[Kevin]

Boodle -- your national HQ requires dues from alums? That's really interesting.

My alumni chapter (our charter is only 4 years old) is just this moment having a little bit of controversy as to what we set our association dues at. Some of the same arguments were raised -- back to the 'ol "quality versus quantity" argument.

My personal view is that the alumni chapter in order to be relevant must be able to exercise some influence over the chapter. I can think of no method (other than the active chapter voluntarily giving up rights [good luck with that!]) to have a positive influence than by being able to offer up 'carrots' for good behavior. So, perhaps your alumni chapter wants to help fund rush, academic activities, set up a scholarship foundation, set up a foundation for tax-deductible house improvements, pay for certain rush activities, fund alumni get-togethers, fund formal, etc. Your first step should be figuring that out.

Next, you prioritize things. Finally, figure out what maximum number you can charge (back to quantity vs quality) and still accomplish your most important and immediate goals.

The concept of national alumni dues seems interesting if not foreign. Our IHQ does do quite a bit of fundraising, but as far as I can tell, they're very well funded without having to resort to dues. It would seem to me that the idea of alumni dues would be easier to sell to brothers to support their own alumni chapter which in turn supports positive actions by the undergrad chapter as well as creating an organization for alumni oversight and support.