I NEED HELP WITH MEMBERSHIP RETENTION!

[GreekLove4Ev]

Hello All, I have recently taken on the position of VP Member Education in my sorority and am in serious need of some helpful input! Currently a lot of pressure has been put on me (as well as the other members of my sorority) because our membership numbers have gone way down! Our membership retention is something that needs my full attention, yet I am struggling on coming up with ideas/ ways to better our retention! I was hoping that some of you could provide me with information on how your sororities maintain retention and also any ideas for New Member Education and getting new girls to remain in the house (For example: I plan to have New Member Socials to help get all of the members connected) but really any information you could provide me with would be very helpful!! Please help me help my house because if our numbers continue to drop we will have to shut down the house! : (

[RaggedyAnn]

Are you in a national org?

[msusigma]

I understand where you are coming from, as my chapter is at a small school and we are also small. Does your school allow formal and open recruitment? If so, my advice is to cater to the demographic of the school. PNMs join people, not organizations. So let the girls see you active on campus, get your chapter involved in philanthropy events, wear your letters and wear them proudly and with dignity. You are a walking, talking billboard for your organization.

Get known on campus, get a good reputation and maintain that good reputation. Even if you aren't in your letters, people know who you are, so let your conduct reflect that. Be courteous and helpful to everyone and maintain positive business networking with other organizations.

Step up your game. Encourage your sisters to take that extra five minutes in the morning to brush on a little makeup and straighten their hair. Smile at everyone, if they aren't in letters, then they are a PNM. Recruiting doesn't have to be formal all the time. If you're a fan of Grey's Anatomy or American Idol or Desperate Housewives, One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl.. whatever, invite some girls over to your room to watch it with you. Invite your sisters to come in letters. Serve bowls of pretzels and popcorn. It's great sisterhood and recruiting time and there's no stress.

If you're on your way to grab some dinner in the cafeteria, invite some girls from your floor to join you. If you're in another on campus organization try to get a co-sponsored activity together. Never bad mouth another organization and keep your trash in your own trashcan. Meaning, don't go venting your frustrations to your friends in other organizations. If things are falling apart, you aren't.

Remember to focus on the positive aspects of your organization. Yeah, you might have low numbers on your roster.. but you have beautiful sisters that you love and that love you back. So take time to appreciate them and build each other up. It won't be an overnight change, you won't go from having 10 members to having 100 in two weeks, but it's all about the baby steps. If one girl recruits just one other girl, you have doubled your numbers.

Err on the side of caution. This isn't the time to start letting just anyone in because you need numbers. You want girls, but you want quality girls that will keep their grades up, support your events, support the sisterhood, and help recruit other girls. I'm not saying if she isn't a size 0 with blonde hair she isn't right for you. You and your sisters know who will fit and who won't.

Everyday take a moment to breathe, reflect, regroup, and figure out where to go from there. I hope this helps and I hope that you accomplish your goals both as a chapter and as an individual. Best of luck to you and your sisters.

[CrackerBarrel]

Have new member mixers with fraternity pledge classes too. Those are the guys they'll be doing things with for 4 years and if they know them better they'll be more excited about social events in the future (and stay active for them).

ETA: Contact fraternity pledge trainers to set them up.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by CrackerBarrel

Have new member mixers with fraternity pledge classes too. Those are the guys they'll be doing things with for 4 years and if they know them better they'll be more excited about social events in the future (and stay active for them).

ETA: Contact fraternity pledge trainers to set them up.

Have to add though, this doesn't work if you're at a smaller school w/ smaller pledge classes (20 people is not a fun mixer).

[AOII Angel]

You said that you were having problems with member retention, so I'm assuming that getting people to join isn't the main problem. Why do your members say they are not staying in the chapter? Are your dues on par with other groups on campus? Do your members feel they are getting value for the money they pay in dues? Are your members bonding? To fix a problem, you need to know what the problem really is, otherwise you're just sweeping the dust under the rug and hoping no one notices! If you are an AOII, PM me.

[GreekLove4Ev]

Thank you all for your helpful information! You are correct, we have no problem recruiting girls (we really shine in that aspect). The problem lies within keeping girls in our sorority based on the following problems: It is hard to get the girls excited about meetings, sisterhood events, etc. Many of the current members don't make the extra effort to connect with new members. Many new members feel overwhelmed. Members tend to focus on the negative and forget about all of the positive aspects of being in a sorority. The Greek system in general is suffering from low numbers. And so on.

[AlwaysSAI]

Neither of my chapter's have retention problems, but I have a few thoughts:

Don't just focus on NMs getting to know each other--plan a NM/active retreat. It provides contact between the NMs and actives. And, don't just depend on one retreat to do the job, plan various socials with the NMs and actives. Our current VPM is planning a bowling day, a spa retreat (at the local beauty school so everything is cheap!), simple stuff like that so that us actives have to interact with NMs.

