I think it would be easier to start a social club rather than a sorority. Clubs are easy to start so look into it. Then you can work on recruiting people.

I say this as someone who was in a local sorority and is now FSL staff on a campus, the likelihood of this happening is slim to none. Your school has insurance that covers student clubs, and those insurance providers almost never cover fraternities and sororities. Which is why each national org has its own insurance as well as the insurance the governing council gets from NIC/NPC. It’s just a big ole liability that the school will not want to take on. Find a national org that resonates with you and try to start a chapter at your school.

Honestly, those things you have are the least important parts of founding a sorority. Why do you want to create a whole new sorority?

You first need to make sure your school is open to expanding and adding a new chapter, after that you need to convince that your new, local sorority would be the best way to do that. And honestly, I am not sure why you would be able to convince them of that. It’s a huge liability to have a college student being the only person responsible for it. It’s also a very very long process that might last longer than you’ve been in school.

But let’s say you get the approval, you then need to be able to recruit a group of students to be part of the founding class of this sorority. And then you need to start operations and start to talk about long term sustainability.

You will also need to figure out bank accounts, how to create a business, signing up for insurance, and all of the boring parts of an organization that usually headquarters or alumni take care of.

It honestly is way harder than just starting a club or anything like that.

The colors, motto, etc should come from all the founders, not just you.

If you just want it to be a local group with no ties to the campus Panhellenic, you probably only need two students and to apply through Student Activities.

If you want this group to also participate in Recruitment with the other sororities, you'll have to meet with the Fraternity Sorority Advisor in Greek Life / Dean of Students to see if there is enough interest for another sorority.

On my campus (long before I was there), a group had 50 women meeting every week to convince the Assistant Dean that there was enough interest.

It often takes years. You may not get to really be part of it.

Imo you are better off finding a national sorority that you can colonize at your school if you want to start your own chapter. It’s a lot of work to even start your own organization. If you have lots of $ & time then go for it. Benefit of starting a colony through another national sorority is they have resources and the foundation to help support you starting up. Also people would more likely join a group that has history and a presence at other schools.

Another angle is you could first start a local club and make an unofficial hidden sorority through that. That way you could possibly siphon funds through your school if they give funding to school clubs.

Either way I will say nationally. There are not much local fraternity or sororities even around anymore for a good reason. It’s because of liability & insurance. Most local Greek orgs started out as exclusive clubs or simple organizations on campus. Through 60s-70s a lot of them were forced to join a national org since their school no longer wanted to support them financially and liability wise. Why mostly only small private schools really only have local organizations now.

Anyways good luck on w.e you decide !

Is there any reason you are limiting yourselves to just parties? A recruitment event could be anything - inviting a PNM to coffee or lunch with a few sisters, invite them to other events you are already doing (community service, etc). I'm in an NPC Sorority so I don't know how the bid process is different, but during informal periods, as long as a PNM has met a sufficient number of sisters, we can offer her a bid and start her new member process.

Def search the sub for posts on local or small chapters! I remember there was a similar post in the last few years that got a lot of attention/advice. Also, how's your social media?

Do the things you can find in this sub, but do some internal work as a chapter too.

Can each of your members join a non Greek organization? Can they get a leadership position? Are you wooing members who already hold leadership positions? What events does your group host in campus? Are you inviting all the other Greeks AND all the other organizations, too? Get your group (in letters!) out and active on campus.

Recruiting isn't 1-2 weeks a year, it's all year long.

hi there! same situation here, my best advice would be connecting with girls one on one. recruiting would now have to be an all hands on deck not just one chair or one person. best of luck because i get it

This may be controversial, but I went to a small school with a similar vibe. Our actives were volunteers to give campus tours to potential students and we would volunteer at orientation. This gave us a head start on knowing people. And if your school is small there maybe arent as many dirty rushing rules. We couldn't have any special contact during recruitment week, but opening/move in weekend is where we really connected with incoming students and was allowed.

Hello! I am also a recruitment chair with similar struggles. I also have a similar school situation. Does your school do any structured recruitment? Also, what works to motivate my ladies is keeping them super involved in set up, choosing pref scripts, specified decorating jobs. They also respond well to unique and specific compliments. These things helped me turn girls who couldn’t recruit into girls that could make meaningful connections. Sometimes they just need the specific compliments and motivation. It’s more work for you but it’s worth it. We also hosted some unique events: one was a fondue night with work trivia (like a melting pot of culture and food hehe). As for bumping, if you’re a small school it may not work great BUT I highly recommend matching if you’re doing structured or partially

Focus on what you do offer. You don't throw parties, but what social events do you offer? Do you do movie nights or attend campus events together? Do you have a yearly formal? Are members of the sorority in other campus groups or activities? That's how we got a lot of our PNMs when I was at a small school. We had members who were campus tour volunteers and same with orientation that way we were familiar faces to those incoming students.

