Small club's growing again?

[BeeVee]

My experience may be a little different because I go to a small, private Christian school. We don't technically have sororites (because we are a Christian school, we don't believe in having clubs of the panhellenic variety), but we do have "social clubs" that work in the same way. Our process is also kinda different, as well. We only have pledging in the fall (not sure if this is different, but just thought I should mention it) and we have two Spring rushes and four Fall rushes. The Spring rushes are basically a way for girls to see if they really do want to pledge and to figure out which club they feel is best fit for them. The Fall rushes are for you to get yourself known with the club you want, etc.

My club is very small and have been told by our sponsors that this year is make or break it for us. I just pledged last year and it's been a very terrifying semester so far trying to get girls to quit being seduced by the "big club syndrome." We have thrown out our constitution in order to figure out the best system of operations to make next year and many more years happen for our club. Our club has been around since 1920 and has never once disbanded, I would hate for that to happen now.

What I want to know is maybe personal stories about how you made the club get bigger again? Or what happened if you had to disband? Another question would be what are rush ideas that made you interested in a club, regardless of it's size? If you are a small club, what are some rush ideas that have worked or haven't worked in the past? I am planning to be rush coordinator this year and am just trying to get the best idea of how to plan rushes for the club. I know there are lots of other posts about the subject of rush ideas and the like, but I wanted answers more specifically aimed toward small clubs and/or clubs that have grown significantly and what helped make that happen.

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

[33girl]

How small ARE you? I mean, do you not have enough people for basic offices or what?

You don't have to worry about paying national fees or making quota and total. Do you have housing that you can't afford? Does the school derecognize you if you get below a certain # of members?

Personally, I chose a smaller sorority because that's where I was comfortable. When growth did happen, it happened organically - because the women rushing saw we had a really good bond and were proud of our group and wanted to be part of that. That doesn't happen overnight though.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by BeeVee

My experience may be a little different because I go to a small, private, Christian school in Texas. We don't technically have sororites (because we are a Christian school, we don't believe in having clubs of the panhellenic variety), but we do have "social clubs" that work in the same way. Our process is also kinda different, as well. We only have pledging in the fall (not sure if this is different, but just though I should mention it) and we have two Spring rushes and four Fall rushes. The Spring rushes are basically a way for girls to see if they really do want to pledge and to figure out which club they feel is best fit for them. The Fall rushes are for you to get yourself known with the club you want, etc.

My club is very small and have been told by our sponsors that this year is make or break it for us. I just pledged last year and it's been a very terrifying semester so far trying to get girls to quit being seduced by the "big club syndrome." We have thrown out our constitution in order to firgure out the best system of operations to make next year and many more years happen for our club. Our club has been around since 1920 and has never once disbanded, I would hate for that to happen now.

What I want to know is maybe personal stories about how you made the club get bigger again? Or what happened if you had to disband? Another question would be what are rush ideas that made you interested in a club, regardless of it's size? If you are a small club, what are some rush ideas that have worked or haven't worked in the past? I am planning to be rush coordinator this year and am just trying to get the best idea of how to plan rushes for the club. I know there are lots of other posts about the subject of rush ideas and the like, but I wanted answers more specifically aimed toward small clubs and/or clubs that have grown significantly and what helped make that happen.

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

I'm not sure if tossing your constitution out the window is going to help, given that you've been around for 90 years, something must have been working.

Are girls leaving your club and going to another? Can you talk to alumnae for ideas and support? Though you aren't a sorority, you hold recruitment, so perhaps you should do a search here. There is a ton of great information. There is also a book, called "I Heart Recruitment", which many people have recommended.

My chapter of Gamma Sigma Sigma disbanded shortly after I graduated. We had dwindling numbers and finally, people just stopped caring. It was heart breaking, and we did everything we could.

What have you tried in the past/recently to boost numbers? Are people pledging, but dropping out? Perhaps looking at what was happening when your numbers started to go down is a good place to start.

