co offers tons of materials on that type of stuff for young people...and they'll set it to you for free.

Definately something on Personal Finances.

My favorite is "You too can balance your checkbook!" It never ceases to amaze me how many bounced checks we get because members don't keep track of their money, especially ATM/debit card transactions. They don't realize this can destroy your credit rating really quickly.

The ones that really kill me are when it's a $5 check for Zapps! (pictures). The bank hits them with a $25+ overdraft fee and our accountant charges another fee for reprocessing. So it ends up being like $55+, not to mention any other checks that may have bounced. Wow! I hope those were some amazing pictures!

Programming ideas
 

Consider joint community programming with companies and organizations like Merrill Lynch, Chase Manhattan, and the Small Business Association.

Also, an investment club may be a good idea as well.

Good Luck!