Apathetic fraternities often have the same response to the question of chapter growth. They say that they don’t want to grow, because if they did then they won’t know their brothers. So they struggle with their existence of 15 to 20 brothers…
Often, that is a weak attempt to try to cover for an inability to recruit.
This begs the question – why do you want your fraternity to grow? Below are twelve reasons why:
1. More members equals more revenue for the fraternity. Like it or not, fraternity is about the money in a way. Being in a fraternity gives a group of men the ability to pool their financial resources. This gives them a multitude of opportunities not available to the unaffiliated student. Having more money then means more opportunities of all types – social, leadership, philanthropic and educational.
2. Growing as a fraternity creates positive momentum. Organizations are either growing or shrinking. If you are growing, then that is saying that more and more people want to be a part of your fraternity. This is a clear indication that your fraternity is getting better, and that will create a positive momentum in your brotherhood.
3. A larger chapter means more leadership opportunities. More opportunities will exist because of the additional resources and additional demands of brotherhood. This will give more brothers the chance to grow in significant roles.
4. You will increase your presence on campus. More brothers means that there are more personal connections with other students on campus. That means that more people will know about your fraternity through those connections.
5. It will make you more competitive in athletics. Not only will you have a larger talent pool to comprise your teams from, but you will also be able to compete in more events without it seeming like a chore to the fraternity.
6. It will be easier to fill the house. Nothing drains a fraternity’s bank account faster than a half filled house.
7. You will be able to have bigger and better events because you will have the manpower to pull them off.
8. You will be able to overcome slow recruitment easier. Let’s face it, fraternities go through peaks and valleys. It is easier to withstand a valley, recruitment wise, when your fraternity is at 70 men as opposed to one with 20 men.
9. More members means more alumni. And alumni are the most untapped resource for most fraternities.
10. More members means a stronger brotherhood. Fraternity men are closest to their fraternity brothers, and do not have many meaningful friendships outside the brotherhood. Essentially, having more brothers means that each brothers friendship pool is increased.
11. Recruitment will be come easier. It is much easier to have success when 100 guys are recruiting than when 20 guys are recruiting.
12. It is easier to mix with sororities. Fraternities often are dwarfed by sororities in membership size. This makes mixers awkward, unless you have a large fraternity.
If you have any reasons you would like to add, use the comment box below.
To learn more, check out our most in-depth article on fraternity recruitment: The Complete Guide to Fraternity Recruitment.