Does Alpha Phi have any alumnae chapter start-up materials or information? If so, have one sent to you right away! AOII has a wonderful alumnae chapter start-up kit (I just received one a couple of weeks ago!) It literally takes you step by step through the process to start a successful alum chapter. There's probably 400 or more alumnae in the Columbus area, so we've got lots of people to reach out to!
The most important things I can think of is try to have fun, program events to appeal to a wide range of ages, and try to contact each and every alumna in your area. See if Alpha Phi will provide an e-mail directory of area alumnae. You may not reach all alumnae in your area but it is a cost-effective way to get the word out (
www.evite.com is a wonderful thing!) If it's a smaller number, budget how much it would cost to do a postcard or newsletter mailing and get reimbursed for that expense once the chapter is installed. Set up a website announcing your group with search terms indexed, that way your site will come up quickly if someone uses Google or Yahoo to search for Alpha Phi alumnae or whatever.
Make sure to contact your local collegiate chapters to spread the word about the new chapter. See if you can get help with making phone calls to area alums to spread the news about the new chapter. Check out links of all of your existing alumnae chapters to get even more ideas.
If you haven't already, sit down with anyone you can get together to plan some fun events for the chapter. Girls night out, pottery painting, help with recruitment, whatever.
I'm so glad there's someone else doing this right now! We're putting together a website now for our group, once it's up I'll post the link. Hurrah!
Christin