[Kevin]

One thing to add to the conversation here would be risk management policies and insurance. Nationals always have them. As far as I know, locals seldom do.

Insurance can be expensive. However, that one time where your organization gets sued, it can come in really handy. In many cases, members of an organization, especially officers can be held personally liable for what happens in the chapter -- even when they had no knowledge of what occured.

Of course insurance has a con -- it's expensive. So that's the risk you take. It's not nearly so high in sororities as fraternities though.

Diamond Delta, as for organizational stability, you may be able name one or two (and I'd guess accross the entire US, there are probably less than 20) locals that are 100+ years old. On the other hand, there are literally hundreds of national GLO chapters that are over 100 years old and still in operation.

What's more, if a national chapter closes due to poor recruitment or other circumstances, most likely, at some point, it will be reopened. Locals on the other hand stand a slim/none chance of ever being reopened.