Healthy Hives Impact Report
While we published a condensed version of the Chapter Health Impact Report in this year’s Golden Chevron, we wanted to publish the full report to provide an encompassing overview of the Chapter Health program where we create Healthy Hives.
Chapter Support History
For most of our existence, we utilized a volunteer model to support our chapters through different name variations of Traveling Leadership Consultants, Chapter Success Coordinators, etc. While the intention of supporting the chapter with one-on-one help was necessary, it wasn’t being implemented across the board in the same way. Additionally, chapters that were having more challenges than others needed a more hands-on approach than a volunteer could give.
Coming out of the height of the pandemic our chapters needed even more support in remembering the “why”, “what”, and “how” when thinking about Omega Phi Alpha. To support that effort, rebuild connections with the national organization as a whole, and engage with chapters more consistently, the Board of Directors made the decision to bring on paid Chapter Health Specialists (CHS) to replace the Chapter Success Coordinators (CSC).
Along with this decision came the efforts to consistently “audit” chapters and place them in three categories:
- Endangered
- At-Risk
- Healthy
Endangered and At-Risk chapters were identified by membership numbers, chapter morale, and other chapter concerns that were impacting the overall health of the chapter.
Launching the Chapter Health Program
Stormy Scott (Alpha Alpha) and Taylor Outler (Chi), were the first two Chapter Health Specialists on the national team that focused on supporting six endangered chapters for the 2021-2022 academic year. The chapters that were assigned a CHS reported how beneficial a dedicated, helpful, and responsive contact with the national organization was to chapter success and growth. This program was such a huge success that we renewed the initial contracts for an additional six months.
During the 2022-2023 academic year we maintained this model of paid CHS to work directly with endangered and at-risk chapters. We have welcomed two additional chapter health specialists, April (Mu) and Jenna Zielinski (Omega) and promoted Taylor Outler to Chapter Health Manager.
The Chapter Health Manager oversaw the entire chapter health initiative and built this program by creating relevant monthly training for chapters, assisting with officer specific training opportunities, strengthening chapter alumni relations, and creating resources and tool kits as a need was identified or a chapter request was made. Taylor also pushed to create systems to support chapters and track their progress in quantitative and qualitative ways.
With the great push into expansion over the last year and a half, we had three prospective new chapters in 2022. Part of the chapter health included onboarding these new chapters into active chapter life after expansions. It was crucial to continue this level of chapter health support to ensure that our new chapters transitioned well and our remaining struggling chapters receive the additional personalized assistance that they need. We view chapter health to us is ensuring that all members that make up our chapters have the tools and resources they need to be well and informed themselves so in turn they can lead their chapters successfully.
The Impact of the Chapter Health Program
“We can’t have healthy hives, without healthy bees.” – Taylor Outler (Chi)
During the virtual Convention in 2021, we announced the shift to a robust chapter health program. Now, three years later, we can provide a deeper update on the impact of this program.
What Is The Program?
Chapter health has the goal in mind that we want all chapters to maintain a status of “healthy”. What does that mean? We want chapters that meet all metrics of chapter checkouts – acquiring that coveted “A” grade but also are primed to handle conflicts, and officer transitions, maintain a healthy chapter morale, and most importantly always engage with the National team every step of the way. We have found these things lead to successful chapters. Below we will dive deeper into how we are laying the foundation for chapters to gain a healthy status.
Officer Leadership Academy
In August 2022, we had our first Officer Leadership Academy which was a 2-day virtual event required for officers with various breakout sessions. We held an after-action event review and sent out feedback surveys. From the feedback and overall review, we realized that it felt too long to be on the computer for day-long sessions. Some officers also had to miss events throughout the weekend. This shifted to us in the Spring 2023 semester, having Officer Leadership Academy Workshop events throughout the semester open to all, but required for chapter officers on a CAP to attend at least one session.
After that semester, we saw the positive impact Officer Leadership Academy was having and we wanted to expand our reach. So, in the Fall 2023 semester, we made it mandatory for all chapter officers to attend at least one session per semester, with the sessions still open to all members. We also started to offer an incentive for the members who attended the most sessions to receive a gift card and branded Tumbler.
