Sorority and Fraternity Management: The Essential Guide

The ultimate goal of every fraternity and sorority is to connect members, alumni, and college campus communities with each other. Through these connections, everyone involved with the organization can achieve common social, philanthropic, and academic goals while striving to become better people and leaders.

So, what helps a fraternity or sorority foster a connection between these different groups and secure the organization’s legacy? The answer lies in effective management.

Fraternity and sorority management practices are essential to the health and success of your organization. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need about management, including the key players, roles and responsibilities, and tools you’ll need to succeed. Specifically, we’ll cover:

• The Basics of Fraternity and Sorority Management 
• How to Improve Fraternity and Sorority Management

If you’re ready to take your chapter to the next level and improve your operations from top to bottom, it’s time for you to learn all about fraternity and sorority management. Let’s begin!

The Basics of Fraternity and Sorority Management

What is sorority and fraternity management?

Sorority and fraternity management are the processes leaders execute to help a chapter achieve its unique goals.

Effective managers plan and run activities guided by principles handed down from national leadership. Chapter leaders might oversee the following areas: 

• Finance
• Member engagement
• Recruitment
• Event planning
• Alumni engagement
• Philanthropy programs
• Community partnerships 
• Liaising with other levels of leadership

While these activities are widespread across chapters of all sizes, your exact responsibilities will vary based on your chapter’s unique needs and structure. As you develop your management program, you’ll pinpoint new areas where you need extra support and prioritize them. However, it’s most effective to start with the most pressing needs and expand gradually rather than tackling a wide range of issues all at once.

Why are proper sorority and fraternity management practices important?

Cultivating strong management practices is no easy feat, but it’s certainly worth the effort. Here are some benefits your chapter can experience if you implement dedicated management efforts:

• Greater cultural cohesion. Regardless of a leader’s organizational status or role, their ultimate purpose is to uphold the standards set by the brothers and sisters who came before them. Establishing these standards and infusing them into everything you do is only possible with aligned management efforts!
• Increased revenue. When it comes to financial management, dues, house maintenance, and scholarship funds are only the beginning. Standardizing financial management ensures funds are spent (and saved) responsibly, providing your members with a full experience. 
• Heightened member engagement. Engaged members pay dues on time, help out with extra initiatives, and contribute to a strong organizational identity. Quickly address member concerns to help them have the best possible experience with your chapter — plus, they might even support your organization after they graduate!
• Adherence to rules and regulations. Your chapter must follow rules set by multiple institutions, such as your national chapter leadership and your university board. Ensuring oversight of all activities simplifies compliance, safeguarding your chapter’s long-term future on campus.

Who is involved in fraternity and sorority management?

For the typical collegiate chapter, multiple tiers of leadership interact to create the chapter experience. Here is what the common structure looks like:

As you start to sort your chapter’s members into this hierarchy, note that national executives are full-time professionals, whereas the lower three tiers are current students and active members. With that in mind, let’s dive into these roles more thoroughly.

National Executives

These top leaders govern the various chapters of your organization at universities across the country. National executives and directors are responsible for providing consistent guidance across the organization to ensure every chapter understands and upholds standards. National executives might also cultivate alumni relations, provide funding, and coordinate large-scale events.

Chapter Leadership

The president is at the top of your chapter’s executive board and holds the most managerial power when it comes to making decisions on strategy and daily operations. The president is also the face of the chapter and serves as a conduit between the chapter and other parties, such as university personnel, national advisors, the housing committee, alumni, and philanthropic partners.

With such significant responsibilities and public visibility, chapter leadership must abide by regulations passed down from the national level and school officials.

Other executives play crucial top-level roles within the chapter. For instance, the chapter vice president may be seen as a complementary, hands-on role to carry out the president’s vision (and that of the chapter overall). Some of the vice president’s jobs might include leading executive council meetings, overseeing committee chairpersons, helping with officer transitions, and taking on the president’s responsibilities when they are unable to do so.

Operational Executive Board

Chapter leadership roles serve as just one part of a larger leadership structure. Their functions complement other roles, including the:

• Recruitment chair: A recruitment chairperson and their committee help carry out a fair and sustainable recruitment process, host values-based rush events, manage the voting and bidding process, and initiate new members.
• Philanthropy chair: Your chapter likely supports numerous causes via hands-on philanthropic partnerships, which, while critical, require lots of work to maintain. The philanthropy chair’s role involves working with philanthropic partners to coordinate fundraising events, report progress, engage members in giving, and forge strong community connections. 
• Treasurer: A treasurer may not have direct power over the chapter as a whole, but they handle one of the most critical parts of fraternity and sorority management — finances. The treasurer leads the chapter in setting and managing the budget for each semester or school year, collecting membership dues, and keeping meticulous records of financial transactions, ideally using financial management software to do so. This helps the chapter maintain transparency in the community and work toward larger goals.

