Fraternity accounting is not nearly as easy as it should be. Lots of things are possible, but it will take some time for your alumni to catch on.
An educational or charitable fund is the way to go. Educational funds can benefit chapters in lots of ways including scholarships to individual members (maybe even the ones who can't pay their rent), scholarships to send your members to leadership events or general assemblies (a financial burden normally carried by the undergradaute chapter), or to subsidize chapter philanthropies. You can also help your chapter recruitment efforts by setting up a general scholarship and advertising it to incoming students (applications for such a scholarship are a good recruitment prescreening tool). It IS possible for these funds to make loans to house corps for repairs, however the loan must be made at a competitive rate and treated just like any other investment in the fund portfolio - and the loan cannot be the only investment in the fund portfolio. It is possible to provide grants to the chapter house for academic purposes (libraries, computers, etc), but the chapter needs to apply for the grant to the fund just as any non-profit applies for grants.
The process to set up the fund is long and not cheap! Refer to IRS code 501(c)3 for your restrictions and section 509 for how to set up a non profit. You will need a tax accountant and a lawyer to establish this type of fund.
Good luck.
Joe
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