Starting your own Fraternity

[omeganu]

I started my own Fraternity 7 years ago and so far things are going strong. We're looking to expand to new campuses since our Alpha chapter is really taking off. Has anybody else experienced something similar? Are you interested in starting your own Fraternity and aren't sure how? Our 'model' lets each chapter run as an independent business entity or student group subscribing to our common by-laws and ritual. We meet four times a year and give every member - alumni and active - an equal say in the direction of the Fraternity.

Thoughts?

[REE1993]

You might want to check out a few things that I found on your site. www.omeganualpha.org

In your creed, the word "gentleman" seems like it should read "gentlemEn.

Also, your manuals are for sale online, via CafePress. Anyone can just buy the materials instead of following your chartering process. You might want to change that.

You might want to explain a little further (on your site) how/why you are the fraternity "of the future". It seems like you are offering a "fraternity in a box", yet steering away from any governing body or HQ. Just be aware that if several groups with the same name are opering differently, with different tax liabilities and legal designations, you might run into some problems.

Under "Recruitment", it reads "Sitting alone in your room doesn’t lead to many lasting memories of college. There are a variety of social activities that fraternity men become involved in. Intramural sports are a fun part of the fraternity experience. Whatever your skill, whatever your interest, there is a team for you to participate on."

Does this mean that your fraternity is about intramural sports?

These are just a few things that came to mind when I checked out your site. Good luck in your endeavours.

[omeganu]

Thanks for the input! I appreciate the feedback-

[Traviscope]

my college doesn't have any fraternities, so i am trying to get on started at my college, and i want to know how i should go about this?

please help!

[nittanyalum]

Originally Posted by omeganu

Thanks for the input! I appreciate the feedback-

Hi, and just to add a little bit to Ree's excellent feedback, I checked out your site and materials, it's all very interesting and your thoroughness is impressive (though I completely agree that having your officer materials available on a retail site is risky)...

But the message that is obviously the mainstay of the group right now is "don't JOIN a fraternity, start one." Which I certainly get as a "hook" to those interested in starting a colony. But what kind of follow-up information/support is there for the guys that start the colony who then need to go recruit and convince OTHER guys that they SHOULD "just join" a fraternity, in this case, Omega Nu Alpha? At a certain point, the group will be "just another fraternity" for other people to "join". So what's the group's distinguishing characteristics at that juncture? Why would someone want to join an existing colony/chapter of ONA versus other houses on campus? If the message coming out of the main website remains that it's not a good idea to "join" a fraternity, how will the ONA chapters grow?

Just something to think about and be ready to support your colonies through in the future. Continued success, though, starting something from the ground-up is never easy and you certainly have put a lot of work into it!

[omeganu]

Hi nittanyalum-

Good point! I agree it is easy to jazz up a group of guys when you're "starting something from scratch"...there is a level of pride that came along when we experienced success. Almost in a "holy crap...we did this!"

Even at our single chapter in Minneapolis, the trend is moving away from the "don't join a Fraternity...start one..." to "built by gentlemen...for gentlemen..."

(I just haven't made a new recruitment video yet!)

I feel strongly about having each chapter manage its own destiny...we've made a statement that a chapter will never be closed due to low membership. However I do own the company that operates our existing book of business and I've received a lot of input on how to take the operation out of the Twin Cities.

The simplest method I've heard is basically a "franchising" concept. Groups that subscribe to a corporate structure, code of conduct, etc. Like an owner of McDonalds...it's 'your' restaurant but you can't change the menu.

Thanks for responding

[Tom Earp]

First things first.

1. If you wish to expand, it needs to be schools in the proximity to the Founding chapter. Probably smaller schools.
2. Finding like ideas for possible new members to want to join in a new adventure.
3. Starting something new for them to want to start a new entity.
4. What is the current feelings of the current campus and students toward Greeks.
5. Starting something new is great for some new people, but why should they want to do that and not their own.
6. A set of rules or regulations that must be followed or problems will and can arise. Ideals as it were.
7. Some kind of central control to decide any issues that can and will come up from any possible new chapters.

It is a formidable task and from starting a new local, it is not easy and expanding even more so. What will make your organization any different that others is a big question.

When I started mine, it brought many guys who wanted either something new and start something and make a difference. But as you will progress, you wil find that you will fit in with existing GLOs as they have been doing it for a long time. Many things have already been done, found to be wrong and changed.

I wish you only the best of luck.

It will not be easy unless you have a hook to hang your cap on.

[omeganu]

Hi Tom-

Thanks for the pointers. I will have to admit in this thread that I was in a national Fraternity for three years. Faltering alumni finances and support, a deteriorating chapter house, and a final act of the city condemning the building delivered unrecoverable blows to our group. We were down to 9 members and the headquarters made the decision to pull our charter.

We were a dedicated group of guys, we worked hard and had a lot of momentum but no matter what we couldn't shake off the impact of the chapter's riotous haydays of the 80s. Damned with burden of the alumni having avoided taxes, a condemned chapter house, and everything against us it was a miracle that the 9 of us stayed together. But we did...and made a difficult decision to embrace our local bonds of friendship and deny the declaration made by our headquarters to take away our forum for brotherhood.

When we received word that our charter was revoked, five of us met that very evening. Amazingly our headquarters didn't take into account the fact that I'd already lined up a new chapter house to lease from another Fraternity who's group was no longer on campus, we were poised to move forward in a brand new chapter house.

