No apartment or house

[jreyes]

I'm a refounding brother for a fraternity of Phi Delta Theta on my campus. We are gearing up for Spring rush but we have no house or apartment to hold parties, dinners, or meetings. I guess the only thing that would appeal students to our fraternity is that we are no hazing and non- alcoholic. Any ideas in terms of recruiting?

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by jreyes

I'm a refounding brother for a fraternity of Phi Delta Theta on my campus. We are gearing up for Spring rush but we have no house or apartment to hold parties, dinners, or meetings. I guess the only thing that would appeal students to our fraternity is that we are no hazing and non- alcoholic. Any ideas in terms of recruiting?

I'm not a dude, but I would come up with some more reasons for guys to want to rush you, aside from the fact that you are "non-hazing and non-alcoholic" (techinically, most orgs are these days).

What brings you together? What does your org stand for? What makes you stand out from the other fraternities? What makes you similar? Do the other groups have houses?

You can find places on campus to use for rush activities and meetings (there are plenty of orgs that don't have "real" space on campus and have to make do), and perhaps do a dinner "out" for guys you plan to bid. Are there any alumni who might offer his place for any events? Ask around, do some digging. These are common and solvable issues for many new or renewing colonies/chapters. Talk amongst yourselves and brainstorm. You are in college. You can handle these hurdles.

I am sure that there are other chapters of Phi Delta Theta that don't have houses. Can you reach out to them? An adviser or alumni?

[Kevin]

Rent restaurants/hotels/bars or alternatively, if you live in an area where it's possible, a good bonfire/campout is always appreciated.

[acedawg00-02]

Perhaps you have older members in the community who are also part of the Elks Lodge, Moose or Shriner's.

We allow the undergraduate chapter here to use our Elk lodge from time-to-time...as long as they don't get too carried away.

You never know until you ask...

[FSUZeta]

Originally Posted by acedawg00-02

Perhaps you have older members in the community who are also part of the Elks Lodge, Moose or Shriner's.

We allow the undergraduate chapter here to use our Elk lodge from time-to-time...as long as they don't get to carried away.

You never know until you ask...

what a great idea acedawg!

in addition there might a nice room/suite on campus, such as one sport boosters or alumni who give vast amounts of $$ to the college might be entertained in, that would be available to student groups for a nominal fee.

do you have a buffalo wild wings or something comparable in your town? that might be a fun place to hold an event-especially if you hold it during an exciting sport event. any local alums with impressive houses who would let you all hold a bar-b-que at their house?

as for your meetings, you should contact someone on your campus in the buildings/reservations department to reserve a room for weekly meetings. try to set it up so that you meet in the same room every week-or however often you will be meeting for you business/education meetings. if one of the brothers lives in an apartment, he might be able to reserve the clubhouse, if it is not cost prohibitive.

[jreyes]

I'll definitely check it out ! Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I definitely like the Elks lodge idea.

[PhiTubbs]

yes, go out and hold rush events such as a night out with potential new members. anywhere is fine. buffalo wild wings,bowling, etc. and the posts above were correct, you can usually find somewhere on campus to hold meetings.. i also suggest a recruitment slide show or video. incorporate the 3 principle's of phi delta theta, and also include how going phi delt could make u a better person, as it did all the famous phis that we have today.

[atoheadlines]

A majority of schools don't have housing for Greek organizations and they do just fine, why don't you use the meeting rooms in the Union on campus or use the recreation center on campus for your event?

[sydney bristow]

Originally Posted by jreyes

I'll definitely check it out ! Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I definitely like the Elks lodge idea.

Not sure if this is even done at other schools, but at UK a lot of unhoused fraternities rush out of different sorority houses. Since rush week is only like 5 or so days and in the evening it's not usually a problem plus you get lots of sorority girls there for the free food!

I'm curious, is this done at other schools too?

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by sydney bristow

Not sure if this is even done at other schools, but at UK a lot of unhoused fraternities rush out of different sorority houses. Since rush week is only like 5 or so days and in the evening it's not usually a problem plus you get lots of sorority girls there for the free food!

I'm curious, is this done at other schools too?

You might like this.

Kentucky Fraternities use Sorority House for Rush

[sydney bristow]

Originally Posted by TSteven

You might like this.

Kentucky Fraternities use Sorority House for Rush

Ahhh very interesting!

[Bulldawgs76]

What School are you trying to refound at? Im a Phi Delt Brother at Jacksonville University in Florida. We went ice skating, went to a pool hall and smoked hooka and ate wings and it was extremely reasonable(idk what your budget is), and had a call of duty tournament in our chapter room but you could easily have it in a couple of dorm rooms.

[ScarletBlueGold]

FIJI just recently expanded at our University. For a school with 15,000 students they managed to get a pledge class of 32 guys (average chapter size is about 30-40), and they did it while only holding 2 actual events.

Most of their recruitment was done one-on-one at a local coffee shop or restaurant. It was pretty incredible. You should consider talking to your national office and ask them how they manage to expand chapters without a house.