Depending on your specific chapter’s goals or needs, you likely have even more middle-tier key players (such as an event planning chairperson, fundraising chairperson, etc.) helping you manage your operations. Remember that each of these individuals can make a difference to your chapter as a whole as they’re encouraged to participate and grow within their roles fully.

General Membership

Even if they don’t have an official title, all members should take ownership of certain responsibilities to ensure a great experience for everyone. This means that each member must act with the chapter’s best interests in mind. For example, they’re expected to:

• Pay their membership dues on time
• Attend study hours
• Participate in fundraisers and events
• Follow the rules and house regulations
• Engage with the community
• Positively reflect your chapter’s values

These seemingly small tasks make a big difference in the chapter’s success. Set these expectations at the beginning of each school year, as well as during new member orientation.

How to Improve Fraternity and Sorority Management

Top tip: Use tailored management software

Solid management takes a concerted effort on the part of every chapter member, and there are many moving parts to account for. But don’t stress about getting caught up in the shuffle — effective fraternity and sorority management software can make managing your chapter worry-free.

Management software can empower everyone in your chapter, from top-level leaders to new members, to max out their potential in their roles. For instance, a leading solution can help you with every aspect of fraternity and sorority management, such as:

• Automating administrative tasks. Manually updating information or sending out regular communications can be exhausting and time-consuming. Management software can remove these tasks from your plate so you can focus on responsibilities that require your unique skills and perspective.
• Data and analytics reporting. The best way to find opportunities for improvement is by drawing insights from key performance indicators (KPIs). Software solutions help you effortlessly collect this information and display it in a digestible visual format. 
• Streamlining recruitment and member engagement. Coordinating hundreds of members at a time is no small feat, but solutions with native communication apps help you reach your members where they likely are — on the go, on their phones!
• Standardizing financial management and billing. Your members are busy between school, your chapter, and other activities. Make their lives easier by offering automatic dues processing. Plus, leading systems can flag any inconsistencies so you can give them a second look before any issues snowball. 
• Recruiting PNMs. Recruitment is one of the most essential parts of sorority and fraternity life and can be overwhelming for both your executive board and PNMs. Software solutions allow you to automatically schedule events, send out updates, and catalog important information about your PNMs. 

Work with your executive board and national advisors to determine what management software is best suited for your chapter and budget. We recommend choosing software like OmegaFi that’s custom-made for chapters like yours! OmegaFi has all of these essential features and more — it’s the ultimate tool for any chapter leader on the collegiate level.

Other Sorority and Fraternity Management Tips

Keep these other fundamentals in mind when revamping your management approach:

• Provide proper training. Providing role-specific training for members is essential for success right out of the gate. After all, many members join chapters like yours to learn transferable skills, so they’ll likely be eager to undergo training. Just make sure that required training materials are comprehensive and convenient to ensure they actually follow through.
• Check in with leadership. At the collegiate level, you always have an upper level of management to report to, and they can be an extremely helpful resource. Schedule regular meetings with higher-ups to sync on progress, troubleshoot issues, and strategize for the future.
• Develop a risk management plan. As a manager, you need to expect the unexpected to maintain a strong program no matter what! Meet with leaders to create contingency plans in case unforeseen events occur. For instance, you might plan for how you’ll adjust dues in a recession or how to jumpstart recruitment if you have a significant lull.

No matter how you manage your chapter, it’s essential to foster a culture of commitment across all leadership levels. For different tiers of leadership to work well together, everyone must do their part the best they can. If you’re part of a higher management level, be a resource for those reporting to you so everyone feels supported as they grow in their leadership skills!

Wrapping Up

Now that you have the basics of sorority and fraternity management down, you’re ready to improve your chapter’s leadership structure! Remember, effective leadership relies on collaboration, so ensure all tiers of management are on the same page as you enact changes. 

Looking for more information about managing your fraternity or sorority? Check out these additional resources:

• What Is Fraternity Software? Learn more about fraternity and sorority management software and how it can benefit your organization.
• Fraternity Recruitment Basics. Recruitment is one of the most crucial efforts your chapter makes each semester. Use this guide to learn how to get it right.
• How to Improve Sorority and Fraternity Alumni Relations. Are you a national executive looking for advice on alumni relationship management? Start with Pennington & Co’s guide made for professionals.