In January 2024, we had a required officer training focused on specific positions. This provided a deep dive into their role for newer officers and an overall refresher about their roles and responsibilities. This was also an opportunity to talk through specific issues or common things we see arise. It also allowed for members from different chapters to share ideas with one another. 71% Attendees from this semester stated they wanted to see more events like this. One attendee event stated “I thought it was very helpful, especially for officers who may not have been in the position before. I also enjoyed speaking with other service directors from differing chapters to bounce off of ideas and attempt to try some new things within our personal chapters.”
Officer Leadership Academy Sessions are always recorded or the presentation is sent out afterwards for participants to refer back to. There is an OLA Playlist on our YouTube channel, so it lives on! We send out surveys to members to ask for their feedback on the sessions and what they would like to see in the future. When deciding sessions for the next semester, the Chapter Health Team takes the feedback survey responses into consideration, we take note of what we see chapters are needing support with, and we ask for suggestions from the Operational Leadership Team. We are excited to continue Officer Leadership Academy and provide more workshops and training for all of our members.
Spring 2023 OLA Sessions
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Fall 2022 (2-Day Iteration)
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Spring 2024 OLA Sessions
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Fall 2023 OLA Sessions
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What’s New in HQ
What’s New in HQ (WNHQ) is an intentional update from the chapter health team to support officers with knowing what to do, what new things are happening, and what resources they can access. This has seen many iterations, as we implement the feedback we get from officers to make them fun, more interactive, and apply to all officers. When these started off as monthly newsletters, we partnered it with the theme – Healthy Hives: A Guide to Building Strong Chapters. This curated a monthly topic to support each chapter’s growth and flag for them important things to consider such as finances, recruitment, chapter wellness, alumni engagement, and more.
Some shifts include sisterhood engagement ideas, service organizations to support, sending them weekly instead of monthly, providing fun facts, and more! We also asked our officers if it was helpful, here what some had to say:
Testimonials
“Yes! I love getting these because it helps me remember things at a glance and know what’s upcoming as well as little holidays we can incorporate during the week!”
“I liked that they are sending out reminders. It was helpful because it allowed me to send thing in on time!”
“Yes!!! The answer to this question is and always will be that these are SO SO helpful and I hope you all never stop doing them! I’m so excited that our chapter even got to win a discount on our convention delegates by reading these and responding! I think these emails serve as such a creative and impactful way to engage chapters and connect us to the national team!”
“Yes, I love the little fun facts in them like what made galentine’s popular . I do find it helpful that all the national deadlines are included.”
Resources
Each semester, our team strived to improve and create resources based on active member feedback and observations from our team on what is needed and missing. Additionally, we have created constant feedback loops to hear more on what resources they needed to be successful. Here is a list of all resources created and updated to date:
- Chapter Alumni Map
- Weekly What’s New In HQ (transitioned from monthly)
- From Bid Day to Activation-Gifts to Welcome New Members as They Become a Part of OPhiA (including Big/Little ideas!)
- Chapter Timeline
- Meet the Sisters/Members Guide
- CH-10: Chapter Alumni Advisor
- Updated Shortened New Member Timeline
- Chapter University Offerings
- Ceremony Manual (Updated 2023)
- Welcome to Chapter Health Program Video
- Active Retreat Planning Guide
- Sisterhood Director Manual
- Summer Opportunities for Members
- Chapter Wellness Facilitator Guide
- Role of a Big Sister Guide
- Active Recruitment Planning Guide
- Standard Operating Procedure for Chapter Health Specialists
- A Week in the Life of Chapter Health
- Executive Board 101 Training
- Chapter Management 101
- Managing Expectations
- Honoring Sisters Guide
- Chapter Diversity Officer Manual
- Shadowing an Officer
- Standard Operating Procedure for Executive Board Officer Roles
- Shared Values Workshop
- Lifetime Membership Workshop
- Leadership Training
- Updating OPhiA 101
- Founder’s Day Guide
- Alumni Engagement Guide
- Small Chapter Survival Guide
- Secretary Manual
- Meeting Minutes Template
- Chapter Time Conflict Form
- Formal Planning Guide
- Active Retreat Planning Guide
- Fundraising Manual
- Treasure Manual
- Chapter Budget Tips
- Convention Fundraising Guide
- Vice President Manual
- Bid Day Planning Guide
Chapter Assistance Plans
The chapter health team has worked hard to refine and standardize the Chapter Assistance Plan (CAP) approach. Rather than restricting CAPs to chapters facing evident challenges, we’ve extended their application to chapters encountering difficulties in just one or two aspects of their health and operations. Additionally, we’ve engaged members of the Sorority Board of Directors to co-host some of the mandatory training sessions for CAP-affiliated chapters, fostering stronger bonds between the national organization and active members. CAPs now revolve around specific themes, such as:
- Maintaining/Sustaining Chapter Foundations and Membership
- Lack of Leadership Development
- Service
- Finances
- Chapter Morale/Wellness
- Diversity In Chapter
- Recruitment
- Transitioning
- Communication
- New Member Process
Improving National Systems
There are many little shifts that we introduced with this program to ensure member retention, officer retention and understanding, and relationship building with the national organization.
