Dear sisters,
The theme of the past few years has been CHAPTER HEALTH and we continue to see our chapters grow and succeed under the leadership of our national staff. This past year, we’ve gathered more feedback than ever before from our chapter leaders and members and have taken that to implement new resources, new training, and to initiate important conversations. All of this is fitting considering our word of the year for 2023 was responsibility.
I remember just a few years ago when contacting chapters seemed impossible; our volunteer leaders were spending hours each week just trying to get in touch with chapter officers to find out how things were going or to collect required forms. With the use of Google Workspace (provided by the Omega Phi Alpha Foundation) and Slack, we have significantly improved our communication with all chapters. It is very rare that we don’t hear from a chapter at least once a month.
As our communication has increased, chapter leaders have provided excellent and thoughtful feedback about the operations of the sorority. Keep reading for how we have implemented this feedback over the past 6 months and how we will continue to do so moving forward.
Our Service Impact
Our collegiate members completed almost 19,000 hours of service last semester. This equates to $285,000 of potential saved labor costs at a living wage of $15 per hour. The chapter with the highest number of service hours was Alpha Rho at Virginia Tech with 1,655 hours of service. We had 5 other chapters complete over 1,000 hours of service.
The national leadership team continues to monitor the impact of service and ensure that all chapters engage in hands-on service opportunities and utilize the service tracking features in OPAportal to their fullest extent. With feedback from chapters, we are working to launch a new, interactive service project list. This list will allow all members (including alumni) to submit their favorite service opportunities so that chapter Service Directors always have new ideas to choose from. Last semester, we updated our expectations of service and worked to standardize the level of service being offered by all of our chapters. We continue to ensure that chapter-planned service projects fit the true intention of each area of service.
Membership Growth
I, along with the Board of Directors and Chapter Health Manager, continue to focus heavily on membership growth to ensure that the sorority is sustainable for many years to come. Last academic year, we added 4 new chapters to Omega Phi Alpha with all of those seeing substantial semester-over-semester membership growth. While our expansions process has slowed down (see: sustainability), we continue to follow potential leads for new chapters and execute targeted outreach efforts.
The Chapter Health Team continues to set realistic recruitment goals for each chapter, each semester. We provide recruitment training and coaching to all chapter Membership Directors and also hold post-recruitment recap meetings to debrief the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that all chapter leaders feel well-equipped to bring in new members in a way that is sustainable for their chapter.
In Fall 2023, our chapters extended bids to 338 potential new members, and we welcomed 232 of those individuals into Omega Phi Alpha. The number of members activated was down from Fall 2022, and the activation rate from bids extended saw no growth.
The number of members that were disassociated in Fall 2023 significantly dropped from the previous two semesters, which is a huge win. A couple of chapters have high numbers and we are addressing the reason for those directly with chapter leadership.
The number of members on Leave of Absence in Fall 2023 also significantly decreased from previous Fall semesters. In fact, it was the lowest percentage of overall membership on LOA in a Fall semester since we started tracking the data in Fall 2018. We have made an effort to help chapter officers better understand the purpose of a leave of absence semester and changes implemented last year (no consecutive LOA semesters) have greatly contributed to this improvement.
New Resources
The Chapter Health Team continues to create and update resources specifically needed by active members as the need presents itself. All of these can be accessed via OPAportal, including:
- 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)
Based on feedback from members, we made the decision this year to budget for incentives for chapters to achieve their goals. Some of the incentives we are offering are:
- 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.
Fostering Healthy Chapters
Continuing our commitment to helping chapters improve chapter operations, increase chapter membership, and work towards the mission and vision of Omega Phi Alpha, the chapter health team held our very first retreat in person in Denver, CO. Taylor, Stormy, Jenna, and Alyssa all came together for a weekend to strategize about the future of Omega Phi Alpha based on the strategic vision provided by the Sorority Board of Directors. We set actionable goals for the next two years, discussed immediate chapter concerns, and planned new resources to prepare for chapters. We also did some convention and Officer Leadership Academy planning. It was a wonderful weekend together bonding and planning for the future.
The chapter health team has worked hard to refine and standardize the Chapter Assistance Plan (CAP) approach. Instead of using CAP just for chapters that are clearly struggling, we have started to utilize it for struggling chapters with just one or two areas of chapter health and operations. We have also utilized members of the Sorority Board of Directors to help host some of the trainings we are requiring of chapters on a CAP. Chapter officers are very familiar with members of the chapter health team, so it’s nice to have a new face now and then! When asked what the biggest chapter was this past semester, one of our Chapter Presidents shared, “We had a CAP this semester which I felt like helped very much, so really we didn’t struggle very much.” This approach has received a lot of positive feedback and has allowed our team to connect with chapters that most members would consider “healthy” or “strong.”
We are very excited to offer continued leadership and personal development opportunities to our members. If you have an area of expertise that you’d like to share with our members (Teach-a-Sister national project, maybe?), please reach out to Taylor Outler at [email protected].
Future Focused
We are looking forward to Convention 2024 in Greenville, SC, and are diligently working to finalize the schedule so that we can launch registration on February 15, 2024. We are excited to lean into the theme of “helping hands” with our service project opportunities and workshops that will be offered. For the first time, all attendees will have the opportunity to receive a professional certification. Thousands of alumni live within a 3-hour drive of Greenville, so we would love to see you there! Convention is the best time to reconnect with your sisters and remember why you joined this amazing organization.
Stay tuned to social media and your email to get updates from the sorority.
And don’t forget – log into OPAportal and update your information!
In sisterhood,
Alyssa Bernhardt
Managing Director