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This is a subject that has been bothering me since I served as a Province Finance Specialist for Alpha Gam. So often, I see that the philanthropy projects that chapters do end up being money out of the sisters' pockets. Raising money for our Foundation shouldn't be just donations out of sisters' pockets. If you're going to do that, you may as well just have everybody write a check and skip all the work and effort that goes into the event. I also think alumnae are the wrong people to target. They receive numerous requests throughout the year directly from the Foundation and are eligible for their own forms of recognition for donating directly to the Foundation. If they write a check to the chapter, it's not tax deductible. If they write a check to the Foundation, it is. All of the organizations should focus on getting donations from OUTSIDE their own group. Sell things on campus, do canning at local stores, etc. Get donations from faculty, other students, etc. Which brings me to my next beef...
On many campuses, the GLOs have philanthropy projects for the individual GLOs during Greek Week. They require entrance fees and a certain percentage of attendance from each GLO for the GLO to get full Greek Week points. So, our chapters are just writing checks to each other during that week. If there are 15 sororities on a campus and they each write a check to each other for $300, then they each end up with the same amount of money going out as coming in. They might as well just write a check to their own Foundaitons out of their own checking accounts. AND, not all of them get to do their philanthropy as part of Greek Week, so support for the other events isn't as strong because it isn't part of winning a competition. While I do think, as individuals, it's great to support each other's philanthropy projects, I don't think these costs should be coming out of the operating budget. If you have an event and want to charge admission, then it's great if lots of members of GLOs go to the event and pay out of pocket, but it just shouldn't be required or an official Greek Week event. Greek Week philanthropies should be generic, contributing to the local community, not to each organization's own philanthropy. Then they can be required/expected/part of the competition.
I'm not sure I made my point clear, so if you need clarification, please ask!
Dee
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