- Updating required “turn-in” items to be more user-friendly and only ask questions that are truly needed. We used the mid-year report and annual report as metrics for chapter size, finances, etc but also to gauge chapter support, chapter morale, and more.
- Creating easier pathways for finances was a crucial need and goal from our Managing Director. Utilization of We Pay and Stripe to avoid the third-party money transfer platforms due to government changes while also providing education to chapters on why that is changing and how it impacts them personally. With these changes it also offered the opportunity for payment plans for active members. Additionally, providing a budget template that can be used for the monthly reconciliations and aligns with the Annual Financial Report for ease.
- Recruitment recap meetings to intentionally reach out to chapters who either struggled with recruitment by not meeting their goals by 5 or more to support, provide resources, and find out why. Additionally, meeting with folks who had great success to find out their approach and share it with others. Partnered with this, creating a recruitment resource bank so they can easily access themes for socials.
- Supporting chapters with recruitment financially via recruitment assistance funding. This process includes chapters who are classified as endangered, at-risk, or conditional automatically receiving funding and other chapters also being able to apply. We want to always prioritize resources for chapters who are struggling to help them get over the hump. Chapters share their plans for recruitment and their current finances. If we aren’t able to provide funding we provide creative solutions on ways they can cut costs, engage with alumni, and more.
- Requiring monthly officer reports have supported directly with our connection and understanding of what’s happening at the chapter level. Allowing us to see what they are working on currently, how is it going in their role, how do they feel about certain aspects of their chapter and national resources, chapter wins, and share if they need any support.
- Shifting main communications with chapters to two main spaces, GSuite emails provided by the OPhiA Foundation and Slack.
Chapter Checkouts
These were introduced to the chapters in the Spring of 2023. Chapters receive a “grade” from Nationals based on their meeting of certain criteria. A new way for chapters to wrap up their semester included a chapter checkout with a member of the Chapter Health Team. This process aims to ensure chapters understand their status with the national organization before the start of the next school year, and the chapter health team is able to confirm officer transitions have occurred, all officers have access to correspondence and proper officers have access to the bank account. Leaving this meeting, incoming and outgoing chapter presidents will understand the requirements for next year, general expectations, and steps moving forward. These include
- Email Correspondence and Utilization
- Completion of Items by Due Date
- Recruitment Goals Being Met
- Disassociation Rates
- Slack Utilization
- Financial Stability and Practices
- Service Requirements
A total of 6 chapters received a letter grade of A for the 2022-2023 school year
- Gamma **
- Epsilon **
- Omicron **
- Alpha Delta **
- Alpha Omicron
- Alpha Rho
A total of 13 chapters received a letter grade of A for the 2023-2024 school year
- Gamma
- Epsilon**
- Rho**
- Nu
- Omicron**
- Alpha Zeta**
- Alpha Iota**
- Alpha Lambda
- Alpha Omicron
- Omega**
- Alpha Phi**
- Chi**
- Alpha Pi
** These chapters were assigned a Chapter Health Specialist or worked closely with the Chapter Health Manager.
Additionally, chapters were given their status for the fall semester, reviewed their Chapter Assistance Plan (if applicable), and shared insight on their chapter morale and transition process. It also served as a prime opportunity for reminding chapters about getting new officers on Slack, transitioning folks on OPAportal, completing the annual report and annual financial report, awards, and transitioning their bank accounts. Chapter Health plans to continue with the chapter checkouts next spring.