Beyond that, if the actives aren't good at recruiting, you can do practice conversations or hold a day long recruitment workshop to go over dos and don'ts and strategize. Maybe try to have everyone meet at least 2 to 3 people who they could see joining and bring those names back to the chapter.

Oh! And another thing we do for motivation, girls who get the most pnms to sign up and attend get entered into a raffle for sorority merch!

Bumping is key. Imagine a PNM goes to meet a chapter and they only talk to one member. Maybe the pnm loved the member. Maybe it went okay. Maybe the pnm didn’t vibe with her. Regardless of how it goes, the pnm isnt going to be sold on the chapter because they only spoke to one person and did not get a feel for the chapter as a whole. Plus it puts a lot of pressure on the sister. On the other hand, having multiple sisters talk to one pnm at once can feel intimidating for the pnm. Bumping helps to minimize awkward pauses, gives the pnm a better understanding of the types of sisters in the chapter, and gives an opportunity for multiple 1 on 1 interactions. Even if one sister has a bad chat with the pnm, there are 2-4 other sisters who can balance it out

Your notation of deeper connections is a great starting place.

Highlight what you do. Your sisterhood, (how do you build it?), your philanthropy (what is it? How do you serve that org? Does it rotate?), your mixers (who do you meet and greet with), your GPA (your study halls, support for grades, average GPAs, things your alumni have gone on to like grad school etc). You are showcasing how your org can improve the quality of their college experience and life!

Flip side, you have to see how the PNM would fit into your org, suss out their willingness to participate in all of it (not just the fun stuff but the studying and tasking too). Ask them what was great about their past experiences with family and friends yhat they look to find with you, or if they're looking for something they feel is missing!

Lots of people think social skills should just 'come naturally' but in reality, they often don't. Like roller skating, the more you do it, the better you get. If you do it as infrequently as possible, you'll always suck at it. Stone cold facts. And getting better at communication will be the most important skillset you ever develop.

You need to look at it as "sales." You are selling the "features, benefits, and what's in it for you" part of your org. I myself have been in sales for many years, and trust me, if you're talking about something you sincerely and passionately love, you arent having to 'hard sell' anything! Your passion and knowledge sell it for you. The caveat is you have to believe in what you're saying.

Thinking out loud: do you have a communications professor or maybe a salesperson alumni that you could invite as a guest speaker? "Communication 101" type of thing, teaching tips and tricks to improve it? Or maybe another org that won't be competing with you, like a local frat or a professional org, and you can practice conversations? As an alumni, we do a mock recruitment with our local chapters in July to help our chapters get practice.

Games: Amazon sells "Hygge Games" with conversation starters questions. It's a shortcut to conversations. "Conversation Cards for Friends" looks good- highly recommend buying 1-2 of these to help you practice as well.

From what you're describing, lots of practice and a written "battle plan, for recruitment" for lack of a better term, will help you get organized and polished.

Best of luck!

Search for YT videos for "how to recruit" and see if there is someone good advice to be found.

Tbh for me, I felt very disconnected from my chapter going into recruitment. It was actually recruitment itself that reminded me why I joined and why I love my sorority. It’s a real bonding moment for many chapters because of the long hours and extensive requirements on your part. You befriend your bump groups, share snacks, make jokes, and it’s honestly my sisters who made recruitment survivable. That’s at least how it was for me, and I hope your experience is similar! Recruitment truly reminded me of the sisterhood and bonds I already had.

Talk to people all summer. Cashiers, random girls at bars, people at your summer job, etc. Just be really observant of how people with excellent social/conversation skills interact with other people and match vibes, then practice that. It helps to be genuinely interested in who the other person is/what they’re saying and to be able to maintain that through recruitment pressures like heat or painful shoes.

I think the biggest thing I can say is that ultimately, the women coming through recruitment are there to impress you just as much as you are trying to impress them. The mutual selection process means that you are in an even exchange in a lot of ways. Just try to take a deep breath before the party starts and remind yourself that you were going through the same process just about a year ago, and you made it through.

Focus on the good things about your chapter, and stay abstract if it helps avoid feeling like you're being dishonest.

I always felt like recruitment brought my chapter closer together. It can be scary meeting PNMs but just keep in mind that even if you start being weird or awkward that you’re already in the chapter. You don’t pose any risk of being “cut” like they do. My chapter was newer when I joined and we had a few of those random girls that didn’t seem like they belonged with the rest of us (they never showed up, were not a good fit, etc). Finding a new pledge class is finding more sisters. You get to choose which girls you want to be your sisters! Slowly those random girls will graduate or drop and your chapter will be more cohesive. Good luck during recruitment!

