national to local

[elpresidente]

i've been reading various posts in this thread and i haven't been able to find any answers to a quesiton that i've had for a while now. how hard is it for a national organization to return to its local roots? my sorority has had many problems with our national organization, and we're thinking about relinquishing our charter. any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

[Corbin Dallas]

One thing you want to make sure of is that you aren't stepping on alumni's toes. I'm sure many of your alums worked very hard to affiliate with the national, and might get really ticked if you throw that away. Get alumni input on the situation. If they're for it...go for it.

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Steve Corbin
Lambda Chi Alpha
Theta Kappa Chapter
Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech.

[shadokat]

First of all, I don't know why anyone would want to go back to being local after going through the processes involved with chartering nationally. Maybe the problem isn't your entire sorority, but the group that's there now. Alums will probably be slightly pissed, especially founders, who worked very hard to get the charter. Maybe just hang in with the national until those who aren't enjoying the national leave. I would really advise against this though...not that being in a local isn't great, but after going through colonization and chartering, it just seems silly to go back.

[33girl]

Originally posted by elpresidente:
i've been reading various posts in this thread and i haven't been able to find any answers to a quesiton that i've had for a while now. how hard is it for a national organization to return to its local roots? my sorority has had many problems with our national organization, and we're thinking about relinquishing our charter. any thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

Yeah, you DEFINITELY don't want to tick the alumnae off. If they are 100% against this I would drop the idea. Ask for their support in dealing with whatever problems you are having with the national.

If it is a problem with the new alcohol and rush policies, just remember EVERYONE in NPC is in this boat - it's not just you guys. Talk with the other sororities at your school and see if you can get some good ideas on how to work with it.

Are there other local sororities on the campus? If not, would the students, and more importantly the administration, accept the idea of a local sorority? (If yes, next question...)

Is this a recent problem, or are the bad relations with nationals something that has been going on for a LONG time, through several national councils and generations of sisters?

If the answer to that last one is yes, the actives and the alumnae need to sit down and have a THOROUGH discussion on all the pros and cons. Being local isn't perfect - being national isn't perfect - they each have their own sets of problems. Only you and your sisters can decide which set you would rather attempt to overcome.

[Aphigal]

You loose lot giving up national recognition.

If you are housed, you will lose that (because your alum house corp owns that). You will loose your ritual, and any ritual equipment. You will loose your insurance policy and those are very difficult for locals to get on their own. You will loose your rush support and rush ideas. Finally you will loose over 100 years of sisterhood and break a tradition and bond formed by your chapter for many years before you came to campus and became "elpresidente"

Sometimes the problem is not with the national orgination but with the one representative you are dealing with. Have you talked to your regional director, province person, collegiate membership person in the executive office, the executive dir etc. Exhaust all your resources in resolving the issue before you jump ship.

[elpresidente]

i feel like we have exhausted all options. this problem is not a new one; at least the past 6 exec councils have gotten the "shape up or ship out" letter from nationals. our alum support is very minimal, and they are just starting to come out of the woodwork now that they have heard there's a problem. our numbers are very low as well, and those of us in the house in leadership positions are tired of the constant struggle for every inch of progress we make.
i love my letters, but i love my sisters even more. we feel as if we are bonded even without being labeled with certain letters. we're starting to lose heart, and i'm not sure if we can ever regain that.
i appreciate the input given. i look forward to anything else y'all have to offer.

[LeslieAGD]

Elpresidente: do you have other chapters nearby that can give you some support? I know when I get mad at my chapter sisters or at IHQ, I like to talk to sisters from other chapters. It helps me to see that I'm not the only one who gets frustrated. Also, you always have us here on GC to rant and rave to.

[Tom Earp]

You did not say if you are a NPC, but I beleive once you are an initiated member, unless you are expelled, you are a member for life and no other NPC will take you in. I may be wrong but I feel I am right on that statememt. If you start your own local so be it, but you as an individual will never become a member of another National if your local so desires to affiliate.

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Tom Earp LX Z#1
Pittsburg State U. (Kansas)

[33girl]

El presidente - when your nationals said "shape up or ship out" did they send anyone to help with problems, like a consultant or team to help get rush numbers up? Also, are the alums coming forward willing to help out for the long term?

The collegians, the alumnae, and the national organization ALL have to work together for a chapter to be successful. Eliminate constructive help from any of those 3 factors and the chapter will have problems.

Email me, if you want (my addy is in my profile).

Re possibly losing your house - this only happens if a nationally sponsored housing corp owns it which not all do. Many houses at small schools are owned by independent landlords and have nothing to do with housing corporations.

[James]

If you would let us know the problems you are having we might have some more useful suggestions for you.

Also, what Aphigal said is very true, you might only be having problems with a few memmbers of the National organization, or your problems may be exagerated because your local reps aren't either helping/representing you correctly.

And if that is true it would be a shame to vindicate incompetents.

As far as going back to your local roots, you don't have to do anything as severe as disaffiliation, have a meeting where the minutes are recorded and vote to give up your charter . . . you'll need to send the minutes of the meeting and the recorded vote to your National OFfice.

But before you do I would call your National OFfice and tell them how far you are willing to go and see if you can't work out some of your difficulties.

[elpresidente]

our problems are the same ones many other chapters of every GLO can sometimes run into: low numbers, poor attendance, and financial problems.

with the exception of our faculty advisors, we are pretty much on our own. our alum don't contribute much, if anything. they come back to party at homecoming, but that's about the extent of it.

our national HQ send us maybe one officer a year, and our last visit was pretty unproductive. there's aren't many other chapters close to us that can realte to the problems we're having. they are at large, state schools and we are at a small, private college.

i think a big problem is we feel like we've all reaches the ends of both our individual and collective ropes. we pour our heart and soul into keeping the house afloat, and then we get told we've "made no progress". it's disheartening.

basically, at this point, we're trying to make sure we have all of our options explored

[Pike4Life]

My chapter went through something similar several years ago. It is truly disheartening and frustrating when you put so much blood, sweat and tears into something, only to see it go down the tubes. I definately feel for you.

