San Francisco Chapter Houses?

[modorney]

I would say the one thing you have going for you (and any national) is the huge number of alumni in the San Francisco Bay Area. My national (Acacia) has 500 local alumni, and Kappa Sig has probably many more. We have talked about having a "Purdue night", a "Wisconsin night", etc., where alums from those chapters are featured and honored, at a banquet for all brothers. If you could generate a monthly gathering for all KΣ alums, and have each month focus on a specific chapter that is well represented here, that would be a start.

Eventually, that could evolve into a "lodge", which could then become a (resident) house. Lots of work, but there are visionary KappaSigs here who could pull it off. This is the golden time to do it, lots of greeks who joined in the sixties (before greeklife declined in the seventies) are retiring, and are selling their big homes and moving to smaller places.

[lucgreek]

Originally Posted by modorney

I would say the one thing you have going for you (and any national) is the huge number of alumni in the San Francisco Bay Area. My national (Acacia) has 500 local alumni, and Kappa Sig has probably many more. We have talked about having a "Purdue night", a "Wisconsin night", etc., where alums from those chapters are featured and honored, at a banquet for all brothers. If you could generate a monthly gathering for all KΣ alums, and have each month focus on a specific chapter that is well represented here, that would be a start.

Eventually, that could evolve into a "lodge", which could then become a (resident) house. Lots of work, but there are visionary KappaSigs here who could pull it off. This is the golden time to do it, lots of greeks who joined in the sixties (before greeklife declined in the seventies) are retiring, and are selling their big homes and moving to smaller places.

While this is a good way to try and get local alumni involved, I'm not so sure how this would lead to housing or getting a house. The alumni might be selling big homes and moving to smaller places, but how many alumni live near the school? Having a house/lodge 10 miles away isn't exactly useful for your chapter. Those local alumni who are involved are also probably donating money to their 'home' chapters.

[MrKSig]

@Modorney: This sounds like a great idea and something to look into! Thanks

@TSteven: I am aware of that. Which is why I am interested in trying to push for one haha

@lucgreek: Definitely a negative. I really want to have that "Greek Life" experience for my Chapter and a house is really important for that. I've found some 5 bedroom homes in the Daly City area (just outside of SF) that are approximately $500k. But yeah, housing prices here are through the roof.

@NinjaPoodle: Definitely something we're facing here. Being an art school, and the red tape that AAU has, its really hard to get things planned and organized. We have grown up a lot in the past 2 years and I'm glad to say we are finally on the right track to getting us in order. Finances is definitely a big problem, which is a symptom of our numbers. We need vigorous recruiting. We're a small Chapter with 19 "actives" but only say... 12-14 who show to things. This wouldn't be an issue if we had, say, 40 Brothers. AAU's turnover rate is huge too, so keeping people in is a challenge.

For housing, I was figuring our only options would be A) Get a floor in a dorm devoted to Greek Life, B) Buy a house which would be more like a "lodge" a little outside of Downtown or the city such as Daly City or Alameda, C) Rent a house and pass the lease down year to year (though this would need a co-signer), and D) Buying a small Plex with different units that can be converted to a House. Though that, I'm sure, is hella expensive.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and experiences on this, it is really helping me get some ideas rolling!