There are some definate financial advantages to A) not living in a house and B) belonging to a smaller national org.
You pay national dues once a year. They just went up to (some of you aren't going to believe this....)
$45*
And we had to fight for that increase!
Alumni don't
have to pay dues. But they don't get any publications, etc. if they aren't paying dues. We have life members, but are trying to modify that so it's a little more realistic.
You also pay chapter dues (which are set by each individual chapter). When you get initiated you don't pay chapter dues, you pay "initiation fees" and national dues. (This covers your certificates, badge, etc.)
We have some alumni in chapters and some that are just AAL- Alumni At-Large.
I've never paid over $90/year for my fraternity. Although I gladly would as long as it was being used appropriately (which I believe it is now & would be in the future). Some of the big national GLOs with big houses (while I'm jealous of the benefits sometimes
) blow my mind away with the cost!!
We also re-activated our "Loyalty Fund", which is a way for members to donate to general Fraternity funds. I'm saving up right now to donate to it.
* I should note: we don't have
any paid staff or a centralized HQ. We're all volunteer. We fly around once a year for meetings together, and the rest of the time it's via teleconferences. So we don't have any general overhead like most other GLOs. One of our long term goals is to have a physical HQ and at least 1 person who is paid staff!
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SilverTurtle
Phi Beta Fraternity: National Professional Association for the Creative & Performing Arts
[This message has been edited by SilverTurtle (edited July 01, 2001).]