Needless to say emotions ran high and as we sat down that evening, it became clear that the true meaning of brotherhood doesn't have to have a corporate identity to survive. The founders of our group understand intimately the similarities and differences we may have to other GLOs. I hope our niche will be a reinvention of how a Fraternity perceives brotherhood. Money, liability control, and a corporate structure are inevitabilities of any growing business....but our differentiator will hopefully be a reinvention of the marriage between brotherhood and business.

I believe that many national Fraternities have grown so large that business rises above brotherhood....and as we're moving into the expansion mode of our group, I try to be sensitive to that. I am sure that the founders of our countries largest Fraternities probably didn't envision the reality of how large they've all become...the hypocracies of their members with regards to alcohol, sex, and respect. In a way, my group both embraces and educates our members about the realities and responsibilities of being a college student. Our members know that without a traditional headquarters, they need to work a bit harder and pay more attention to the responsibilities of running an effective business.

If all goes well, this concept of involving the undergraduate with the business decisions of the organization at large will give our members a differentiator to other GLOs.

Thanks again for reading and responding!

[RosePike]

Reading this has peaked my interest. I am a member of Pike, a very large international GLO. My undergraduate chapter has consistently remained a "flagship" chapter. Nonetheless, they view Nationals almost solely as a business. However, on a chapter level we are much different. We handle the business end, but as a chapter we consistently fight to maintain the Fraternal Brotherhood. For example, instead of focusing on the number guys that we rush. Instead we focus on their outlook and potential. Their potential to become a better man, friend, and brother.

I find your ideas interesting and applaud your efforts. I hope that you make a true impact in the Fraternal world.

[Tom Earp]

RosePike brings up an interesting point.

I have seen it in many Groups where money becomes a major point. Well, actually it should be as GLOs are a business and should be run like one or go out of business. It does take a tremendous amount to afford to have a IHQ staff and field represenatives to make chapter visits.

The cost of doing business is very expensive, but to the point of losing sight of the values of what The Fraternities ideals are is many times lost. That is the sad part.

In the past, one of our Executive Directors told me that many National Fraternities were in financial straits and some may have to merge in the future.

Of course the last I beleive was PSE with PSK in 1985.

With the R M situations, their hands can be tied and their feet put to the fire.

That is because of chapters who do not follow the rules set out not just by the IHQs and never forget the members who vote on them.

[RosePike]

I agree that proper maintenance and care needs to be taken with respect to business ends of a Fraternity. I also am amused by several slogans suggesting a "return to values" or "what would your founders think". I understand the overarching goal is to chapters from running into financial or risk management blunders. However, I would think many National or International GLO's have evolved into something their founders never intended. I will use my Fraternity as an example. Our Preamble was written by our founders, thus it is truly their statement of purpose for the Fraternity. In regards to Pike it is as follows.

For the establishment of friendship on a firmer and more lasting basis;
for the promotion of brotherly love and kind feeling;
for the mutual benefit and advancement of the interests of those
with whom we sympathize and deem worthy of our regard;
We have resolved to form a Fraternity,
believing that, thus we can most successfully accomplish our object.

With the first line we see the Founders primary concern was developing relationships between the men that composed it's membership. In essence they want to go beyond what was socially acceptable at the time and truly dig into what made each other unique and enlightened men. Secondly, they wanted to form a sense of family and empathy amongst it's members. Lastly, they recognize the necessity of service to the community which they are a part of. They finish it with a charge to each and every brother to fulfill these purposes.

This is my personal interpretation of something that is typically memorized yet rarely analyzed. It is my belief that several of my Fraternities leaders have lost sight of this, yet send out the buggle call to return to the values firmly set at the organization's foundation. So the question I pose to this forum is what is the modern day purpose to the Fraternity?

[omeganu]

I like where the discussion is going! A return to ideals as the common thread of brotherhood is exactly what we're trying to achieve.

I can look across the table at numerous GLOs and see which ones seem to have struggles with finances, lawsuits, and demanding policies upon their chapters. As my group gets larger and expands, we'll have the same challenges too...which is why I'm trying to keep as much of the day to day operations and activities out of the bigger picture.

Let's say a "chapter" of the Red Hat Society gets together each Sunday to play bingo and drink wine while their husbands watch football. Let's say that Mabel forgets her glasses and was supposed to drive the group....or dare we even say that they drank some wine at the bingo hall and decided to drive home anyway.

God forbid something should happen to these twenty grandmas dressed in purple dresses and red hats....but if it did...who is liable?

The Red Hat Society, Inc? I doubt it...since that company formed itself AFTER the phenomenon of local ladies dressing up and painting the town 'red'...they saw an opportunity to bring structure to an existing fad. They don't "own" the chapters...nor do they carry direct liability to acknowledge one group apart from another.

Now they have established a network of businesses that they market to the ladies, they've created "official" chapter rules and regulations...but in the end (while they may have secured the legal rights to certain elements of the group), they are only a keeper of the keys - a guide to how to be in the society...more importantly, they don't make decisions on who leaves the society...only who joins.

I just think that's an interesting parallel....I try to draw ideas from that concept as my group begins to grow. I created the ideas, I provide the guidance, I hold the rights to the concepts, but the voice of the group at large directs the growth, reduction, and evolution of the society....and for each new colony that aspires to live up to the expectations (and challenges of being an independent chapter subscribing to my Fraternity), I am all for it.

Maybe I'm crazy!

[rav3n]

What are chapters? what are colonies? How do i pick a name? how do i set up admin and rules?

[rav3n]

I have 24 guys wanting to form a fraternity. but im not sure how to start my own?! so i need help.

[Tom Earp]

PM me and I will see if I can help you!