Incentivizing and Honoring Success
Chapter Health made the decision to budget for incentives for chapters to achieve their goals. Things that have been offered included:
- All chapters with an activation rate above 90% will receive a gift card and the Membership Director will receive a branded tumbler
- The person who attends the most Officer Leadership Academy sessions will receive a gift card and a branded tumbler
- The chapter with the most service hours for the 2023-2024 academic year will receive a $50 gift card to their place of choice
- The member with the most service hours for the 2023-2024 academic year will receive a $50 gift card to their place of choice
- Chapters that receive an “A” grade during chapter checkouts for the 2023-2024 academic year will receive a $50 pick-your-own gift card at the start of the Fall 2024 semester
Additionally, we sent $50 pick-your-own gift cards to each chapter in the Fall 2023 semester. Chapters could use a website to select the specific gift card. Many chapters chose restaurant gift cards so they could provide food/snacks at a chapter event.
For the Fall 2022 school year, we provided chapters with a list of items to choose from that centered around recruitment support and enhancement, including:
- Greek Wooden Letters
- OPhiA Flag
- Foldable Pull Wagon
- OPhiA Banner
- Projector with Screen
- Portable Speaker
Has it worked?
We have seen drastic changes in actives, most importantly the connection and communication with the national organization. Chapters know and want to come to us so we can support them. However, don’t just hear it from us, hear it from them! This program has worked closely with ALL chapters with them either being on a Chapter Assistance Plan as an endangered, at-risk, or under review chapter, being conditional status, or they were in need of some deeper support.
“I know our chapter has had a rough couple of semesters, especially during my time in this chapter, but I am very thankful to have people like you to offer support and continuing to believe in our chapter despite these difficulties. The tremendous growth Alpha Theta has seen this semester that we needed in order to win an award of this magnitude is partly the commitment of our members and my incredible exec, but also a large part to do with the team at nationals”
Maintaining Healthy Hives For The Future
The Future of Chapter Health
As Taylor’s term as Chapter Health Manager was coming to an end, the Managing Director, Board of Directors, and other National Team Staff saw a need for this role to evolve and expand in order to support our daily operations, meeting our strategic goals, and the overall longevity of the sorority. So, the role of Program Director was created to continue the Chapter Health Program while also taking on additional programs and tasks. It was a month-long interview process with the Managing Director, Chapter Health Manager, and the Board of Directors. The role officially started on May 1st, 2024 and I have been working closely with Taylor and Alyssa during the transition.
As Program Director, I plan on keeping all of the current Chapter Health programming and initiatives in order to continue all of the great things we have been doing. I will take the feedback from our members so, we can improve and revamp to keep making an impact on the organization. I am excited to also implement some new ideas to expand Chapter Health as we enter a new era. Our goal is for all of our hives to be healthy and thriving.
While serving as a member of the Chapter Health Team, we have created and developed many resources to help chapters. Now, the mission is to see what else is needed, so we can create those resources, while updating what we already have. This way, we can ensure members have the resources that they need and that all resources are current and up to date.
As I have started as Program Director, we have hired 2 new chapter health specialists to join the team and to support chapters’ on a chapter assistance plan (CAP). I am looking forward to expanding our reach to make sure our relationships are strong with all chapters and all members. That way, we can ensure everyone is knowledgeable about the programming and resources available to support each member and chapter with whatever they may need. As we have established many routines and procedures, I’m looking forward to taking a deeper dive to see what else our members may need and how the chapter health team can support that with what we already currently do. The purpose of chapter health is that we are here for YOU!
My role will also take on programming for all members which includes service and alumni. I want to remind our members to keep service at the forefront of all that we do. I’m looking forward to forming more National Service partnerships after the success of Gift of Life. I also plan on supporting alumni engagement so that alumni can feel connected to the national organization and our chapters throughout the country. Many alumni members may not be close to their home chapter anymore, but that doesn’t mean they can’t support a chapter that’s in their new backyard. Plus, with over 12,000 alumni across the country and the world, we need to continue to find ways to connect with one another. I will continue to highlight the importance of lifetime membership through friendship, leadership, and service.
The Chapter Health Team is also looking forward to District Summits coming back in a big way! This way, our members can continue to connect with one another from other chapters, learn new things, get new ideas, serve together, and develop their leadership skills.