I've heard a lot of people say that they were disappointed because after initiation they weren't fast friends with all of their new sisters. I'll admit, as an active, that I don't go out of my way to meet the NMs outside of recruitment. It can make the new girls feel like outsiders in their new sorority and they are uncomfortable hanging out with girls already in cliques.

Being able to see friends is a big motivator for myself, my bros, and sisters and that's why we attend events and meetings.

We also have a point system where we have to earn a certain number of points a semester to remain in good standing--you earn points by attending various events. That can also be a motivation.

[AOII Angel]

Why aren't your sisters excited to add new members to the group? I'd say get to the bottom of that! If no one makes an attempt to make the new members feel welcome, of course they won't stick around. Plan as many events as you can that lets new members interact with initiated sisters prior to initiation. Make Big Sis-Lil Sis a HUGE deal. Get back to your ritual to ground your chapter in the purpose of your organization! You guys will not be able to continue to recruit well once people figure out that no one sticks around. Good luck!

[APhiAnna]

Unfortunately my chapter hasn't been in this position so I can't give you any first hand advice. On my campus, however, there were two chapters that were struggling. Since then one has really turned around and the other has taken a turn for the worst. When recruitment starts to come around we always ask our new members what worked and didn't work at other houses so we can gain a competitive advantage. They said that one of the two smaller houses was super upbeat and had incredible esteem for their house while the other house seemed stressed out and seemed like they were trying really hard. That's for recruitment, which doesn't seem to be your problem, but I think chapters get stronger by taking a positive spin on tricky situations. For example, if your chapter has poor meeting attendance instead of fining or saying things like "guys, we all need to be there even if its boring" you should make it fun and instead say things like "guys, can you imagine how much we can accomplish if we all come and stay focused? We can do XYZ and ABC!" By putting a positive spin on your chapters weaknesses it can really improve morale and make things less of a "chore".

[33girl]

Did your chapter pledge a lot of girls just for the sake of numbers? If you weren't enthusiastic about someone and just gave her a bid because you were being pressured to get numbers up, it's not going to make either of you feel happy about the situation.

Are the older members just burnt out from running the group for a long time? It may be nothing personal to the new girls, it's just they are sick of being in the sorority in general. If you're a small chapter where everyone always has an office or committee chair, it can happen - you don't get a chance to be "just a sister." There's really no solution to this if you're small other than to maybe get them out of exec positions and into smaller ones.

To get everyone to know each other, try playing Jeopardy. Everyone writes down 3 random facts about themselves and puts them in a hat. Divide into 2 teams and an emcee - the emcee takes turns drawing the facts and it works the same way real Jeopardy does.

"This sister has 5 brothers and sisters."
"Who is Jan Brady?"

There is so much emphasis placed on national history and national programming nowadays, it's sometimes hard for chapter members to just get to know those little things about each other - especially if they're shy.

[GreekLove4Ev]

Yes, we are a small chapter which does mean that we ALL hold offices and I do believe that we often feel overwhelmed. However, we would never add members to our sorority just for the sake of having higher numbers.. We have certain guidlines that must be met by each new member and ofcourse we vote as a chapter on who we could see best fitting into our sisterhood. In a nut shell as a chapter we know where our problems lie, and the part in which I am focusing on is getting the girls excited-having fun-and focusing on re-establishing our sisterhood bonds. With the help of your replies (and other threads) I feel that I am on my way to bettering our sorority. Continue providing me with fun ideas or games; you are all getting me very excited about holding this office and the changes that I hope will come with it!

[33girl]

Try having assigned seating at one or 2 business meetings (if you don't have to sit according to office) - put people who normally don't talk to each other next to each other. Don't do it all the time though or it will tick people off.

Do you do Secret Sister throughout the semester?

If you are attending a campus event or a mixer, have everyone meet at the house before going there and hang out a bit. This is fun as well as making your chapter look more unified than if you all straggle in on your own.

No one gets excited about meetings, LOL, but if people are saying that the sisterhood events are boring, have everyone put one NEW idea for a sisterhood event in a box and let it be anonymous. Write them all down on a sheet of paper, pass it around at meeting and have everyone check off 3-5 ideas that they like.

[GreekLove4Ev]

These are all really good ideas! I never really thought about how good it would look if we all showed up to social/ parties together! Unfortunately during meetings we have to set in ABC order according to our last names & the VPs sit in the front row.. However, I would like to see about asking the President if maybe just a few times we could switch the seating up! & I actually have no idea what you mean by Secret Sister.. Are you referring to Big Sisters/ Little Sisters?

[33girl]

Secret Sister is like Secret Pal - everyone draws a name and gets little gifts for them thru the semester (nothing expensive) while keeping their identity secret. At the end of the semester, identities of the SSs are revealed.