FARMHOUSE
QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK - Part 2
(From recent Inside FH newsletters)
* Past questions can be found at
this link.
- "We're a few
weeks away from our chapter elections. What kinds of traits
and characteristics should we be looking for in our new chapter
officers?"
- "I'm thinking about
running for President, what is the FarmHouse Leadership Academy?"
- "We've really worked
hard on getting guys to follow our risk management policy,
but we're having trouble with the part in the FIPG policy
about not allowing hunting rifles in the house. With as many
guys hunting as we have, how do you suggest we approach this?"
- "Could you provide
that information about preparing the house for the Christmas
break?"
- "In looking at the
calendar, we'll have already started classes before the Leadership
Academy begins. What should we do?"
- "We're wanting to
put on our first officer transition program that we've had
since I've been here, what should it include?"
- "Could you share some
pointers for chapters on being careful about who comes into
the chapter house over the break?"
- "We're working on
a Master Calendar for next semester. We haven't really ever
did one since I've been here. What might have we forgotten
about?"
- "I see on the Chapter
Award of Excellence that we get credit for initiating associate
members. Could you explain what an associate member is and
why we should initiate them?"
- "Could you explain
what our International Dues go towards?"
- "At our chapter exec
retreat this month, we started looking at the Chapter Award
of Excellence and the Chapter Programming Awards for 2003-04
that are due March 1st. What are some of the keys to filling
out the information?"
- "In completing our
Term Report, we've got several guys who are now 5th year members;
do we still pay dues on them?"
- "You guys spoke briefly
about an Individual Award of Excellence at the Leadership
Academy. Could you share how we can get that started in our
chapter?"
- "We received a 1099
form from our bank, where we currently hold a savings/money
market account. What do we need to do to file this? We haven't
received one before."
- "We're working on
plans for a philanthropy and wanted to see if there's an international
philanthropy that all FarmHouse chapters are supposed to support.
Could you help?"
- "We didn't realize
there were so many more documents required now to be submitted
with the Chapter Award of Excellence. What's the deal with
the changes? It seems like a lot of extra unnecessary paperwork."
- "As we get ready
for spring break, what are some of the things we need to be
sure to do by the end of the semester?"
- "How did the 5 members
of FH at any given place or time be considered an FH function
come about? Our chapter was wondering how that rule can truly
be enforced. And why the number is (only) 5? Could you help
better explain it to the chapter why/how the rule is there?"
- "I recall reading
from the Fall Board Meeting Minutes that the International
Board approved two dues increase proposals, which would be
forwarded on to the chapters and associations. Could you provide
some detail behind the plan that's being proposed?"
- "With Founders' Day
quickly approaching, what are some things that our chapter
members should have in mind for how to approach the day's
activities?"
- "Do we need to do
one big service project as a chapter for the Promise of Service
Week or can each guy do different service projects?"
- "Our chapter has
never done summer recruitment before. How do we go about it?"
- "We read something
about a FarmHouse International Community Service Man of the
Year award. What's that all about?"
- "I know we are late
sending in the name of our delegates for Conclave, but could
you tell me more about their responsibilities?"
- "I'm the new house
manager and heard you can send us something about making sure
the house is ready for the summer break. Can you help?"
- "Could you provide
an update on how the lobbying effort in Washington, DC, went
for last week for the Housing Bill?"
- "What are some of
the key things judges are looking for in the scholarship applications
and about how many applications do you get a year?"
- "We received something
in the mail earlier this month about a proposal to change
Conclave voting. Could you provide some more info about this?"
- "I've heard there's
some cool stuff happening at Conclave this summer. Is there
something I can pass on to my guys that will help them decide
to attend?"
- "I read somewhere
that the deadline for the website competition is July 1 and
that the judges will be other chapters. Can you tell me exactly
how and when the websites are judged? Are they judged on the
day of July 1? How do chapters submit their votes? Do we need
to judge the competition? Do we need to submit any paperwork
to enter our website in the competition? Thanks for your help."
- "I'm serving
as the Conclave delegate for our chapter and see that I've
been assigned to a committee at Conclave. What's expected
of me with this?"
- "Did I miss
something letting us know what the dress code will be at Conclave
and any other final things to remember for Conclave?"
- "At Conclave,
you mentioned that every chapter would receive a consultation
visit one semester and a targeted visit from Trent the opposite
semester. Could you provide that schedule?"
- "We need some
basic resource for our guys about parli pro and conducting
a meeting. Can you help?"
- "In completing
our Term Report, we've got several guys who are now 5th year
members; do we still pay dues on them?"
- "We heard something
about a big initiation ceremony at the 100th Anniversary.
How's that going to work?"
- "Who do we contact
about ordering more pledge pins? And how do we go about reserving
one of the displays?"
- "I know we elected
four alumni to the International Board at Conclave, but I
never really understood what they do. Could you help explain
it?"
- "How can our
chapter have the featured picture on farmhouse.org?"
- "Is it true that having empty liquor bottles as decorations in our rooms in the chapter house could void our insurance coverage?"
- "I understand universities are taking a much
different approach to hazing now than they used to. Could you help shed
some light on this?"
