Not really, no.

Your best bet is to get a job and save up. Plenty of women work to pay dues. Many work all summer and then don't work at school. Others have a campus job during the school year.

I feel like this where Greek life in general could be better. I don’t think most chapters do have financial aid or scholarships. Although I do know some do! So definetly ask.

However, it does make me sad seeing people who would otherwise love to join not be able to solely because of finances. I wish there was like an easy solution to this and I hope it changes in the future.

You would have to ask each chapter on your campus! There isn’t usually a campus wide scholarship or financial aid offered to pay for sorority dues. It’s possible that a sorority’s alum have a fund for this type of thing, most sororities do payment plans, and may offer some financial aid but it is different from chapter to chapter.

As someone who chose the chapters I was interested in based on cost, I get where you’re coming from. My campus has a large range of costs. Some are $300 a semester and the highest last semester was $850-900 a semester (I went to a small school). Something I found was that you aren’t necessarily guaranteed quality based on how high the dues are. So you could pick a really expensive chapter and the quality could be similar or worse than one of the less expensive chapters.

No, not in that way. Dues will depend on the school. They will be much lower if your chapter doesn't have a house for example.

It's definitely going to depend on your school and your chapter. Most sororities do have a scholarship foundation, and they do offer need-based aid (at least my organization does), but these are typically academic scholarships, not assistance in paying dues. My school does offer experiential learning grants for your first semester, as usually, your first semester is the most expensive semester. You can also set up a meeting with the head of your school's Fraternity and Sorority Life office to see what your campus specific options may be. We also do not have housing or meal fees tied in to our dues because all of our housing is owned by campus and we can still be on a meal plan. Chapters should be transparent about finances during the recruitment process. If you do find yourself in a chapter, talk to your chapter's treasurer to work out a payment plan that works best for you and your finances.

You have to look outside the box to recruit members. Like is there a large outdoors club or club sports team you can approach? What group of women on your campus is not represented by the other sororities? That can help you develop your marketing pitch.

You’re going to have to have more than one new member class a semester for a few semesters. You can even opt out of formal recruitment and COB nonstop (assuming your school lets you). The more you build numbers, the easier it will be to get more members.

These are the threads that will likely bring a bunch of good strategies in for your chapter to think about:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sororities/s/ANoBq75YOM

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sororities/s/tGNUraJwoY

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sororities/s/BZGsybrV5x

https://www.reddit.com/r/Sororities/s/SwOiU4NWqL

Tl;dr it’s doable - y’all just gotta haul ass on social skills, PR, and building connections.

I'd start here:

• Everyone needs to wear letters to classes twice a week, once on a MWF class and once on a T/Th class (assuming that's how yours are organized).

• Everyone needs to belong to two other campus organizations or be an officer in another one. Yes, it's work, but it gets your members seen as active/leaders on campus.

• Your chapter needs to host an event to raise awareness and money for your philanthropy. Think of something that can grow with your chapter. Mine started a fashion show, which I thought was trite and a bit on the nose for sorority women. But I was wrong; it now raises a bunch of money every year. It started quite small. It can be anything though, a sports tournament, a concert/festival/battle, etc..

You can get a list from Panhel of the girls that signed up for Rush and dropped. Some probably dropped before Rush even started so they do not know the reputation of the various houses. Reaching out to them on social to invite to a COB event could be a good starting point. A lot of times when girls drop it’s that the experience seems overwhelming and like a time commitment or they’re second guessing if they could be a “sorority girl” etc. so the personal outreach could go a long way.

It will take a village. Everyone has to be dedicated to the cause. It will feel like an almost full time job. Everyone will have to come together and agree on your goals and how you all will accomplish them! You all will have to advocate for your chapter.

Find the root of the problem. Are your finances in order? Do you have a strong presence on campus? Do you have a strong sisterhood?

Develop good relationships with the other chapters on your campus. Send them cards on their founders days, go to their events and act appropriately, chat with them in classes.

Ask your advisors for help. Whatever it may be. Social media, sisterhood event ideas, getting your finances in order, asking alum for donations & volunteers.

Get your social media in tip top shape. People look. They want to see your events, they want to see your sister’s personalities come through but it needs to be polished.

If you have alum in the area, ask them to help you all practice recruiting, ask them to donate so you all can host fun events.

Your national organization is also a resources! Reach out for recruitment help, COB help, etc.