[BeeVee]

After graduation in May we will have 9 regular members and 2 grad school members. The school will still recognize us as a club as long as we get pledges but we make the official decision to disband. We used to have 8 offices, last year we had 5, this year we'll only have 2.

I may have phrased it wrong, we're not completely doing away with our constitution, but a lot of the things regarding members is being disregarded this year due to size. I've never actually heard of someone leaving a club and going to another, so I figure that's not allowed or no one has ever tried it.

When I pledged we only had 7 pledges and ended up losing 2 before the process was over. 1 of the girls from my pledge class is inactive this semester due to grades and is transferring at the end of the semester and another is studying aboard this semester, but is also planning to transfer after she gets back.

Back in the 90's our club was in the same situation and a couple girls who wanted to pledge my club the next year talked up the club to all their other freshman friends (you can't pledge until you're a sophomore here) and they all decided to pledge because they didn't want a club with such an amazing history and legacy on our campus to die away. Is there a way to incorporate this into a rush without making it seem as though we are desperate or trying our last resorts?

What is the best way to show the girls that a small club isn't necessarily a bad thing, but still let them know we would like lots of pledges?

Another question might be what are some good PR ideas that would make girls interested in coming to our rushes. At my school we have 5 girls' clubs and to pledge you have to go to 4 of the 5 clubs' rushes to be considered for a bid, so how do we prevent girls from making us that club they don't rush?

I hope that clears things up. If you have any questions I'll try to explain as best as I can. Again, thank you so much.

[33girl]

I think the first thing to do would be to try to do away with that rule that rushees only have to go to four of the five and make them go to all five. Seriously, there are schools where women have to visit 18-19-20 sororities in under a week. Going from 4 to 5 isn't going to kill anybody.

Back in the 90's our club was in the same situation and a couple girls who wanted to pledge my club the next year talked up the club to all their other freshman friends (you can't pledge until you're a sophomore here) and they all decided to pledge because they didn't want a club with such an amazing history and legacy on our campus to die away.

This kind of "pre-rushing" is the absolute best thing you can do. However, as I said, it has to happen organically. If you stand up in the middle of rush and say "tell your friends about us!" then yeah, it will look kind of desperate. The thing is to make sure your members are meeting and befriending those freshmen - you all need to be involved in activities where you meet new people.

Also, if you are allowed to pledge juniors, even seniors, don't be afraid to do so. Often they make the most committed members because they've had a lot of time to think about what they truly want out of a sisterhood.

[BeeVee]

The 4 out of 5 rule is something the Social Club office put in place and I really wish they would do away with it. I'll talk with my club's members and see what they think we can do about getting this rule changed.

Thanks for the suggestions. We're hearing a lot of good things around campus about people that want to pledge our club next year, so it's helping us get more confidence to talk to more freshmen. I'll keep you posted as Spring rushes get closer.

[AOII Angel]

I guess one thing you should consider is what could you offer sophomore women who join your group that the other groups cannot because of their size? Obviously, they won't be able to take major offices quickly. Maybe this is the time to look for women who want to define their experience and recreate your club with your other members. They will be able to make changes immediately whereas in other groups, it will be years before any of their ideas will be heard (if ever, with 51 members in each pledge class!) One strong pledge class can turn a chapter around. I think with a club of 9 members, you can't think about looking desperate...you have 9 members!
It's do or die time! Make recruitment almost like a game of Project Small Club-- save a 90 year old sisterhood.

[BeeVee]

So, a little update on what's going down... We have ALL Club Rush next Monday. Due to the circumstances I mentioned before, we do not have any Club houses, so this is our way of having all the PNM's go through the process of seeing all the clubs before individual rushes start. At ALL Club Rush we make a circle in the middle of campus and each club sets up booths where PNM's can come by and get something to snack on and something to take with them so they remember who we are later. This is a way to help them figure out which clubs they're more serious about and help them decide if pledging is right for them.

Then on Thursday of next week and the following Thursday we have our individual club Rushes. We already picked the themes and have sent out invitations as best we can, but I have a quick question I'd like some help with... What is a good way to get these invitations out to more girls without going into their dorms? (This is against the rules for clubs to do, btw.)

