Recruit more girls

[LAblondeGPhi]

I will also add that you should read I Heard Recruitment, because the philosophy is all about non-traditional recruitment. I saw a presentation from Phired Up! (the company that essentially wrote I Heart Recruitment and the fraternity companion book), and it was filled with ideas about:
-Getting your name out there
-Recruiting people who never thought about going Greek before
-Making as many friends/contacts as possible around the campus
-Sit down with your sisters and write down the contact information for EVERY SINGLE FEMALE STUDENT who is not already affiliated. Then call each of them and personally invite them to hang out with your sisters. Explain that you think she is really cool and you'd love to introduce your sisters to her by doing a "Normal Friend Activity" (going out to dinner, getting your nails done, lounging by the pool, having a study party, studying at your local coffee shop, volunteering for a clean-up, any kind of volunteering, cheering for a school sports game, etc.)

Having ice cream socials and fun recruitment activities only work if you have a group of women on campus who are inherently interested in joining a Greek organization. If no one is interested in joining a sorority, then advertising recruitment events is not going to attract anyone. Get it?

Requiring (I mean... strongly encouraging) sisters to get involved in outside activities is a great idea. Why? Because struggling chapters often get SO involved in saving the chapter, that you stop being as involved on campus as you used to be. Personally, I LOVED my sorority and was so passionate about it that in college I preferred to spend my time in chapter pursuits. I had friends outside of the chapter, but by the time I was a senior, I knew very few women who weren't affiliated AND whom I hadn't already tried to recruit. By that point, my good GDI friends were mostly from freshman/sophomore year.

Make your chapter (and Greek Life) relevant to campus life
I completely agree that you need to hold non-recruitment events on campus! Show that your organization is doing something FUN and USEFUL for people. I love the suggestions above about having speakers for: resume-writing, job hunting, picking a major, self-defense, etc.

Lastly, make sure that the 4 of you are RECRUITING AT ALL TIMES ... WITHOUT being overbearing about it. Recruiting is about showing people how amazing your organization is, not necessarily telling them over and over again. Exemplify your ideals 24 hours a day, look cute/well put-together/approachable/fun on campus as often as humanly possible. Make friends everywhere and anywhere! You want to be the 4 women on campus who know and are loved by everyone.

It will be a lot of work, but it sounds like you're up to the challenge! Good luck!

[33girl]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

The only drawback I've seen about requiring or encouraging men and women of fraternities and sororities to join outside orgs. is that some do it to fulfill that requirement, and don't actually contribute to that org. I fully remember being in a student group and two women came, signed in for meetings, never came to any events, and though I know that was just those two frosted flakes, it left a nasty taste in the mouths of people who aren't Greek and passionate about that group.

If there's a member in my chapter who can't find one other thing on campus to be involved and interested in (and that includes athletics, peer counseling, RA, ANYTHING campus related) then I would severely question what kind of contribution a person with such limited interests is making to the organization.

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

Requiring (I mean... strongly encouraging) sisters to get involved in outside activities is a great idea. Why? Because struggling chapters often get SO involved in saving the chapter, that you stop being as involved on campus as you used to be. Personally, I LOVED my sorority and was so passionate about it that in college I preferred to spend my time in chapter pursuits. I had friends outside of the chapter, but by the time I was a senior, I knew very few women who weren't affiliated AND whom I hadn't already tried to recruit. By that point, my good GDI friends were mostly from freshman/sophomore year.

Exactly. That's why this is so important. And if the only thing you do is your sorority and that isn't always a positive thing, you're going to see more and more members leaving because they don't have an outlet.