Brothers,
Our alumni advisory group was established in the winter of 2021 to support the Psi chapter as it faced a membership crisis that threatened the future existence of the chapter. This group identified three key areas where major progress was needed: membership recruitment, the physical condition of the chapter house, and alumni engagement.
Two years into this effort, we can report some critical successes, and some key challenges which still need to be addressed:
Membership Recruitment
The chapter has grown from six members in the fall of 2021 to 21 members in the fall of 2022, with several prospects already identified for rush in the spring. While our membership has recovered to a sustainable level, continued recruitment success will be needed to grow our membership back to a size that is genuinely healthy for the long-term. This will require a sustained effort over the next several years.
Physical Condition of the Chapter House
Many repairs have been made over the past two years through the combined efforts of both the undergraduate brothers and alumni. We renovated several bathrooms, purchased new furniture for the common rooms, installed new flooring in the old kitchen, and refinished the hardwood floors throughout the house. Last year’s successful annual campaign also allowed us to hire contractors to make several plumbing repairs, install new outlets in the common areas, and remove the prior flooring containing asbestos from old kitchen. Our driving short-term objective is to finish restoring the house to a good condition for the current operations of the chapter. The next projects we envision are to restore the kitchen, repair or replace the gutters, and repair several intact but semi-functional windows.
Alumni Engagement
Regular communication between the chapter and our alumni is critical to our success. We have worked with the Alumni Association to issue periodic newsletters, create a chapter website, and conduct annual fundraising campaigns. Last year’s annual campaign raised over $70,000 from 127 brothers across six decades.
While our membership growth and improvements to the house have restored our ability to fund our core operations (insurance, property taxes, utilities, services, and maintenance) through our rent income, we need still need your help to fund improvements to the house such as those mentioned in the previous section. If you can help out with a donation to this year’s annual campaign, please consider doing so today.
One of our key remaining challenges is to build an alumni organization that can broaden our base of volunteers, effectively support the chapter into the future, and lay the groundwork for an eventual capital campaign. We hope to be able to share some ideas for the nature and structure of this organization soon.