Recruiting for an off campus fraternity

[dwaynecon]

Ok guys, so 9 friends and I refounded the TKE colony at IU, and I was wondering if you guys had any ideas on how to get new recruitments when we do not have a house. The guys that we got interested dropped because a house wasn't in our future just yet. Any ideas?

[Gamma Xi Phi]

http://phideltblog.com/2009/11/12/re...er-not-harder/

[33girl]

New recruitments? Don't you mean new pledges?

You need to look for men who are interested in being part of something new but who aren't just interested in a fraternity for the sake of housing. Skip looking at freshmen for now - concentrate on sophomores, juniors and even seniors.

Also, I know it's IU parlance but avoid referring to yourself as an "off-campus" fraternity. It makes it sound like it might be something not sanctioned or approved by the school and this might put some possible members off. You're a colony...period. Very few colonies have houses from the jump.

[AnchorAlumna]

What 33Girl said.
Plus, go for quantity - invite as many men as possible to parties, but don't just put an invitation on a Facebook page. Call your friends. Ask them when you see them in person. Once you ask, call to remind them, maybe even offer to pick them up.
And don't just invite your friends. Chat a little with people in class and invite them.
Also....call Buckwheat. If you don't know what I mean, you aren't a TKE!!

[IUHoosiergirl88]

It's going to be an uphill battle without the promise or potential for a house. I know many guys in unhoused fraternities, and you have to find the guys that want that experience. Most of them, unfortunately, are likely already interested in those more established chapters.

[Kevin]

So they rechartered you at 9? It's going to be a tough road to break into the 20s or 30s or higher, but it can definitely be done. Doesn't TKE offer something in terms of helping you set up a recruitment plan? Is there any kind of officer training program? Do they give you officer manuals? Believe it or not, those are some great resources. Setting up a successful recruitment plan is something I think would take a lot more effort and energy than getting advice on an internet forum.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

What 33Girl said.
Plus, go for quantity - invite as many men as possible to parties,

That sounds like a hell of a quick way to get caught up in RM issues. Not to mention the fact that as an unhoused fraternity, you're not likely to get the greatest members in the first place, but if your focus is on men who only come around for the party, your organization, no matter what the size is not going to be quality.

Imagine, you have nine members and end up with a party with 60 drunk and mostly underage people there... what could possibly go wrong?

[33girl]

She meant "party" in the "NPC rush party" sense.

And he didn't say they were rechartered - they're still a colony. Considering that we've had TKEs on here before complaining that their HQ wouldn't let them charter when they had the same amount of members as the rest of the chapters, when that number was under TKE's minimum, I doubt very much they are going to let them charter with less than a dozen at someplace as huge as IU. They definitely should be getting lots more help and hand-holding from their HQ.

[sieghart]

At one point, the colony I was apart of fell to 4 members. In that school year we brought in 42 new guys and got our charter the following school year & a house.

It's hard, I'm not going to lie. There were a lot of time I wanted to quit and give it up, but we lucked out. We got in contact with our alumni and they found some sons of alums that were Freshman. Once we had a few Freshman, we exploded, we recruited off the freshman in the dorms, in the dc, in classes, etc.

To Freshman, we sold them the idea that this was going to be a Fraternity they were creating and not just apart of (I'm assuming, you mean you're looking for a Founding class?) They get to create the traditions, they get to shape the Fraternity in their image. It's a lot of work for Freshman, but by the time they hit their Senior year, if they work hard, they'll be reaping the rewards and if your alums do a housing corporation or something, they'll probably be the first members of the house. Recruiting without a house is hard, but not impossible, especially if you have all the benefits of the Founding class.

Try and go from there?

[TkeRush]

Hey, in the first place you are going to get very little from this forum. If you want some more extensive help send me a private message and I can help you guys set up stuff. I am Rush Chair for a Top Recruiting TKE Chapter and I can give you the basics: use what you have as a strength, women always help recruit, look for TKE alumni in the region to help you expand, make friends don't recruit members, focus on meeting people not having the coolest events, small cheap events in the dorms are a good way to meet members who normally wouldn't go out for recruitment, there are a ton of things like this you can do to get more members. Honestly i can't help you too much unless i know your NIC/IFC rules, your chapters goals, and alot of other details. I can tell you that 7 years ago our chapter had 9 guys now we are part of the big four on campus. We still have a small property, no money, little alumni support, and are on a small campus, but we are nationally ranked for recruitment and we out recruited chapters twice our size, with massive properties and long histories on our campus. You guys can do it. I have a meeting with Buckwheat set up so I can bring up you guys to him and maybe he can help. Having a TKE chapter at Indiana would be a tremendous addition to the fraternity as a whole!

[PhiAlpha05]

I'm not too well versed on establishing a fraternity colony, but just a thought for philanthropy/recruitment events--maybe partner up with the TPA and ASA girls, since they've recently colonized and could potentially give some advice?