Also, just for future references during Rushes so we can show these girls who we are without coming across as desperate, what are some things that really stood out to you about your sorority? What made you prefer that one over the other chapters are your university? What are some things you experienced, good or bad, that influenced your decision about who you wanted a bid from?

Thanks a bunch!

[AnotherKD]

This may be a silly question, but about how many members do the other clubs have? How many did you have a few years ago? Just for a point of reference.

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by BeeVee

So, a little update on what's going down... We have ALL Club Rush next Monday. Due to the circumstances I mentioned before, we do not have any Club houses, so this is our way of having all the PNM's go through the process of seeing all the clubs before individual rushes start. At ALL Club Rush we circle around the fountain in the middle of campus (which coincidentally enough is my club's fountain) and each club sets up booths where PNM's can come by and get something to snack on and something to take with them so they remember who we are later. This is a way to help them figure out which clubs they're more serious about and help them decide if pledging is right for them.

Then on Thursday of next week and the following Thursday we have our individual club Rushes. We already picked the themes and have sent out invitations as best we can, but I have a quick question I'd like some help with... What is a good way to get these invitations out to more girls without going into their dorms? (This is against the rules for clubs to do, btw.)

Also, just for future references during Rushes so we can show these girls who we are without coming across as desperate, what are some things that really stood out to you about your sorority? What made you prefer that one over the other chapters are your university? What are some things you experienced, good or bad, that influenced your decision about who you wanted a bid from?

Thanks a bunch!

-Bee-

Is it kosher to ask the girls for their class schedules (of those who are interested) and surprise them with an invitation outside the building? I know that there isn't a lot of you, but you might be able to get this done over 2 days' time, depending on how many invites you put out. How do the other clubs do it?

[BeeVee]

AnotherKD: The three big clubs at my school all capped their pledge classes last year (which is 51 pledges, if I didn't mention that before), so they have around 100-150+ members each. The other club on campus is not as small as us, but they are facing the same situation we are in regards to getting PNM's interested. About 5 or so years ago I believe we had around 100 members, but we have (obviously) been on a rapid decline since then. Three years ago the Social Club Office decided to change the pledging process and try some new things, but instead of helping the small slubs, it only hurt them and aided the big clubs even more. We are currently going though legislation changes so that the process will change again, but they haven't decided on what they want to do yet.

ree-Xi: I'm not sure about the class schedule idea. And I'm also not sure how the other clubs send out their invitations. Every club does Facebook events, so the more popular a club is, the more members will be attending the event, so all the more reason a PNM would want to go to that one. And word of mouth works really well for big clubs since there's so many members, but since we're extremely small, we can't rely on that as much. I had an idea about getting all the freshman girls' mailbox numbers and then mailing them all invitations to the rushes. Does that sound like a good idea or is that crossing over the boundary into creepy territory?

Thanks so much for helping! I really appreciate it and any advice anyone has to offer I will gladly accept!

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by BeeVee

ree-Xi: I'm not sure about the class schedule idea. And I'm also not sure how the other clubs send out their invitations. Every club does Facebook events, so the more popular a club is, the more members will be attending the event, so all the more reason a PNM would want to go to that one. And word of mouth works really well for big clubs since there's so many members, but since we're extremely small, we can't rely on that as much. I had an idea about getting all the freshman girls' mailbox numbers and then mailing them all invitations to the rushes. Does that sound like a good idea or is that crossing over the boundary into creepy territory?

Thanks so much for helping! I really appreciate it and any advice anyone has to offer I will gladly accept!

I think that you should really take a look at what other clubs do, for direction on what is "acceptable" vs. "creepy". Take your cues regarding the spectrum too intimate to too casual from the types of approaches other clubs use. Is that secret info? It wouldn't be hard to find out. Didn't you all go through rush? Did you get invitations to other clubs? How did they deliver them?

