Why Join a Fraternity?



Undoubtedly, you are attending college to earn a specific degree or become qualified for graduate school. Is joining a fraternity essential to your attaining either of these goals? No, probably not. If these two things are the only goals you hope to attained during your college years, then read no further.

But if your goals include becoming a leader in your field of choice and an individual of great accomplishment, then joining a fraternity is something that could be beneficial to your college career.

Surely, you will learn a great many things in college; many of them you will keep with you throughout your adult life, as they certainly will come in handy time and time again. But, there are some things that just cannot be taught on a blackboard or absorbed by reading a textbook. Things like dealing with people, trouble-shooting problems, taking the lead and setting positive examples, and working together as a team are skills best learned either from those with experience, or through your own personal experiences. Fraternal life furnishes you with both avenues of learning, coupling the guidance of elders with the individual self-confidence earned through the maturing process of pledging.

Not only will the knowledge you gain in your fraternity experience stay with you all of your life, but so will the friends and contacts which you make in the brotherhood. The bond of brotherhood is a very unique kind of association, one that will last a lifetime; very few campus clubs or organizations can promise you that kind of longevity and commitment.

Fraternity life may not be for everyone. As was alluded to before, there will always be plenty of young men who go through school and come out four years later with a perfectly good college degree under their belt. But, there will always be those men who had the wisdom to that little extra with their educational experience and join a fraternity. And while you may not think so now, you will always be able to tell the difference.

Our Mission

TGP FRATERNITY MANAGEMENT GROUP- professionally manages alumni relations programs and fund raising campaigns for TGP college chapters.

Requirements for a Successful Campaign

How much money can you raise? Do you have what it takes to succeed? Learn the six factors that are essential for a successful fund raising campaign.

A Successful Capital Campaign... We believe there are six fundamental requirements that must be met in order to have a successful capital campaign.

Requirements for Successful Fund Raising

1.An Effective Alumni Program

You must friend raise before, during, and after you fund raise! A comprehensive alumni program is the means to achieve this. All chapters, even those with no large financial need, would be wise to begin and maintain an effective alumni program.

An Effective Alumni Program

If you intend to fund raise, you must also “friend raise” - before, during, and after a capital campaign! A comprehensive alumni program is the means to achieve this.

What is not as obvious is that a chapter with no fund raising plans is well served by maintaining a consistent alumni program - it is an important part of furthering and maintaining a strong brotherhood.

The “Five I’s” of Successful Alumni Relations

Identified The first step to good alumni relations is knowing who your alumni are, including more than simply addresses and phone numbers. Career information, and details about community and fraternity involvement are key. Records management becomes the backbone of your entire alumni program.

Informed Keeping alumni up to date on the actions of the chapter is important, but pales in comparison to keeping them informed about each other's whereabouts and other current news. As you can see, this relies heavily on your ability to gather and maintain information about your alumni. Informing them simply involves disseminating that information. Interested Offering alums information about others, and issues they are concerned with, is the key to getting and keeping them interested. This depends greatly on the amount of loyalty and dedication that was developed during the undergraduate years, but need not be limited by that.

Involved The opportunity to affect the future of the chapter, or just the opportunity to share in the present activities, are the keys to alumni involvement. All alumni programming should seek to get alumni participating in planning, decision making, and activities. Involvement represents alumni volunteering both time and expertise to the program.

Invested In terms of involvement, the pinnacle is having alumni actually invest their money in the alumni program. This can be as simple as paying for attendance to a function, or participating in the annual fund, all the way up to donating to the House Corporation and the Educational Foundation for their programs. When you stop to consider what could be offered if there were the resources available, you can see why having a large base of alumni willing to invest is very exciting.

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Elements of An Effective Program

Brotherhood Development The foundation of any alumni program is the chapter's ability to develop the bonds of brotherhood. Without loyalty and dedication, there is little to work with.

Records Management Centralizing all information about your alumni and actively researching to keep it updated forms the framework from which all other efforts grow. Information is power.

Communications In order to inform alumni and keep them interested, communication is very important. Consistent newsletters that offer value to the reader, as well as a regular alumni directory, are the major written communication items. Encouraging phone contact amongst alumni is also part of the strategy.

Events Offering value, such as the opportunity to renew old friendships face-to-face and to rekindle memories of college years, is the aim of alumni events. Two events a year, with a greater focus on the fall event, is what we advise. Alumni from all eras should be sought for each event.

Recognition The mission of most fraternities centers around the idea of building better men. Alumni who have distinguished themselves in their communities, careers, and service to their fraternities deserve recognition from their brothers. The program also allows undergraduates the opportunity to see the long-term benefits of membership.

Annual Fund In order to give alumni the chance to contribute and feel involved, and to pay for the programs just discussed, it makes sense to charge alumni dues or solicit voluntary annual contributions.

These elements work together; there is a synergy that results from doing all of them consistently over a period of time that cannot be duplicated with any other effort we have found.

Commitment to a consistent program that contains all of these elements, regardless of your fundraising history or plans for the future, will pay off in many ways.
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2.Strong Leadership

Outstanding leadership is necessary to obtain outstanding results. Leaders must be found to generously contribute time as well as money.

Ongoing Entities

Undergraduate Chapter The reason that all of this takes place. It is important for alumni to stay in the middle ground between forgetting the undergraduates exist and attempting to relive their youth and run the fraternity again.

Advisory Board / Committee This may be a single advisor working with regional and national/international headquarters. It also may be a full advisory committee of volunteer alumni. In any case, it should only have ex-officio connections to the House Corporation.

House Corporation Owns or master leases the house and land, and the board oversees property management and fund raising. They are the stewards of the facility.

Educational Foundation Unless you can set up a restricted fund with your school’s foundation or your national/international foundation, you should set up your own foundation in order to solicit tax-deductible contributions for valid educational purposes.

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Fund Raising Campaign Leadership The campaign must be led by alumni covering all eras. They should also be from a variety of locations across the country. As much as 80% of gifts will come from as few as 20% of alumni. Financial leadership is absolutely key to success.
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3.Dedicated Alumni

There must be enough loyalty to the chapter that a significant number of alumni will be willing to donate and volunteer in assisting with the campaign. An evaluation of prospective volunteers and donors must be done prior to any fundraising; and while there is an entire process of recruitment and cultivation, there must be some dedication already present upon which to build.

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The Value of a Feasibility Study

A study is the primary tool for assessing the dedication and loyalty of your alumni. The goal is to determine their willingness and capability to donate and volunteer.

Look for at least 30% of your living/locatable alumni to donate at their level of capability, and at least one volunteer that can be recruited for every class year.

The process gives you an opportunity to develop “ownership” amongst your alumni.