However, I do not think disassociating from your national will be a cure-all. Those problems you mentioned - low numbers, less participation, financial problems -- will still be there whether you are national or local. Simply going from national to local will not be a panacea.

Basically it boils down to gut check time...get all members together for an "emergency" meeting and SERIOUSLY ask each and every one of them "Are you with us or against us." These people need to do some major soul searching and decide to either get on the train or stay in the station...in other words either they are going to put all their efforts, skills and abilities into making this chapter better, or they are going to RESIGN. Dead weight does nothing but bring you down...forget the fact that these people are your friends and sisters, and decide that either they contribute to the fullest in all aspects (financial, participation, etc.) or they leave. That means that if they can't pay, they can't play.

Second, I would make a LOUD and CLEAR cry for help to ALL your alumni. Tell them candidly that the chapter is on the verge of closing and that you desperately need their help and support to get things on the right track. You may see if Headquarters has a list of former Presidents or other officers that you can contact personally. Those alumni often are some of the first to offer assistance because of their direct connection with the chapter's history. Alumni can be amazingly effective and receptive when they are contacted by a fellow alumni rather than a student...sometimes all it takes in just ONE alumni to really get involved and start drumming up support from her circle of alumni friends.

And I think you are wrong about the nearby chapters assisting you. Just because they are at a larger school doesn't mean they don't experience the same type problems. You have to "think outside the box"...maybe one of these other chapters has a different approach to recruitment that may benefit you guys because no one else at your school does it that way; or maybe they have an incredibly successfull fundraising program that you can copy. Getting assistance from a successful chapter may inspire your girls and allow them to see "what could be" if they really work at it. Regardless of what type of school these chapters are at, you are all still sisters...and who knows, they may be experiencing the same type problems with the HQ staff as you, OR they may have a HQ staff member "favorite" that they can contact for help. Plus sometimes just getting a different opinion from a different point of view can shed some light on something you may be overlooking.

As far as finances go, you may need to cut back on spending on some programming in order to same some money. At one time, my chapter was nearly $40,000 in debt to HQ and other creditors. We cut spending on rush, socials, athletics, and special events to the bare bones -- which is hard because your members won't want to contribute if they don't feel like they are getting anything back. Also, try and have some low-cost, but fun, fund raisers -- such as car washes.
If possible, contact those alumni that may have left school (graduated) with a balance with the chapter and ask if they can pay now. But the main thing is to have your treasurer religiously squirrl away any and all extra money you come across to help deal with the debt.

You are in a tough position, no doubt about that. And just to let you know what eventually happened to my chapter. Continued behavioral problems prompted the Univ. to suspend the chapter off campus, the HQ decided at that point to pull the charter due to the suspension, behavioral problems and continued debt. However, a group of members did form a local group that existed for four years until the national was allowed to come back on campus to recolonize. The local group then became part of the new colony. The efforts by the HQ staff to colonize are sometimes more agressive.

Good luck with things! I hope some of these ideas help!

[shadokat]

elpresidente--

I agree that going back to being a local won't solve the problems you seem to be experiencing. Are other chapters at your school experiencing low numbers, or is it an individual chapter problem?

Poor attendance comes from poor morale. Not hard to figure out. What incentives do members have to attend? If everyone's pretty negative, nobody is going to want to hang out and work towards these goals of betterment.

As for poor finances, can you not collect dues?? Are your low numbers forcing you to have to pay bigger bills to your national, which you feel pressured by? Maybe the national can set up a payment plan...

You can certainly email me if you'd like. I have worked with numerous chapters in your situation, and many have turned things around.

[elpresidente]

thank you all for the suggestions and ideas. i'm going on vacation, and i'll be back in the beginning of august. i'm going to talk to some of my council members about the ideas i've gathered, but i'm sure i'll be back for more help. i appreciate all of you taking the time to post. it's good to know that the old saying "despite the letter, we're all greek together" really is true.

[damasa]

Well...i'd like to put my two pennies on the dollar in on this one. I've heard a few suggestions saying that it would be silly after colonization and chartering as a national bo go back to a local. I don't think it is silly, it may be for the better of an org. My fraternity was at one time a national, well, two nationals, we broke off of Phi Sigma Kappa in the late 60's due to many problems with the national council. We changed our name to Phi Sigma, and a few years later we joined another national, Phi Simga Delta, which ended up failing and and the remaining chapters joined ZBT. At this point, many of the members had enough of being nationally affiliated, so they were given permission to keep the PSD name and we have remained as a local ever since. It is not as hard as people mention for a local to get insurance, this is a big myth that I often hear, and it is in no way true. BUT, it can be a great financial issue for a local to deal with, and w/ struggling numbers it can be hard. As for losing rituals and rights and etc...those are just that..rituals...things that can be changed/altered if a national becomes a local. If you break off from a national..that doesn't mean you will automatically lose your house, if the national has helped in funding the house, than yes, but if the alum corp of your chapter owns the house, and they receive no funding for the house, and they are for the move to go local, than obviously, you will not lose your house. Going local means cheaper dues, no conclaves, travel and othe expenses to pay for. Local means you do not have to answer to the rules in which your chapter did not decide upon. AND just because you are a local, does not make you more capable of hazing and abusing alcohol and giving other greek orgs a bad rep<-----indeed, another misconception I hear about too too often.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to being a local or a national, but there are things a chapter must do in order to stay above the water.