Hi,
I showed this post about the Foundation mailing to Allison Lewis, executive director of the Sigma Kappa Foundation, and she sent me the reply below and asked that I post it to the forum.
Julia Kozicki
Legal Counsel
Sigma Kappa Sorority
Hi, Julia! Thank you for bringing this member’s concern to the attention of the Sigma Kappa Foundation. I am very sorry to hear that a reference to Timothy McVeigh ended up on her envelope, as I whole-heartedly agree that such a reference is inappropriate and I apologize for that having made it to print.
This year’s year-end mailing theme was “Memories” and each letter and envelope were personalized to every initiation year with references to news, inventions, songs and other memorable events for each individual year. To achieve this, our mail vendor utilized a database of such information. Our vendor is reputable, having many Greek foundations as clients, and has utilized this database of memories with great success in the past; however I did still personally review sample years to get a feel for the content. Given the volume of the data, I couldn’t review every year, though, and regrettably I didn’t get 1997 as a sample or I most definitely would have removed the reference to Timothy McVeigh. The idea of the mailing was to conjure memories from college days and while some news events certainly can define a year or even an era; in this instance, focusing on positive memories would have been most appropriate.
Upon receipt of this posting on Greek Chat, I contacted the vendor about the situation. While our mailing has already gone out and we won’t be doing something similar in the near future, I felt it was important for them to know that referencing this particular news item, and perhaps other negative events, could be offensive to potential donors in the context of a Greek foundation solicitation letter. The vendor is currently searching its database to review the content and remove such items.
Since Greek Chat names are not identifiable, I’m not able to contact the member who commented directly and thank her for bringing this to my attention, but you are welcome to post my comments on Greek Chat if you wish. I want her and others to know that we have addressed the issue and that we deeply appreciate their support. Members of Sigma Kappa – collegiate and alumnae – benefit from the educational, leadership and scholarship programs that the Sigma Kappa Foundation is able to fund with the generosity of our donors. We thank our donors for their understanding and continued investment in Sigma Kappa’s future.
Allison K. Lewis
Executive Director
Sigma Kappa Foundation
8733 Founders Road
Indianapolis, IN 46268
NEW PHONE NUMBER: (317) 381-5530
FAX: (317) 872-0716
www.sigmakappafoundation.org
"Supporting the Heart of Sigma Kappa."
The mission of the Sigma Kappa Foundation is to lead, educate and inspire Sigma Kappa members and society through educational programming and philanthropic endeavors.
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