Is Nationals Worth It?
One of the constant grumblings I hear is about the benefit of a fraternity’s national headquarters. A lot of brothers complain that the fraternity pays a ton of money in national dues, but does not see much benefit from all the fees that are paid.
This feeling should never happen. When you really stop to think about it, your chapter is the customer for your national fraternity. They should be providing great value to you for what you pay in dues. But are they???
This is such a compelling topic that I have decided that I am going to write a report about it and distribute it to my newsletter for free. However, before I do, I want to get your opinion. It is your opinion that truly matters, and is critical for my analysis.
I want to know what services or benefits you would like your national fraternity to provide your chapter?
I really appreciate you entering your response below.
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This is a terrible question. Please don’t give people advice that will lead them further astray for the national fraternity.
I would say of course they’re worth it. It’s just hard to tell sometimes. The local chapter is not a customer of the national, though it would be nice if headquarters thought that way sometimes. The chapter is a wholly owned subsidiary.
What’s often called national dues is actually dues and insurance. The insurance portion of that is probably $125-150 a semester. What you pay in actual dues is probably less than $50 a semester. If chapters are getting hit with multi-thousand dollar bills from headquarters, it’s because individual members aren’t paying what they owe or the chapter officers aren’t updating their rosters by required deadlines.
You don’t realize the benefit of car insurance till you have a wreck. I hope people don’t ever have to deal with a major lawsuit of their chapter, but if you ever do then that 10-20 million in coverage is going to save your financial life.
A lot of the negative interaction actives have with headquarters is because one of the biggest concerns the national has is protecting themselves from that liability risk, because too many suits over a few years will cause them to cease to exist nationally. So, they’re there to inspect chapters and keep them in the lines, with whatever time is left over they really do want to help you. But, in order to keep those costs you’re complaining about down they have a small over worked and under paid staff trying to supervise far too many chapters. They just don’t have time to get personally invested with you and help you change everything for the better all at once.
The most important thing about a fraternity though is our ritual. Yes, people join people. That’s rush. And they do need to see fair value back in a good experience in exchange for their dues. That’s social & finances. But, none of that has anything to do with why the chapter or the fraternity exists. The ritual does. The biggest value of nationals is you wouldn’t exist without them. That’s the thing that’s bigger than you that makes this greek experience more than some guys you hung out with in school however many years ago. I know they aren’t always easy to deal with, but the idea of the national fraternity is more important than your relationship with their staff, and that’s what you’re paying for.
I appreciate your comment, but you have completely missed the point of the article. The topic is to promote creative thought about what type of value a national fraternity should offer their chapters. The typical national fraternity charges each chapter a couple hundred bucks a man in insurance/dues. The undergrads need to receive tangible value for this contribution.
I have received many thoughtful ideas from undergraduates which I will distribute soon through my email list. If anyone is interested in receiving it, please sign up on the sidebar to the right.