My chapter was always very small compared to the other sororities on campus (20 or so, vs. over 100). Here's what we did --
- Visibility: We wore our letters around campus a lot, and pulled off one major charity fundraising event per year (on the same scale as the other sororities on campus) as well as several smaller ones.
- Informal Rush: We did a lot of this throughout the year. Every freshman was instructed to bring someone to every event (roommate, friend from class, etc) even if they thought they wouldn't be interested in joining a sorority. We changed a few minds in this regard! This resulted in a few one-person new member classes
but some of these people were among the most involved members of the chapter.
- Formal Rush: Don't go after sheer numbers; know when to cut. My chapter did cut pretty hard... they could have been at total by now if they took every warm body that walked through the rush room door, but we didn't want warm bodies, we wanted sisters. One danger of being small is that PNM's may cut you figuring "they're so hard up for numbers that if the other houses I'm rushing drop me, these guys will just snap bid me" - if you cut hard, you will tend to avoid this trap. By the same token, don't just cut for the sake of cutting.
This probably doesn't fall under the category of "words of advice or comfort" but my chapter did go through a reorganization at one point due to numbers. I was a grad student at the time, and I had to watch from the sidelines as some of the best and most involved sisters either disaffiliated on their own or were asked by nationals to take alumna status. About half the chapter was gone when all was said and done. The good news is that they're back up to pre-reorg numbers (about 25) and going into rush this weekend!
Good luck!!