Total Improvement

General1082 · #1 10-06-2010, 06:18 PM

My fraternity is not exactly a bad fraternity, but we have the reputation of just being partiers and nothing else. My pledge class is about to gain all the positions on our board. Basically we need some ideas on how to improve philanthropy involvement, members actually paying dues, how to speak to businesses to sponsor out events(we pretty much have little to no money because we owe nationals so much), how to gain new members and have all of our members show up during rush week, improving our reputation on campus(were not lower tier, just thought of as party boys though.) and basically total improvement of our fraternity. Any input is appreciated, were trying to gain some type of model on how other organizations make sure their members are involved

Psi U MC Vito · #2 10-06-2010, 07:23 PM

Does your national office have like a chapter consultant that can come done and assist you guys? Because it sounds like you want some significant change, and none of us know your chapter so we can't say what will work.

lucgreek · #3 10-06-2010, 07:38 PM

First off, contact your National Office and have someone come in and help. Doing this all on your own might be too much for you guys to take on without support. Your national HQ has a lot of resources they can use to help you. You just have to ask. No organization wants a chapter to fail.

If people aren't paying dues. Cut them. Get rid of them. I don't know your fraternity's specific bylaws, but in mine, if someone does not pay dues they are kicked out. Not inactive (that's reserved for people with specific situations), kicked out. Cut the fat, now. They will drag you down and it will effect the type of members you recruit.

If you have brothers who don't pay dues, don't participate in rush and don't show up to anything, why are they still there? If they're not contributing to the chapter, they have no business being in it.

When was the last time your chapter looked at your constitution/bylaws? Maybe your guys have no idea what's required of them. Spell it out and explain to everything what is expected of them. Institute penalties for not showing up to events. Most chapter's have some form of social probation or monetary fine. Does your chapter have some sort of standing judicial board to handle these issues?

Fixing a reputation takes times. You guys just need to put forth a constant effort at it. Get involved in other activities on campus. Philanthropy involvement is easy. Your national organization has specific philanthropies they support, so find one of them close to you guys and get involved. As for sponsoring events, I'm not very familiar with your campus so I can't give you specifics. But generally there is a student activity fund you guys could tap and use it plan events for the school. Approaching businesses about events is also a possibility. From my personal experiences with businesses (Chipotle, Pizza places, Starbucks, etc...), they are more than happy to help with philanthropic events. You just need to talk to managers and, in some cases, corporate HQ.

But something of this caliber takes time, so I don't know if that should be your biggest focus now. Get your internal membership issues fixed ASAP

33girl · #4 10-06-2010, 08:44 PM

Totally agree with the above as far as cutting the non-dues paying, non-participating fat.

Also, from a female point of view - be NICE guys. Don't dick girls over, don't get in fights with other fraternities, don't say you only want to hang out with the "hot" sororities, support the other groups (male and female) on campus. In effect, be good people. You'd be surprised at how far this really gets you.