But why are the NPHC groups so ... different???

[LatinaAlumna]

Originally posted by IotaNet
To the Group –

I’d like to approach this from another angle. I think that the primary reasons that NPHC groups have more alumni participation are:
1) The very structure of the groups provide for it, and;
2) The expectation that one is a “member for life” is ingrained from day one of your membership.

1) Each of the NPHC groups has Alumni (or Graduate) Chapters. In most of the 9, these chapters have Greek-letter names AND all conduct membership Intake. My mother is a retired banking executive and she just joined Alpha Kappa Alpha last year! Moreover, she is a proud AKA and identifies strongly with her chapter. Believe it or not, she and her line-sisters even participated in a step show (!) the week after they were initiated. As a matter of fact, Graduate chapters of NPHC organizations are the financial backbone of the organization. Grad chapters tend to be larger, with higher chapter dues and they definitely raise more money for philanthropy.

As I understand it, while there are some NPC/NIC groups that have alumni chapters, they don’t conduct intake at the alumni level. Further, my understanding is that Alumni chapters in those orgs are primarily a place to reminisce, network, and have fun – not necessarily a place to do the “work” of the organization. I also understand that when NPC/NIC alums want to “give back” to the organizations, they tend to make donations to the housing funds of the chapters into which they were initiated. NPHC Alums “give back” by joining a local grad chapter and becoming active in that chapter’s events.

2) In NPHC groups, the whole notion of “A lifetime of membership” is a key component. Once you join an NPHC group, there is an identification with that group that follows you forever. If you ask a 60 year-old member of Delta Sigma Theta about her affiliation, she will probably say, “I AM a Delta.” If you ask a member of an NPC/NIC org the same question, you are as likely as not to get an answer like, “I WAS an Alpha Gam (or Phi Sig or Teke or Pike, etc.) back in college.”

A good indicator of this is the organizational national convention attendance. A few years ago, the AKA’s had their Boule (National Convention) in Chicago. They had about 20,000 members in attendance – each of whom paid in the neighborhood of $250-400 for conference registration fees. These were obviously women who feel a strong affinity for the sorority and based on those numbers, you can bet that the majority of them were Grad members!

To answer the question originally posed, I think that they key to a construct that provides for this type of membership retention is the notion of the organization as a vehicle for community service. I don’t mean to imply that NPC/NIC groups don’t value community service but in the NPHC groups, it the prime driver. The woman who sponsored my mother for membership in AKA told her point blank: “AKA is not about socializing, parties, or having fun. Your prime reason for joining AKA should be to have an opportunity to serve.”

Strong words – but words that have kept the NPHC world going strong for almost 100 years.

Great posts, IotaNet!