I NEED HELP WITH MEMBERSHIP RETENTION!

[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.