The Death of Greek Life... You're Next

[GrkAlmSpclist]

While sitting in my office at work, I felt a draft though no windows were open. I didn't think much of it and continued my work. Upon feeling the draft again, I got up and checked out what it was. When I wrapped my head around the corner, I saw something so terrifying, so devastating, so mortifying that I could not bear to watch. What was it I saw you ask? It was the death of Greek life…

Dramatic? Possibly

True? Definitely

Chapters across the nation are stressed because of their finances, struggling with recruitment, and scared about the future of their organization. Though there may be thousands of chapters across the USA – all of these struggling chapters have one thing in common… little alumni involvement!

Now what the hell does alumni involvement have to do with finances, recruitment, and the future of the organization? Short answer is everything. Longer answer will be easier if we attack it by parts.

The first is finances: this one should be obvious. You’re probably really happy when a few alumni donate $50 to your chapter right? Well stop it. Don’t be happy about mediocrity! You have a database of 1000 living alumni and you’re thrilled about raising a couple hundred bucks from about 5 guys? You should be getting AT LEAST 100 of those guys to donate $100 a piece – that’s an extra $10,000 for your chapter. Now the couple hundred dollars that your raised doesn't seem so great does it? The first thing you have to realize is that you shouldn't fundraise yourself because it’s going to be way too much work for not a lot of results.

There two phases to this whole fundraising thing: the annual fund and the campaign. The annual fund gets your alumni involved (I suggest a company like *** because they have a “risk-free” option that doesn't make you pay a dime out of your pocket for the program). This first step is vital if you plan on ever having a campaign. The second, as I said, is the campaign (I suggest ***; they have been in the business for many years and are definitely the masters of Greek fundraising campaigns in my opinion). These campaigns can raise you anywhere from $500,000 - $10 million depending on how many alumni you have, how long you build alumni relations through your annual fund, and how good of a job *** does for you during your campaign.

All of this finances talk takes me to the next part – recruitment. If your chapter had a couple million dollars laying around for renovations, could you do a lot of work to improve your house? Of course you could! Recruits love a nice house and these campaigns can help you do that. Along with that, the annual fund will make the alumni closer to the chapter. A closer alumni base means better networking which means more job opportunities for undergrads! Which, especially in this job market, undergrads want to see if they’re going to join your organization.

Both of these things tie into the future of your organization. Without money and a good recruitment, your house will be next… Your house will be the next victim in this trend of dying organizations. Don’t be another statistic. Grow your alumni relations program and build your organization so it can reach its full potential!

Together, we can stop the death of Greek life