Stay in touch with the women in the class ahead of you as they matriculate to college and select their sororities.

Find the Panhellenic Alumnae group for your area. Even smaller towns tend to have them (but they may only be active once a year...around this time or maybe late spring).

You don't need them now, but learn what you can about when they host socials to meet young women going through Recruitment. You'll want to attend those so you can meet women who can write letters of recommendation for you.....and just to learn more in general about Sororities and about their experiences across multiple types of campuses.

Keep your grades (GPA) as high as possible. Extracurriculars, volunteering, leadership experience, letters of rec, outfits, etc. matter differently for different schools (some schools care about ECs/volunteering/leadership a lot more than others, some schools may not even accept letters of rec, outfits/dress codes differ on a school-by-school basis), but GPA is the one thing that all schools prioritize.

Keep your grades up, be active in clubs (also exec boards), and do as much community service as possible!😁

GPA is extremely important. I would also say explore different styles and find a style and clothes, make up, accessories, etc that make you feel confidently you. You want to go through recruitment being as confident as you can and knowing how you like to dress up influences that a lot. I also think that putting yourself out there and learning how to talk to people in an engaging way. Practice small talk, practice talking to people you usually don’t so recruitment is not the first time you are using those skills

What are you guys already doing and what hasn't been working for you? Does your chapter know why it's the least popular sorority and have a plan to improve on its problems? Have you tried searching the sub for past advice and ideas?

make sure members wear their letters more, are more vocal about their involvement on social media, etc. also make sure they’re more involved around your campus generally so that way more people will be exposed to them and therefore your chapter.

When people see greek life on tik tok, they always see bama rush, which cannot represent every chapter. if your social medias are tied to your school in some way, then there’s a chance that a PNM’s will see that in their feed. my advice would to create posts that cater to your demographic and shows your individuality. my chapter may do a dance video like bama from time to time, but we have a lot of silly content that sets us apart from the generalization, which brought quite a lot of new members in.

not trying to toot my own horn (maybe just a little lol) but i’ve had a few pnms mention to me during recruitment that they say me within their videos because of my individuality. for example, my school’s majority is the minority, meaning (for my case specifically) many students are lgbt. i am one of the two masc lesbians (that i know of) out of the entire pan population. the biggest reason why this girl that i talked to was because they saw me presenting myself in my natural way, which made them not only feel comfortable going through recruitment, but coming back to my chapter as well (that was ofc told to me during hard pref when it’s okay to say to “we’d love to see you here)

the point of that example is that authentic expression is one of the best ways to market yourself and to show that your chapter is for all

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actually i would recommend not doing this. international students is great but non-traditional/grad students would create a really weird and uncomfortable environment with the age gap that would not help long term. plus i dont even think that’s allowed at a lot of chapters.

Recruitment in my chapter was all sorts of messed up so I never got the chance to truly pick who got a bid (and tons of my sisters didnt either). I just wanted to say that social media just paints a particular picture. In my chapter, only the prettiest girls made it on our instagram. This caused tons of problems as well with the actives. You never know.

I think it kind of just works out that way a lot of the time. I’m sure in some chapters theres some aspect of recruiting based on looks, but i think a lot of the time people who value those things have similar interests and personalities. And the people who value other things will gravitate towards people who are similar to themselves. My school has a pretty small greek life, but most of our npc orgs have certain ‘types’ of girls in each- laid back, pretty, partiers or whatever. I would imagine in larger schools with ‘top’ sororities the types of npcs who strive to be in one have similar personalities. But I don’t know if thats the case everywhere. I’m on my chapters exec board and during recruitment we definitely look for girls who vibe with us, and don’t consider looks.

I actually just went threw recruitment as a plus size girl and I can say it’s safe to say so. I think it’s more of a social media effect that everyone sees these size 0 girls all about the sorority life that plus size girls don’t want to give it a chance ( I know I had a huge period where I wanted to drop out ) I really hope that by houses that did drop me it was based on not having recs and not because I was bigger than the rest. I wish we lived in a world where 10 pounds didn’t make a huge difference. Although I’m glad your sorority is very open minded <3 :)))

Also look at the cheerleader effect. Individually there may be some “less desirable” women but as a group they are beautiful.

ETA: I don’t care about looks, hence the quotation marks.

Watching different chapters vote (I was on Panhellenic) I can say that there is a pattern. If a PNM advocates for herself in the room, talks about her charity experience, interests, and values, confidently- most chapters will want her.

