TKE House, or Lack hereof

TekeGuy · #1 12-21-2007, 12:19 PM

Fellow brothers,

I am a brother at Tau-Omega chapter up in Ottawa, Canada. Our chapter is fairly new, we were colonized in 1996 and chartered in 2000. That being said, our bond is still as strong as any of our brothers' chapters South of the border!

Things work a bit differently up here in Canada. I call it "Greek Life Light", or "Diet Greek Life". I say this because our school does not formally recognize Greek orgnanizations, nor are we the most "active" chapter either. Tau-Omega is based out of Carleton University, which has a striving Greek community (Phi Sigs, Sigma Pi, AOPi, Kappa Sig and a few local organizations), however it really is just a fraction of what goes on in the US.

When I look at our brothers in the US, I admire and envy their dedication, commitment and especially, their houses. Unfortunately, Carleton U does not allow for fraternity houses on their campus. In fact, it is quite rare for any Canadian universities to allow for them (altough, there are exceptions).

I see a house as the binding tie that reinforces brotherhood and establishes commitment to the bond. Sure, a few brothers will lease a house and call it the "TKE house" but it is nothing more than a semi-detached, 4-bedroom family home. I can only dream of a day when I can live in a real TKE house that can hold 20+ brothers, has a chapter room, has our letters in the front, etc etc. The local Kappa Sigma chapter (Omicron-Pi) has just got a brand new million dollar house that holds 12 brother and is the envy of the Greek community. What's worse is that they were chartered just a year ago!

I've seen the Delta-Nu video and heard on these forums that they accumulated money through fundraising and alumni donations. However, we struggle to get by paying our dues as it is and our alumni have all just recently graduated within the past 5 years. What I am wondering is, what can I do? I have tried to contact international (Todd Farmer, our regional director), however have gotten no response. Can anyone here suggest anything at all? It is my dream to get a house for the future generations. This would not only reinforce TKE's position in the Ottawa Greek community, but reinforce the entire community itself as well. Thanks in advance for your input.

YITB!

TekeGuy · #2 12-21-2007, 01:20 PM

Oops, just realized there's a typo in the thread title. It's meant to read "TKE House, or Lack Thereof" but I think the majority of you figured that one out already.

modorney · #3 12-28-2007, 03:53 PM

As you mention, it's the house experience that is important. This can be the pathway to an outstanding house, take it one step at a time.

Your chapter is new and has a lot of young alums, but I bet there are some TKE's in Ottawa who are willing to help. Some are older, have more money, and have good connections. Even though Ottawa is a "government" city, there's still lots of "business" done there.

Try to communicate to the alums that you want to be more than just "party guys". I don't know if TKE has a mentor program like SIg Ep's Balanced Man, but at least you can promote Men's Health, as featured in one of your recent magazines. Other greeks are willing to help (I'm not TKE, I'm Acacia, but willing to help you succeed.) Basically, if the alums know you want to build TKE values, they'll help. Most have never been asked.

Canadian tax rules are different than US, here, we can "buy" a fraction of a fraternity house and put it in our retirement accounts. Not a lot of alums have 2 million bucks to buy a house and rent it out to brothers, but most of us can afford the 20 grand to own one percent of the house, and have a professional manage it. Find out the Canadian rules, and work along those guidelines.

Get a list of the local TKE's and "smile and dial". It's hard work, and maybe one ot of 20 TKE's will help. But, here's what will happen to you. One of your alum brothers will get your call, and think "Here's a guy with initiative, I want to hire him." The worst (unlikely) you can do is break even. Most likely, you 'll get a good job, and maybe even enough bucks to buy a house.

jmagnus · #4 01-08-2008, 05:32 AM

Good points modorney, but check the post date. It was posted over a year ago, and he probably dosn't even check GC anymore...but it's still decent advice if anyone else happens to stumble on this thread.

jmagnus · #5 01-08-2008, 05:40 AM

Strike that last comment. I was looking at the join date, not the post date...sorry. I'm stupid. You're smart. I was wrong. You were right. You're the best. I'm the wrost. You're very good-looking. I'm not very attractive.

...You know how it is...

Mjlarrabee · #6 01-08-2008, 06:39 PM

The Delta Theta chapeter at CSULB lost it's charter before i pledged, but we were lucky enough to keep our national. WE lost pretty much all of our alumni support and it has been rough, but thanks to our new chapter and providence advisor, and our new officer core (including me as pylortes), we have managed to gain favor from a lot of our alumni.

Alumni relations go a ridiculously long way, and the "smile and dial" approach is the more often than not the best way to go. It's worked well for us, and establishing an outstanding alumni relations board has helped as well. Alumni are in the position to be extremely helpful and are often inclined to do so if they see you as "more than party guys". Dont be afraid to go out of your way to get your face known!

We are holding an event in Long Beach for Founders Day this Thursday, and already have 80+ alumni showing up. If anyone is interested feel free to contact me, other than that, these alumni events are a great opportunity to show your fellow fraters that TKE is an integral and important part in your life.

Good luck up there in Canada

YITB
Matt Larrabee
Delta Theta, CSULB
#768

modorney · #7 02-23-2008, 01:52 PM

Hey, J - no harm no foul. Lots of good ideas here, and good brothers willing to help. You guys have your annual convention in two years? And just had regional leadership weekends. These are always good sources of ideas.

iateke · #8 01-19-2009, 09:28 PM

In case anyone out there stumbles across this thread, Alpha Xi is also exploring future housing opportunities. At least one other IFC chapter (Sigma Chi) built a huge new house within the last decade, probably from alumni donations. Currently we have a very old house (not our first, by far) that has served our purposes during some lean years, but would never be sufficient to house the chapter if/when a series of outstanding pledge classes join. We've made improvements here and there over time as funds allow, but the structure really lacks that "competitive edge" during recruitment. Our chapter alumni board (Mike Vogel) has arranged a mailing to our alumni seeking support and assistance. What is the next step we should take to head down this path? What have your chapters done when it came time to upgrade housing?