National Numbers of AI per year

[AOIIsilver]

I have been wondering...for those groups that have AI, how many does your national have in a year?

NOT OFFICIAL....but I think that AOII on average has around 8-9-10 per year.

Silver

Edited to emphasize that this is NOT official info....

[shadokat]

This isn't official, but I think in the last year, we have 2? We will have 2 more at Convention. Our number is very small.

[Sister Havana]

While we're on this subject...do the organizations in general have an AI quota? None of the groups I'm looking at say anything about it on their websites and the person from Airedale headquarters didn't mention it, but I'm just curious if many groups have a policy that they will have no more than X number of AIs nationwide per year.

[AOIIsilver]

I have never heard of an AI quota....good question...Cutie, ideas?

AOII does not have an AI quota.
In asking the question about AI numbers, I was just seeing where each group stood with numbers in general. Just curious and I thought seeing that AI is possible and is done would encourage some PNAMs.

(Is PNAMs the term GC'ers decided upon??).

AOII has initiated over 900 AI since the turn of the previous century. (Hence, where I got 8-10 per year on average.) AI are in all aspects of the fraternity including serving at Past International Presidents (PIPs, I love that term! )

Check out the article in our To Dragma about AI. in the fall 2002 issue.

Roses,
Silver

[GPhiBLtColonel]

I don't know any specific numbers of AIs that Gamma Phi Beta does per year but I do know that there are no "quotas" or limits on how many AIs can be done.
We do "special" AIs at convention every other year; in 2002 at our Washington DC convention, it seemed like there were quite a few AIs perhaps 8? At our Chicago convention this June, there will only be 4 AIs done -- they have started putting a limit on how many special convention AIs are going to be done from now on, because otherwise, it all goes on way too long and the Pink Carnation banquet gets pushed back or there is not enough time to get dressed for it!
Gamma Phi Beta is generally very supportive of AI...I have personally helped 10 women become members of Gamma Phi Beta -- three from GreekChat!

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by AOIIsilver
I have never heard of an AI quota....good question...Cutie, ideas?

Hi...No, I have never heard of AI quota, but a great question, Sister Havana! This is because from the NPC perspective, quota is calculated based on the no#. of collegian women going through recruitment (rush), therefore, the term "quota" is not really applicable in the case of AI.

As for an AI quota, NPC sororities are based on the principle that of mutual selection, that is, collegian women mutually select other collegian women. (this is so that the alumnae are not dictating to the collegiate chapter as to who they feel should be bid; not that it doesn't happen at times).

So, I don't think that we will see an AI "quota" anytime soon -- rather AIs are individually selected & mutually selected on a case by case basis, and based on whether the sorority feels that the individual would be willing to support the collegiate and/or alumnae chapter.

[honeychile]

Silver, I was just asking a friend who is involved with AI for Alpha Delta Pi. She said that 10 a year would be nothing less than shocking - it's an honor reserved for the truly worthy.

We do have a special chapter designation for AI, though - Omega Alpha.

[aopirose]

IMHO, if individual chapters were doing more then 10 AIs per year, I would raise an eyebrow. I would wonder where all these women were coming from if they were not AOII mothers or alumnae from an absorbed local. I would want to evaluate if this is good and if it were, I would adopt some of those techniques. However, if an organization is doing more then 10 AIs per year, that doesn’t ring my bell. I feel certain that in the whole wide world of non-collegiate adult women that that there are thousands worthy of being AOIIs. We need to find our “Sisters without Badges”.

[MelodyCat]

Alpha Phi also has a special chapter designation for AIs, which is Alpha Lambda.

I don't think we have an AI quota, but I don't know where I'd check for that. Where was the site you mentioned, ariesrising?

[AOIIsilver]

Hey, AOPirose (Roses to you),

Oh, dear, I think you must have misinterpretted of my post. So sorry. Let me try to be more clear. My typing fingers don't always write what my mind is thinking.

As I mentioned in my post, I just roughly divided the number of total AI's done in the history of the whole fraternity (about 900) by the number of years that the fraternity has been doing AI (In theory, less than 107 because the first AI was not done in the very first years of the fraternity).

8-10 AI per year is, therefore, just a ROUGH, UNOFFICIAL number for the whole fraternity.

And, yes, I agree that figuring the average number of AI per year by doing that type of oversimplified calculation would probably be skewed by either
a) years that chapter colonizations occurred
or
b) several mothers/family members were inducted at once.

I also suspect, but do not know for sure, that there have been more AI's in this previous decade than others.

Make sense?

Sorry to have such a poopy calculation method, but I could not think of a better way to state what I thinking....So sorry to have caused confusion. My husband thinks that I am HIGHLY gifted at causing confusion...

I tee-totally agree that there are more than 10 women in the US and Canada that would make GREAT AOII's or members of ANY of the organizations. (Gotta love the term: "Sisters Without Badges")

So this raises a question....How do we find them? I feel that most women have NO idea that AI exists.

Roses,
Silver

[AOIIalum]

Originally posted by AOIIsilver
So this raises a question....How do we find them? I feel that most women have NO idea that AI exists.

