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  #1  
Old 04-03-2011, 10:38 PM
prettyv prettyv is offline
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Over programming

Our campus has a (as it's been described) "small but vibrant" Greek life. It's not large, but it's not small either. We're growing quite rapidly, we've recently colonized a new sorority, and they're expecting quota to keep increasing.

One problem that we're experiencing now with the chapters all growing, and our Greek system growing, is everyone is feeling more stressed out and over-programmed. Especially March. March has been traditionally the month where Greek Week is held, it's where a lot of the big signature philanthropy events are scheduled and it's also hell-month for most students (midterms at the beginning, papers at the end.) As a result, our philanthropy events are actually getting LESS people out to them than previous years, as people are too stressed to even come. We're making similar money, but there's a lot more: "Hey, sorry, XYZ can't submit a team this year, but here's a registration fee anyway."

Now, considering our Greek system is still significantly smaller than most campuses, we're clearly approaching this the wrong way. A couple of suggestions that have been made:

1. Having "blackout" weekends, so only one Greek event can happen per weekend.
- Cons to this, are that some chapters then will have to throw together their philanthropies in February, where most elections occur in November/December. It's a really small amount of time to throw together an event, and no organization wants to volunteer to put it together so fast.

2. "Teaming up" to do philanthropy events.
- Cons: This seems like we'd make less money, as people probably wouldn't submit double the teams/pay double the money. Plus then, who's going to absorb whose events?

How do campuses with 2/3 times the chapters deal with this? Our chapter has about 20 GLOs, with roughly 70 members a piece (some being significantly smaller, not many being significantly larger.)
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  #2  
Old 04-03-2011, 10:55 PM
AGDee AGDee is offline
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In all honesty, I've never been a fan of philanthropy events that end up with GLOs just writing a check to other GLOs (even if they do participate in the event). If each one just took the money they pay to all the other GLOs, it probably adds up to just what they end up making for their own Foundation/philanthropy, which makes no sense to me. I would rather see events that draw in other people on campus or people in the community. For example, one chapter I know of had a big chili cook off in a common area on campus. Local restaurants came in and served chili, people paid a fee to taste the chilis and voted on them. The local restaurants benefited because it was good advertising for their businesses. I also like things that can be sold to anybody on campus, such as a calendar related to local things or the campus.

I just think the Greek orgs get too dependent on each other and keep it too closed with the types of events you're describing.

As for the issue of having it earlier in the term, why don't some groups do theirs in the fall? That would give the philanthropy chair a lot of time to plan. Alternatively, the event could be planned by the outgoing philanthropy chair. It's possible to plan something a few months in advance. Hopefully the people who are interested in taking that chair the next year would be on the committee for it anyway.
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  #3  
Old 04-03-2011, 11:22 PM
DeltaBetaBaby DeltaBetaBaby is offline
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We definitely spread out the philanthropy events, so there were a few every month throughout the fall AND spring.
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  #4  
Old 04-04-2011, 12:16 AM
aephi alum aephi alum is offline
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OK. The first thing to do is to reschedule Greek Week. My school's Greek Week was in early October, a week or two before midterms. Midterms happen when they happen, and the greek community has to work around that.

Each sorority at my school holds one major fundraiser/philanthropy event per year. Panhel ensures no two sororities' fundraisers coincide with each other or with midterms/finals weeks. Back in the day (I'm not sure what is done now) sororities would sell house tickets to any GLO based on size (e.g. a GLO with under 30 members paid one price, 31-60 members paid a higher price, 61+ members paid a still higher price - and if you were in a GLO that had purchased a house ticket, you got in without having to pay extra - the money from the house ticket came out of the GLO's budget). Typically, every sorority purchased house tickets to every other sorority's major fundraiser, and whoever went, went. And whoever went usually wore letters, as a way of saying (e.g.) "AEPhi members are here in support of Late Night with Sigma Kappa!"

Two groups could also team up and hold two events, one in the fall and one in the spring. You'd get 2 groups' manpower for each event and split the take, and since you'd be holding two events, you'd get two events' worth of income for your philanthropies.
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  #5  
Old 04-04-2011, 12:47 PM
adpiucf adpiucf is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by prettyv View Post
. A couple of suggestions that have been made:

1. Having "blackout" weekends, so only one Greek event can happen per weekend.
- Cons to this, are that some chapters then will have to throw together their philanthropies in February, where most elections occur in November/December. It's a really small amount of time to throw together an event, and no organization wants to volunteer to put it together so fast.

2. "Teaming up" to do philanthropy events.
- Cons: This seems like we'd make less money, as people probably wouldn't submit double the teams/pay double the money. Plus then, who's going to absorb whose events?
It is really easy. You plan your philanthropy events a year in advance, and get them on the calendar for next school the year prior. Officers transition one another, so they execute the event planned by their predecessor, and plan the event that will be executed by the next person elected. Meet as an e-board to select some dates that will work for next year, and get the chapter to vote on it. Submit it to your Panhellenic and they should immediately put it on their master calendar and alert the other orgs of the updated calendar. Ideally, Panhellenic should meet to plan a master calendar before the end of the school year.

Teaming up is a fun way to interact with other greeks and make new friends. Just make sure any money your org submits is submitted through your national HQ's foundation so your chapter gets credit through your organization. You discuss in advance who you want to invite to cohost your event. Rather than being absorbed, it is a 50/50 partnership.

It is dumb to plan things for the same day-- if two orgs have events on the same day, you are cannibalizing one another's efforts anyway and losing participants/money
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Last edited by adpiucf; 04-04-2011 at 12:50 PM.
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  #6  
Old 04-04-2011, 01:20 PM
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honeychile honeychile is offline
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Rule #1 of Successful Fundraising: Never cannabalize your own group.

Put simply, the targets should be outsiders. Outside the Greek Community, maybe even outside the campus. I absolutely hate the "canning" that various groups do to raise money, but at least it's not coming out of the pockets of the GLOs.
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  #7  
Old 04-04-2011, 01:24 PM
DubaiSis DubaiSis is offline
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As your panhellenic/IFC continues to grow, you need to schedule in conjunction with each other. And you should really consider moving at least your chapter's philanthropy to the fall. You can't control everyone, but you can change your own group, at least to START to alleviate the problem. Besides, it's a great activity to jump start your new members in philanthropy.

And do consider the advice to spread your charity to non-Greek groups. If you're all going to trade checks, you can just skip it and write a check to yourself.
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