I recently explored tax information for 34 men’s fraternities (all IFC groups, as their corporate structures most closely resemble one another) during the COVID-19 years.
Greek Life is, after all, a nine-figure economy. . .
I wrote an article about it, but will just share some takeaways and the raw information here.
1. “Insurance” absorbs about 20% of fraternity expenses and an increasing share of student dollars.
2. Overall, fraternities managed to cut expenses to match (and in many cases exceed) drops in revenue. This is likely due to the grounding of traveling consultants. In my time at an HQ in 2014-2017, travel for consultants would easily surpass six figures in a given year.
3. No real information on whether member dues revenue declined due to discounts or drops in membership. I think I remember hearing that the effect of the pandemic shut downs were not as bad as expected on membership, and the consistent revenue for risk fees may imply that the drop was due more to dues discounts.
What is also hard to say is how insurance costs will change now that we are beyond the height of shut downs.
Here’s the spreadsheet:
Google Docs
Here’s a “report” of sorts:
Report