There is a book (I haven't read it, but a lot of people swear by it) called "I Heart Recruitment". Again, you'd need to tailor your ideas to suit your campus culture.

I also wanted to tell you that it IS possible to grow again, but it's a commitment on behalf of all your members. Recruitment should happen every day. Are there alumnae among the faculty/staff? Celebrating them in some way is a great "everyday" type of recruiting that is so important. So is wearing your club's colors/symbols, having club lunches in the cafeteria, sponsoring or volunteering as your club at campus events, etc. If there are say, 10 of you, commit to talking to 2 new girls a day each - just as a potential friend. Over a week, that's 100 girls. (So get moving...now!) Some of these girls may learn or know of your membership (that's where wearing colors or symbols comes in handy!) over the course of normal conversation.

[ADPiTigergurl]

Another very easy thing to do while wearing letters and colors or symbols etc. is get a group together (or even your whole chapter) to eat lunch in the cafeteria and invite girls to come eat with you. The girl someone knows from class, the girl who ins't sitting with anyone, invite anyone to sit down and chat with you! This is a great way to let them see parts of your chapter and you never have to mention numbers. Just that you are eatting with your some sisters. They will never know that 7 of 9 of you are present for all they know 7 out of 150 of you are present. This allows them to fall in love before they realize you aren't a larger club.

[goldsilverbronz]

Personalized contact can do a LOT, and make girls feel like you want her individually to join. If you're still considered to be in pre-rush, then you are probably okay to individually contact/meet with girls (find out the rules!) and get to know them on an individual basis. If a girl feels like she's not being treated generically, or mass-invited to things, she will probably feel more special--you really want her, and maybe she'll tell her friends about the awesome club where they really went out of their way to get to know her. Best of luck to you!

[BeeVee]

ree-Xi: I think something that's really popular among the big clubs is having the group lunches, like was mentioned by ADPiTigergirl. I would love to try that, but it never seems to work out. We do have a lunch anyone is free to go to on Fridays where we usually try to invite freshmen to go to, but I never go because I have a lame boyfriend who's not in club and I am broke ALL. THE. TIME. I have heard a lot about that book on this site and may have to look into purchasing it for our formal Fall rushes, but since these are so soon I don't really have much time to get it and put it into practice for these rushes. Thanks though! What do you mean by celebrating the alumnae? I don't exactly know what to do with that idea, any advice would be great! :] About wearing letters/colors/etc., our club is so small that we can't really afford to buy t-shirts and such because to get them at a good price you have to buy in bulk and we can't do that, so I only have like 4 t-shirts I'm allowed to wear every day with my club's letters/colors on them... The shirt that is our jersey, that looks really nice and is really cute, we can only wear every once in a while and if we wear it any other time we get fined... We're getting new intramural shirts this week though, so maybe that'll help. :] Can I get some tips on how to promote the club without being able to have a bunch of shirts/jackets/etc? Thanks!

ADPiTigergirl: We have been trying out the lunch thing, but I'm not sure how it's going so far. Read my comment back to ree-Xi for more info. :] Also, our entire campus knows we're small. It's nothing new and it's something that has all the other clubs starting rumors and stupid stuff like that. So while we could in a way conceal that we have a very low member count, it's highly unlikely that someone interested in pledging next semester doesn't already know about it. The rumors being spread by the other clubs are a WHOLE other story on its own, but it is something that is making people turn away from us... Once rushes start up, these rumors will fall apart, but until then the only thing we can do is defend ourselves, which can be hard when there's so few of us.

goldsilverbronz: I would really love to do this, but I'm really shy when I first meet people. How do I go about talking to someone without being that awkward shy girl at first? It's really hard for me to tell who's a freshman and to tell who's interested in pledging, so I never seem to do well with the personalized, one-on-one conversations with girls. I completely agree with you though and that's why I ended up falling in love with my club, the girls remembered who I was after the rush and I knew they would genuinely miss me if I didn't end up ranking them first and got a bid from another club, none of the other clubs were that way with me. Anymore tips you may have are wholeheartedly accepted. Thanks!