I will say, that people join people that look like themselves and many times I saw women of color picking the sorority known for that. I saw a lot of jersey girls go to an org with a lot of jersey girls. I know that a lot of heavier girls would say that they felt “not as at home” in the sorority with women that were mostly smalls and mediums. That’s natural and recruitment chairs should be aware and looking for diverse members regardless.

All that being said, in voting I supervised. If there was a wishy washy candidate, like “really seemed interested in our core values, but couldn’t think of an answer to many of the questions and has a low gpa” or “brought up partying and didn’t seem to be that engaged until the end when I felt like we really clicked over (insert activity here)” if that happened, they were more likely to move forward if they were pretty. Basically, a girls looks could save her from being cut, but it didn’t help her in getting a bid. Sororities of are aware the stereotype of “pretty but dumb” and don’t want that to be there chapter.

It’s ok to be awkward. Embrace the awkward. Awkward is normal. Push through the scary feelings. Just be yourself and it’ll get easier over time.

Starting a conversation with any unknown person feels fake about 93% of the time lol. A sincere compliment or comment will usually open the conversation (a compliment on their red shoes, say)... but you have to take it a step further.

You: love those red shoes! So cute." Them: thanks. ---Aaand dead air.---

So try expanding: "I love those red shoes! Where did you get them? Are they comfortable? I've tried heels and OMG, I'm usually limping within the hour." Now you've complimented their shoes, but asked a conversational question! So now you're talking or at least have an open ended question.

Other subjects: "Love these cookies, but mine are so much better. I love cooking, do you cook?" Or- "love these cookies. I've tried making them and man, I suck at baking. I always overcook stuff and then they're rocks. Do you bake?

"Whats your major? Them: psychology. You: I've always been so interested in that. Do you have a favorite category? Criminal, children, family? I listen to too many serial killers podcasts. I'd probably learn too much!"

You have to "give the person something to work with" so instead of a flat question , expand on it. Yes/No questions are conversation killers, avoid them!

I think the word genuine is kind of misleading like it makes it seem like you need to be best friends with the people. What they really mean is did you have a good conversation and would you enjoy seeing that person again.

you gotta find the girls who are your kinda weird. initiate conversations how you would with any other girl that you think is into what you're into. common interest is the best way to find someone just like you.

If they’re tabling on your campus, approach them and say something about the table, the decorations or the food/candy. They’re tabling because they WANT people to approach and chat/ask questions, so it likely won’t be on you to “interview” them. Just see what they’re about!

For approaching girls just wearing their letters around campus, your mileage may vary. Just be mindful of if they seem busy or like they’re in the middle of a conversation, you don’t want to interrupt to ask them an unrelated question about sorority life.

Don’t worry too much about seeming like you have an “ulterior motive”. When sisters wear letters around campus in the weeks before formal recruitment, it’s not terribly unusual to get questions or little waves from PNMs. As long as you’re not getting overly personal or asking for favors, you should be just fine. Sisters are just people.

Don’t pretend to be the alpha house with the biggest chapter and the nicest house during rush. Have smash tournaments and nerdy shit that people will enjoy if it wasn’t a frat related function. Poker nights or low pressure recruitment nights with food and a game (video game or sports) in the background are a good way to talk to PNMs and get their vibe. Find guys who vibes with your chapter and put your time and energy getting to know them and invite them to hang out outside of recruitment events

Chapter vision. I was in Chapter that tripled in Size from just one pledge class. It take experience and getting groups of friends to rush. We stuck with the vision and values and since have had 1st or 2nd largest pledge classes with retention.

It will take every brother. Strike early and often. If your campus doesn't allow 1st semester freshman to rush, you'll be in a much more difficult position.

I would focus on trying to lease a house as near to campus as you can get for your current member then maybe have another house in mind to suggest that you can get if you get a group of pledges.  

Have a vision for your frat to get a house.  Then go after groups of friend and sell them on your vision to get a house and leading your frat into the future.  Tell them they will have immediate pull in the house after they pledge and that can build the frat to what they want.  You would be surprised how many groups of friends want to stay together but are also worried that they all won't get into a frat together.  

Yeah I wouldn’t join a chapter with 5 dudes and no house lmao

You probably won’t be able to sustain a hosue until you get members, so you basically gotta convince a big group of guys to buy into the vision of basically founding the frat. Build from there, establish smaller satellite houses to party at until you work up to a house.

You will not be there to see the fruits of your labor, but you can start the process.

Why did you revive the chapter though out of curiosity?

Tap into the founding values of your fraternity and try to recruit guys who best fit those values. Despite your best efforts you’re gonna have to take in some weirdos if you want a functioning chapter, as most normal guys would’ve gone to established fraternities. Make decisions with the long term goal in mind and have those priorities straight because you’re probably not going to make a large presence on campus during your time as an active, but you can influence the future of your chapter. -ΛΧΑ