Struggling Chapter

[honeychile]

Diamond Delta - you are with PM!

Gee, I wonder why this thread suddenly got quiet.

I'm sure there are verifiable AND bonafide sorority members (who actually went through NPC collegiate rush/membership situations) who can contribute more to this discussion. Come out, come out wherever you are!

And thank you to the REAL members who have given advice so far!

[DPhiEBrit]

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful ideas they are truly appreciated. For future reference, I am talking to my regional recruitment advisor. I am going to speak with our with our greek advisor on campus, and I'm talking to several girls from other chapters and from other sororities. I just wanted to tell everyone that I really appreciate the i deas and to keep them coming!

With love,
Brit

[Tom Earp]

OTW, maybe the House Of Cards can really be blown over with the Big Bad Wolf knoking at the door asking questions and they dont know the knowledge?

Ah, the worm is soon taken out of its hole when enough rain of questions come down on them and then they burn in the Gamma Rays of introspection.

BIO 101 at its best!

[roqueemae]

Originally posted by honeychile
I really like the idea of combining a philanthropy event with PNMs, with or without a fraternity (which I think has to be without a fraternity, if y'all are NPC).

Is this true? I was under the impression it was good to combine our philanthropic efforts with a fraternity's. Would there ever be a Frats at Bat/Anchor Splash without Fraternities?

[KSUViolet06]

Originally posted by roqueemae
Is this true? I was under the impression it was good to combine our philanthropic efforts with a fraternity's. Would there ever be a Frats at Bat/Anchor Splash without Fraternities?

I think it's a fabulous idea to bring PNM's to philanthropies you're participating in (with or without fraternities). Some of our most successful COR's have included Derby Day's skit/Darlin' night, Phi Delt Volleyball, Chi Omega football, and even OUR own philanthropy. If you want to show girls that service is a BIG part of Delta Phi Epsilon, this is a great idea.

Another good point: Sell your ENTIRE NATIONAL organization, as well as your chapter. Mention that DPhiE has chapters in (however many) states. If you have any career networking programs (i.e. Tri Sigma's Tradewinds) that set members up with alumnae in their proposed career, talk about it. I'm sure DPhiE has awesome alumnae opportunities, talk about those, especially with upperclasswomen who don't think it'd be worth their time to join just because they are graduating.

Also: Maybe your chapter has a particular "mold". For example, maybe you're all pretty, white, brunette, fashion majors. Don't be afraid to invite that shy, Chinese, Political Science major that's in your study group. She might be really interested, but not sure if she'll "fit" just because she thinks all DPhiE's are a certain type. If you have a "mold", break it. You never know who you'll find that may make a great sister.

[KappaKittyCat]

Originally posted by roqueemae
Is this true? I was under the impression it was good to combine our philanthropic efforts with a fraternity's. Would there ever be a Frats at Bat/Anchor Splash without Fraternities?

I think the point is that NPC's Unanimous Agreements prohibit men's participation in recruitment events. So feel free to have a "philanthropy mixer," and feel free to invite PNMs if you'd like, but don't call it or count it as, an official recruitment event.

[alphaalpha]

I was rush chair and during that time we more than doubled our sorority. The biggest thing is to like each other and want to spend time with each other. If there are issues, deal with them. Women join a sorority to have friends and meet people. So, do activities together that you all enjoy, and invite pnm to the activities.

Also, i would suggest that you have small "rush" groups. it is really intimidating to have a few pnms and say 15 people who really know each other. I am a very outgoing person, but put me in a place where i know noone and everybody else seems to know each other i freeze up. Have sisters invite friends over or go out with small groups. Say like a group of 4 girls with 2 pnms to the movies and then out for pizza. Then have one of the 4 sisters invite 1 of the pnms to go out with another group of sisters and again keep it small. This way the pnm's dont feel overwhelmed and she will feel special.

Don't make it seem like a rush event. Make sure you really like the person. I have been to church functions where i felt like these girls were just talking to me to get me to join their church and did not really care about me. I understand this is hard to explain via the internet, but i am sure that everyone has been in a situation where they don't feel like the person they are talking to cares about them.

If your school is large make sure that you treat each pnm as a person. Some universities make people feel like a number and no one likes that. Treat each girl as important as they are.

Also, going back to my first point. Membership retension is just as important. My org was really small and i often felt like that they wanted bodies more than they wanted me. Even thought they said that they liked having me around, it was just that they were so big on getting our numbers up that they did not care about the girls that were members. Its more important to have a small number of members that you care about than a large number of girls. Make each girl, going through rush and once they become members feel special and important.

Good luck, and i hope that my directions were clear.

[LightBulb]

Thanks for the bump, alphaalpha. This thread has been so helpful! My colony has 18 sisters (compared to 45 or so that the two NPC chapters on my campus have), and I really appreciate all these great ideas (now I really want to have an NPC social!).

It is important not to make recruitment your only goal. Be very active in outside groups, hold philanthropy events (including some on campus), and have a lot of mixers (with fraternities, sororities, and other campus groups) as well as sisterhood parties (going out for pizza or whatnot). As KKC said, "If you build it, they will come" - I believe that too! If you show PNMs that you are as active as GLOs with even more members - what dedication! Many girls would love to join an organization like that.

Please continue to share your ideas. Thanks!

Much love, Marly

[Delphico7]

I noticed more sorority members responded to this subject than fraternity members did. just curious as to why that is.

thanks for responding to this subject. there were a lot of ideas on this that may help my group.

in greek fellowship,

The Delphic Fraternity, Inc. - Gamma Sigma Tau

[FSUZeta]

you beat me to it. i too was going to suggest dividing the chapter into smaller informal recruitment groups and have each group responsible for meeting and getting to know "x" number of women(2 or 3 pnms depending on the size of the groups). it is less intimidating for both the pnms and the sisters. that way the pnms just have to meet a few members at a time, and each group feels that they have a do-able number of pnms to find . instead of the recruitment chairwoman having the major burden of finding pnms for the chapter to recruit, the task is shared and she is able to act more as a coordinator and planner. by the way, lots and lots of wonderful info!!

[prinzessgena]

Hey,

Your chapter sounds just like where mine has been. We are 1 of 3 sororities also and usually fall behind the other two on FR. We've done a lot of changing throughout the couple semesters, one is to try and maintain retention instead on completely stressing over Continious Open Recruitment, we would simply have more sisterhood events where we would include everyone. We would do these once a month. This has helped in gaining more members. It is a slow process but we've also won a championship on our campus, had higher grades than the other two so we're slowly building back up.