For recruitment, reach out to women early. DO NOT bid promise. Just tell them you all are excited they’re coming to campus, that you hope to see them go through recruitment, and if they need anything while on campus to reach out to you.

Have sisters invite women to COB events from their classes, their dorms, their other organizations. More people means more money for the chapter means better/more events!!

Unless you go to some elite magnet school this has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard. A mandatory senior project where you have to find small businesses to fund you, that’s horrible. I don’t see the issue with the senior project idea itself, it’s the sponsor part that rubs me the wrong way

Try GoFundMe

You have to go on crowdfunding websites and host campaigns or search up grants and scholarships under the term ‘student initiatives’ and alike terms

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Are you talking about your national philanthropy? If so you need to propose this to your national. 

yes! especially disabled children, i dont think any philos do that besides DZ with the deaf society. so important! reach out to local schools, community centers, etc

You could contact local youth shelters if there are any near you.

Talk to your philanthropy chair with a solid case for why it fits. Bring some stats, maybe examples from other orgs. If they’re into it, start with a small event to test interest. Get sisters on board because numbers help.

As somebody who crossed undergrad I would say go for it, somethings don’t matter as much as people think. As long as you weren’t loud and proud or messy about the other org then I’m sure it’s not as big of a deal as you think. If I were in the chapter of the org you’re interested in I would value your ability to know what was really for you and what wasn’t.

If the question comes up then be honest, but not messy- hope that makes sense.

Do it. Undergrad is full of excitement and exciting experiences. Just remember Grad is where the true work starts. I don’t think it will be an issue because there was a significant amount of time between the interest meetings. Stay the course you will get there. Good luck. ♦️👌🏾

You can certainly apply. But be honest about your previous interest when asked.

I would say go for it as not only is it something you want but the undergrad and grad routes are very different. In my personal experience/opinion, you get to experience that sisterly bond feeling more in undergrad as the graduate journey is more of a solo mission.

Do it, it does not hurt to try and you would not know what happens until you go for it

OK, so the legacy route is put on the national website so you can’t just get someone to claim. Honestly, I wouldn’t even worry about the voting or the legacy aspect of it. It is never allowed to take a whole line of legacies so everyone has a chance, but if you genuinely wanna join, you have to be better than most. I also did not come in as a legacy, and I was a transfer student. If you genuinely want to try to earn your spot, I would say that it’s important to connect with members, but you shouldn’t do it just to join. I personally never did verbal interest. I showed up to every single event and I made sure after every event to ask questions to a different number every time. I didn’t need to be best friends with them because I knew that was going to be fake but as long as they knew, my name knew what I was about and had at least some interaction with me. That’s as much as I was going to do.

There are so many videos on YouTube that can kind of walk through the process, but if you’re feeling this discouraged now you’re really going to have to up your game during the summer if you want to get a chance. It’s not just about who you know or who you can with you have to have the grade you have to have the service hours and you have to have the résumé. You have to know that you’re bringing something to the chapter.

Joining these orgs is hard and it is competitive. That’s just the reality of the situation. That being said it’s not impossible. All different types of women join these orgs, first generation included. You may or may not get into this specific chapter. But I would still encourage you to try. What do you have to lose? If you go for it and you don’t make it you will be in the same space you are now. Except you might have gained allies who can help you on your journey in the future. If you really want this you’ll keep pursuing until you achieve your goal as many people have. Don’t let the prospect of failure block you from the opportunity to succeed.

Keep doing the work to get in. It may pay off. All potential Legacy Candidates do not get in as Undergrads. A dear friend of mine is a Legacy who had to come in Grad Chapter. Legacy or not, if they do not want them they find a way to not put one on.

Please visit the national website of AKA and become familiar with the membership section. The requirements to join are clearly laid out there. Being a legacy isn’t a requirement to join.

I wasn’t legacy at a competitive HBCU and got in. Give it your all and don’t let get into your head.

I submitted the interest form for Tri Delta. I didn’t have a sponsor! They connected me with someone who lived about an hour from me. I met with her on Zoom to discuss my interest, and she decided she would sponsor me! I was so grateful. I recommend asking the organization if there are any alumni in your area you can reach out to to discuss your interest or visit with the closest alumni chapter!