That's easy

1. When a chapter colonizes, offer alumna initiation to those mothers and campus/community leaders who may qualify. I hesitate to use the term "worthy" but for a lack of a better term, those women who have supported and helped the colony become a chapter are ideal candidates. I may be wrong, but I have been told in the past that Pi Beta Phi does this and I think that's awesome (and if I'm wrong, please PM me so I can edit my comment on Pi Phi!)

2. If your sorority absorbs a local, naturally invite those local alumnae to join your NPC group (if rules and such allow!)

3. Offer alumna initiation to those chapter mothers and campus leaders who support the collegiate chapter on an active, positive, and continuing basis.

4. Finally, to my alumnae sisters in all sororities--do you have a friend who very well may be a "sister without a badge"? Well, remember all those years of rush workshops? Of course you do (although now it's recruitment and not rush!) First you make a friend, and we all have lots of friends, right? Next, introduce her to your friends, who just happen to be your sorority sisters! We all know the drill

This may be too simplistic, but sometimes simple is good.

[dakareng]

Originally posted by AOIIsilver

I tee-totally agree that there are more than 10 women in the US and Canada that would make GREAT AOII's or members of ANY of the organizations. (Gotta love the term: "Sisters Without Badges")

So this raises a question....How do we find them? I feel that most women have NO idea that AI exists.

It comes down to recruiting the way our founders recruited. One at a time. How do our chapters find COB members? They look to women on their floor, in their classes. The women that I have known as PI Phi AI that did not have a family connection or had previously pledged but never initiated knew a Pi Phi through employment or other volunteer activities. It may not be fashionable in all parts of the country but we need to discuss our afflilations. If you find unaffiliated women, talk to them... see if that is something they'd want to do. Yes, some women will come to us, but sometimes we'll need to go to them.

I think all GLOs that have formal policies allowing (encouraging) AI have published something recently or are communicating with their members. Yes, some groups will facilitate the process if someone calls HQ, and some do not. At some point, perhaps NPC will step in and serve as an overall information center telling potential AI what to do and who to call, but that has not happened yet. Unless your organization will conduct an AI without any input of any member, it still boils down to who do you know, who can you contact. The women who frequent this board have found a wonderful resource here but again, they all knew that AI was a possibility.

Word of mouth is a wonderful thing! We need to toot our own horns!

[dakareng]

Originally posted by AOIIalum


1. When a chapter colonizes, offer alumna initiation to those mothers and campus/community leaders who may qualify. I hesitate to use the term "worthy" but for a lack of a better term, those women who have supported and helped the colony become a chapter are ideal candidates. I may be wrong, but I have been told in the past that Pi Beta Phi does this and I think that's awesome (and if I'm wrong, please PM me so I can edit my comment on Pi Phi!)

2. If your sorority absorbs a local, naturally invite those local alumnae to join your NPC group (if rules and such allow!)

3. Offer alumna initiation to those chapter mothers and campus leaders who support the collegiate chapter on an active, positive, and continuing basis.

4. Finally, to my alumnae sisters in all sororities--do you have a friend who very well may be a "sister without a badge"? Well, remember all those years of rush workshops? Of course you do (although now it's recruitment and not rush!) First you make a friend, and we all have lots of friends, right? Next, introduce her to your friends, who just happen to be your sorority sisters! We all know the drill

This may be too simplistic, but sometimes simple is good.

You are correct. Pi Phi will offer AI to women who are interested in advising a chapter (not necessarily a new colony). I knew of several situations where the daughter was initiating the mother... and if my mother had gone to college, she might have been offered AI (our province officer was going to nominate her when I was a collegiate member). Having attended college is the one absolute requirement to be a Pi Beta Phi AI

[aopirose]

Silver, I understood your first post completely and I think that it is fine. My post was in response to honeychile’s friend’s comment. I am sorry that I wasn’t clear but I didn’t want to put HC on the defensive. She was just passing along a comment.

Originally posted by AOIIsilver
Hey, AOPirose (Roses to you),

Oh, dear, I think you must have misinterpretted of my post. So sorry. Let me try to be more clear. My typing fingers don't always write what my mind is thinking.

As I mentioned in my post, I just roughly divided the number of total AI's done in the history of the whole fraternity (about 900) by the number of years that the fraternity has been doing AI (In theory, less than 107 because the first AI was not done in the very first years of the fraternity).

8-10 AI per year is, therefore, just a ROUGH, UNOFFICIAL number for the whole fraternity.

And, yes, I agree that figuring the average number of AI per year by doing that type of oversimplified calculation would probably be skewed by either
a) years that chapter colonizations occurred
or
b) several mothers/family members were inducted at once.

I also suspect, but do not know for sure, that there have been more AI's in this previous decade than others.

Make sense?

Sorry to have such a poopy calculation method, but I could not think of a better way to state what I thinking....So sorry to have caused confusion. My husband thinks that I am HIGHLY gifted at causing confusion...

I tee-totally agree that there are more than 10 women in the US and Canada that would make GREAT AOII's or members of ANY of the organizations. (Gotta love the term: "Sisters Without Badges")

So this raises a question....How do we find them? I feel that most women have NO idea that AI exists.

Roses,
Silver

[Jill1228]

I was looking thru some old school Alpha Phi Quarterly mags and I saw that when a chapter is installed, quite a few moms of members have been AI'd