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I'm the Chapter/Financial Advisor for a large ADPi chapter. Sorry I'm not familiar with Omega Financial. But my recommendation for any GLO that is currently collecting it's own dues in house is that if you can afford it, by all means hire an outside accounting or collection agency. We did about about 8-9 years ago and it has made a world of difference in cutting down our Accounts Receivable.
I know nobody likes to talk about money and even less people seem to understand the accounting side of running a GLO, big or small. But let's face it, we're not charitable organizations and without cash you can't do anything.
Before we hired outside help we had real problems. We routinely had a 19-20 year old Treasurer trying to collect all chapter dues and house bills (meaning room and board). Due to the size of our chapter it added up to almost $250,000 per year that one young woman was responsible for. Maybe it was those first couple of Treasurers I worked with or maybe the southern "politeness", but they had real trouble standing up to sisters and/or parents demanding payment.
But all that changed when we hired proffessionals. It was amazing the difference when sisters/parents receive billings from a proffesional organization. Plus, they also have procedures in place to turn things over to a collections agency should a situation ever deteriorate to that point.
It's become so common place in our sorority that our Nationals decided to offer this service in house for all the chapters. Our Executive Office Financial Services will start handling all billings and collections this fall for a small fee.
On a side note, it never ceases to amaze me when an active/parent doesn't take the chapter bill seriously. I mean these people would never not pay their rent, mortgage or utility bills or continually be late. They know the University wouldn't allow them to miss a tuition payment. Why in the world do they think it's not that important to pay for their sorority, especially if that member lives in house?
Sure I'm understanding when money gets tight at home, but tell us about it! We can work out payment plans or something. Please don't wait until there's no other option than to cancel a membership. Nothing breaks my heart more than to have to request cancellation over money, have to go through the eviction process or prevent someone from eating meals at the house. Nobody wins in those situations, there's only sadness and hurt.
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