I met my sponsor here on little Ole Reddit in 2023. And then I met up with a (now sister) after finding her on reddit!! Yes people! Making connections with people we'd otherwise never have met. And she's now my little sis in Alpha Gam. My big sis lives in the West, and myself and my little live here in Texas. So feel free to reach out to anyone in your org of choice. Highly recommend a) a good alumni chapter near you, and b) if possible, a collegiate chapter near you that you can possibly advise. It'll get you involved. ❤️ Ask me if you have any questions, I'm happy to help!

I did not have a sponsor when I was going through my journey. I let prospective chapters know I didn’t have a sponsor. Alpha Chi connected me with my local alum chapter and I met with their chapter president who ultimately became my sponsor.

Another one who met their sponsor on Reddit!

Hi! I was just recently initiated into Gamma Phi Beta. I reached out to them and let them know that I didn’t know anyone who was in the sorority and they connected me with someone who was willing to serve as a sponsor. We met over zoom to discuss my interest and she decided to sponsor me! Also, see if there are any alumni in your area that would be willing to sponsor you.

I am a grantwriter. I would start by finding out from your employer if they have specific goals or priorities that determine who gets funding and see if there is a need with GS in your region that aligns. Funding supplies or activity fees will be a harder sell if the funding is granted on a competitive basis. I would also strongly suggest asking your council about rules on grants and donations. I think my region has a $100 max donation by any one person or entitiy to a troop. Otherwise donations have to go to the counsil.

Thank you all again! Found out that anything over $250 has to go to council, but if we earmark it for our SU it will come back to us. Fingers crossed!

I would aim for something bigger than your troop. (1) your troop may not be able to receive it because your troop isn’t a non-profit and (2) if I’m giving out grants, I would want to see it have the largest impact.

I personally would team up with the SU to host a free or very low cost camp out.

Our council requires pre approval for workplace grants to make sure they fall under certain guidelines and it’s hard to get anything for just a certain troop, maybe a service unit, but usually they try to make it for the whole council.

Find out what your council needs! My first thought is some kind of lending library, but with kits containing tools/ supplies that can be passed on for some more intensive badges/ crafting.

So....

JEWELRY MAKING KIT

1.).A set of 20 jewelry-making kits with a few sets of beads etc. (troops can supply their own beads)

STEM/ CARDBOARD CREATION SET

(troop2.) A set of 20 cardboard construction sets. (troops supply their own cardboard)

LEATHER STAMPING SET

3.). A few leather stamping sets with 10-15 extra hammers (troops can provide their own leather)

WOOD ETCHING SET

4). 10-15 few wood etching pens (troops provide their own small wooden items)

OUTDOOR COOKING

5) A set of 12 pie irons

6.) Three of these handy carrying cases for the pie irons

7.). This awesome dutch oven set

STEM/ROBOTICS

8.) This Code and Go Robotics Mouse is great! Maybe 4-5 sets for group games?

​

Thats all I got for now.... this is so exciting! I think you are going to do an awesome thing for your SU!!!

First you need to validate if those people on the waitlist will actually convert. Depending on your price point it might be that only 10 of those 500 will actually buy. There's a huge difference between willingness -to-use and willingness-to-pay.

I've written about how you can do that in Sell Before You Build and how you can then leverage that to build a successful pre-campaign for a crowdfunding platform to significantly increase your changes of a successful funding campaign

A lot of factors of course come into play on how to use that money and if it is enough (it usually isn't). Depends on the level of development still required, your order volumes, device complexity...

DM me if you need some more advice. I'd be happy to help walk you through this.

i agree have pre sale launch, if you don't know an investor see who does and connect with other entrepreneurs, kickstarter, crowd funding, look at local resources as well

Don't let the 500 signups change your original plan. That doesn't significantly change anything. It is not demand, it is passive interest. It's nice, but don't assume any of them will do anything.

I worked on a project that had 1,200 signups and 12 conversions when it came time to buy.

Don't race to scale, you will likely be disappointed and in debt or dealing with some pissed off (and naieve) investors.

Build 10, if they sell, build more and optimize your way to scale.

500 email field entries are nothing really. 500 preorders though...

Get them to preorder, then fulfill in a quarter. That's what most hw startups are doing (see pebble, daylight, even GPD).

You can try Kickstarter or other preorder methods. Investor funding not often an easy option for hw startups. If you have no track record and little validation it’s too big a risk, except maybe family/friends who will bet on you. I have done Kickstarter successfully, happy to offer advice in DM