Reversing the numbers snowball

[hannahgirl]

The DGs at Akron definately felt the snowball effect recently. We have always been considered one of the top three sororities on campus, but in the Fall of 2000 we did not make quota which didn't bother us too much until Spring of 2001. We thought that we did an awesome job during the progressive dinner that we do for informal recruitment so every PNM gets to visit every house. So when we decided on bids and invites back, we could not get anyone to sign. by the end of our scheduled COB events, we had signed one girl and she was the only initiate for that semester. Our nationals had decided that they were going to come help us out because they did not want our chapter dying out since it is the oldest existing DG chapter. This fall we worked really hard on recruitment and we pledged quota (which was 11) and then went on to the fraternity assisted COB and doubled our chapter of 23 with a total of 36 new women. We have bounced back and now have a young chapter but are confident in them.....this spring we have recruited another group of 8 women to hold up our standards and we are still looking for more because we are only 4 away from house total!!!!
to those chapters that are experiencing what i went through with my chapter, just remember to KEEP YOUR HEAD UP!! people will see your strength if you show it.....it doesn't matter how small you are.
The KKG chapter at Akron is now going through the same thing too and since we've been through it all, we have offered to support them in any way we can because they have that strength that a good chapter possesses.

Good luck to all of you!
Eta Chapter
Delta Gamma

[HeavenslilAngel]

I agree with what everyone has been saying. One of our chapters here is going through the same thing with the low numbers thing I'm always seeing signs i the union of them advertising. So keep your head up follow the wonderful advise that has been given here and your chapter will do great!

Good Luck!

[pandarose18]

I have experienced the snowball first hand with my chapter. I'm a senior now and my bid calss was the first with low numbers for the chapter. We lost a few great classes of seniors also. All of this led to us only having 9 active members during recruitment this year...(Campus total is 45 and the other two groups were very close). We had another nearby chapter come to help us during each round of parties and that was wonderful! It was also a great way for us to meet some of the other girls. Quota was set VERY high this year and we only got one new member through the formal recruitment process. However, we have been working hard on COB and got 4 more last semester and 3 already this semester!!! That gives us a total of 8 so far! They are all amazing girls and we made sure that we didn't lower our standards at all! We now have 18 members so our chapter size is double what it was during recruitment and since we are only losing 5 seniors we are making great progress! It is tough to pull to gether and rebuild a chapter but the reward of seeing a great new group of girls (or even one girl) initiate is AWESOME! Listen to all the great advice listed and if you need any help feel free to ask! GOOD LUCK to you and your chapter!!!

[SAEalumnus]

Yup, I've seen that happen to my chapter too. In fact, we're just now pulling through it. While fraternities don't generally have to worry about "quota" or "ceiling" or "house total" or whatever, we're still pretty competitive when it comes to chapter size/strength/etc. We had a combination of low rush results, apathy and mismanagement drop our numbers to less than 20% of what they were. Not fun, believe me. The last couple of administrations in my chapter have been very strong and the newly elected eboard is right in line. Our new president is a machine when it comes to recruitment and handling his business. I think he's just what the chapter needs. Thing is, our chapter has a landmark anniversary coming up next year, and we want to surprise our alumni with a rejuvenated house. Looks so far like we'll be able to pull it off.

[dphies00]

My chapter is trying like hell to fight back ourselves from the snowball effect. I'm rush chair myself so I know you feel. One important bit of advice that I can give that hasn't been mentioned is the important of unity and support with your E board. I know this sounds obvious and you leadership team should always have a unified front, regardless of whether its rush, but when you get small, tensions are high and people can get overworked, stressed out, and a little bitchy. Having a great president who pushes your chapter to be the best, an operations manager who keeps you organized, a membership developer who keeps you tight- when it comes to rush, everyone needs to do their jobs well. If you can't rely on the other people in charge, then you're screwed. Everyone should be supporting one another, making your sisterhood so tight i.e. everyone knows everyone elses names! (I cannot even imagine not knowing my sisters names - I'm actually friends with all of them!) The security and support of the sisterhood will be visible to rushees.

Also, do not do all the work yourself. My house and most others on campus, have a rush committee. If your goals are high, your committee probably has a lot to do. It sounds stupid and simplistic, but if you just post a list in a visible spot of everything that needs to get done, sisters on other committees will help you out with small chores and errands, making the workload lighter and less-stressful for the rest of your committee. Everyone in you chapter should realize how important one rush can be for your chapter.

[KappaStargirl]

The chapter from which I graduated went through 5 years of horrible Rushes, and is just now pulling out. This year, they had 7 actives, and it was do or die time. With help, they had a great year for rush! The VP posted to our chapter listserv as to how they just got 10 new members from formal Rush (with 1100 people in the school and chapter celiing at 59, that is an excellent Rush, quota usually falls around 8)...hope these help:

1) They talk to their advisors and province directors at least twice a week to check in and get advice. They also get regular visits from Traveling Consultants.

2) The university is on trimesters and has deferred Rush until the winter term. It's also located near three major chapters: Northwestern, U of Minn., and U of Wisc. With the help of their alum advisors, they were able to get members of those chapters, who were still on winter break at the time, to come and help fill the room. They wore different nametags from the actives, so the rushees knew who was who. Local alums showed up, too. I think it really added to the Rush scene...PNM's got an up-close look at what it means to be a Kappa for life.

3) They are COB'ing like CRAZY. Advertising, going door to door, inviting women they think would make good members, all without sacrificing quality.

4) They go everywhere together. It's no secret on campus, even among the GDI's, that Kappa has the best sisterhood and unity even though they have the smallest number of members. People notice that more than you think.

It's also true what someone posted earlier: NPC rules say that a COB bid is good for a CALENDAR year (not a school year).

Good luck to you. Getting out of the hole is not easy, but it can be done.

P.S. Is the stargirl part of your name from the Jerry Spinelli book, too?

[SATX*APhi]

This coming May, my chapter will celebrate 5 years of being on campus. In the first few years, we had about 50-60 members (with ceiling being about 65). A lot of the girls graduated, leaving behing about only 20 actives. Last semester we picked up 5 girls through informal recruitment. This semester we picked up 8 girls through formal recruitment and just picked up 6 girls through COB's. We now have about 40 members and are still growing. We have had an awesome semester and hopefully we can pick up at least 5 more girls this semester. We already have about 10 PNM's interested in joining this coming fall. We have done an awesome job this semester.

All it took was motivation and enthusiasm.

Good luck!