Philanthropy Round Ideas

[Felicity]

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[33girl]

What is your philanthropy? It should tie into it at least somewhat.

[KSUViolet06]

Tri Sigma's philanthropy (the Robbie Page Memorial) has to do with play therapy for terminally ill children. Our philanthropy round craft was 'Build-A-Bear'. We had 3 different tables, one with bears, one with beads and yarn to make necklaces, and another with felt vests and cutouts to glue on them for decoration. PNMs spent a certain amount of time at each table where they worked on the craft while interacting with sisters who were there.

[FSUZeta]

what is your philanthrophy?

[adpiucf]

Our sorority supports Ronald McDonald House Charities. Craft projects on Philanthropy Day have ranged from decorating and filling toiletry bags for the RMH residents to creating and decorating "Badges of Courage" and IV covers for the children staying at RMH. Anything interactive that ties in with your sorority and philanthropy and is not too difficult is good. Other chapters make wish bracelets, journals or decorate flower pots, etc. Try not too involve too much gooey or messy, potentially staining paints or glues, or sharp scissors to avoid injuries! The craft should be simple so that the non arts-and-crafts types don't feel intimidated and keep you occupied enough to have a good conversation.

[LPIDelta]

I advise a chapter that locally supports a children's shelter--so last year they decorated plastic cups to be used by the shelter and little tote bags for the children to carry their stuff in. We used paint pens so that it dried quickly. We also had a bracelet making station to make bracelets for the girls in the shelter.

[ErinIsBadNews]

I rushed a girl last year durring our philanthropy day and we were making cute little foam pieces for Tic-Tac-Toe. One second I'm talking to her the next second she was pouring glue out on to our tablecloth. She told me it'd make it easier to glue the pieces if she could dip them into the glue. i just kind of smiled trying to hide the fact i was freaking out inside. The worst part is that our Philanthropy day is also the day we do house tours, so while some girls are on the house tour, others are learning about CMN, and the rest our doing the craft, I had to leave this gluey mess for whichever one of my sisters and the girl she was rushing got stuck sitting there.

[FSUZeta]

a few years back there was a terrific thread which talked about lame philanthropy projects gc'ers had participated in during formal recruitment. it would be worth a search.

[SigmaPezY60]

my school didn't (and still doesn't) do a traditional formal recruitment with a designated "philanthropy" day or any of that.

But the Delta Phi Epsilon chapter traditionally hosts a "PB&J" Event during the recruitment period each semester. Sometimes they'll have it in the dorms and sometimes they'll set up a table in the campus center for students to come by and make a sandwhich for themselves and a few for the nearby homeless shelter. It has always been a great way for them to meet students and get their name out. It also helps members to get to know girls that are interested in joining a sorority. It's very practical too. (too bad they started doing it first!)

My sorority's community service is organizing & hosting the bi-semester blood drives on campus. They always try to schedule one during recruitment. In addition to the Blood Bank information we also give out information about our organization and what we do and our upcoming events. It's a great way for our members to meet a wide range of students as well as faculty that come by between classes to donate blood. Many of the freshmen remember us as the blood drive sorority.

I think though that when it comes to "philanthropy" that the PNM's are able to see that they are helping your efforts...and not just doing some craft project. So if you have your PNM's decorating and filling Goodie Bags for a children's hospital...it might be a good idea to put together some sort of display of photos for when your members delivered the goody bags and spent time volunteering there. That way the PNM's can ask questions and get a better sense of what your organization's philanthropy is.

[adpiucf]

When I was in school we also had a video about our philanthropy, photos, a brag table of trophies of events we won for philanthropy, etc. Also, someone had made a quilt of her sorority shirts, which included past philanthropy events. Great conversation piece!

[AOIINewbie]

During recruitment last year, my chapter had a coney island type midway thing going on, and for each game the girls won, they earned a panda buck. Each panda buck represented a dollar that the chapter and the Alums pledged to our national philanthropy, Arthritis Research. It went over really well, and it made our chapter stand out because we weren't sitting down and we were doing something different from all of the other chapters.