- "I've seen things about questionable Halloween
costumes - how should I approach my chapter about this?"
- "We just received a brochure about this Member Accident Program, what is it?"
QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "We're a few weeks away from our chapter elections.
What kinds of traits and characteristics should we be looking
for in our new chapter officers?"
RESPONSE --- For an organization that focuses
on values-based leadership like FarmHouse, it's critical that
your chapter officers have a firm grasp of what FarmHouse stands
for and the ideals we were founded upon. As you seek out potential
future leaders for your chapter refer back to The Object and
our ritual as your guide. Below are a few important traits that
we find valuable for each chapter leader to possess:
* someone who leads by example;
* has a positive attitude;
* is goal-oriented;
* is a good listener;
* willing to hold others and themselves accountable;
* and will keep focused on what's best for the organization.
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK? --- "Is it true that having empty
liquor bottles as decorations in our rooms in the chapter house
could void our insurance coverage?"
RESPONSE --- The 2004 FarmHouse Leadership
Academy is a 4-day program that runs from Jan. 8-11, 2004 in
Kansas City, Mo. The Academy is a dynamic program that helps
equip chapter presidents and recruiters with the tools, resources
and support needed to excel during their terms of office. This
is the 5th year of the Leadership Academy (12th year for presidents).
We'll have separate tracks for chapter presidents and chapter
recruitment coordinators. Each chapter president and one recruiter
from each chapter is invited to participate in this year's program.
The Leadership Academy provides a unique
opportunity for new chapter leaders to be able to learn, gain
new insights and information and share ideas with other leaders
from FarmHouse chapters throughout the United States and Canada.
The presidents track features programs on leadership, strategic
planning, risk management, chapter finances, recruitment, running
effective meetings, conflict resolution, working with associations
and alumni, keys to successful chapters and much more.
Thanks to several generous grants from the
Foundation and continued support from Associations and Foundation
Councils and individual donors, the full cost of the conference
is covered for participants. The only cost for participants
is for any meals/snacks while traveling and lunch on Sunday.
All hotel room costs, airfare/gas reimbursements, meals and
program costs are covered through grants from the Foundation.
The conference begins at 6 pm on Thursday,
Jan. 8th and will wrap up before noon on Sunday, Jan. 11th.
We'll be expecting a few more chapters to
drive to the Academy this year than in years' past to help reduce
travel expenses. The 13 chapters within 8 hours distance of
Kansas City (or 550 miles 1-way) will be expected to drive to
the conference. For those driving, we'll reimburse gas and toll
costs for one vehicle per chapter.
We ask new chapter presidents to contact
our office as soon as elections take place to make arrangements
for you and your new recruiter to attend. Contact us at 800-722-1905.
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "We've really worked hard on getting guys to follow our risk management policy, but we're having trouble with the part in the FIPG policy about not allowing hunting rifles in the house. With as many guys hunting as we have, how do you suggest we approach this?"
RESPONSE --- This is perhaps one of the most
difficult and challenging aspects of FarmHouse being a part
of FIPG and FarmHouse having adopted the FIPG Risk Management
policy as our own. Due in large part to several chapters/associations
calling for change, the FarmHouse International staff has engaged
in recent discussions with the FIPG Board of Directors about
proposing a change to the FIPG policy that would allow unloaded
hunting rifles to be stored in a securely locked gun case in
the chapter house. However, we won't be able to vote on this
proposed change until the July 2004 Summer FIPG meeting.
In the meantime, we must continue to adhere
to the FIPG risk management policy (http://www.fipg.org)
, which states, "The possession and/or use of firearms
or explosive devices of any kind within the confines and premises
of the chapter house is expressly forbidden."
As for where chapter members might store
their hunting rifles:
- many university police stations have a separate area where
they will lock and store hunting rifles for students for free;
- some chapters have been able to identify an alumnus or advisor
in town who is willing to allow chapter members to store hunting
rifles in a gun case in his/her home;
- or you might contact your university fraternity affairs advisor
for suggestions on where to house hunting rifles.
The problem with chapters that look the other
way and allow brothers to store their guns in the chapter house
is that we could potentially risk loss of insurance coverage
should something go wrong (especially if it's determined that
a chapter or association knowingly allowed the policy to
be violated). While members possessing guns are undoubtedly
well trained in gun safety, FIPG has chosen to ban guns in chapter
houses altogether due to a host of potential liability concerns
(most university residence halls and university student housing
also prohibits gun).
The FarmHouse International Headquarters
plans to lobby for a compromise to this policy as noted above,
but for the next 9 months chapters must continue to follow and
uphold the FIPG policy as written to avoid jeopardizing our
liability insurance coverage.
As we prepare to argue our case to
FIPG, we'd like to hear whether this is an issue that other
FH chapters/associations have been grappling with. Please respond
to Jim@FarmHouse.org
...
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "Could you provide that information about
preparing the house for the Christmas break?"
RESPONSE --- We turn to Rich Jungman with
Kirklin & Company, the company that provides the FRMT Risk
Management liability insurance, with help on this one.
Each year universities and colleges across
the country close for holiday breaks and each year hundreds
and thousands of dollars are incurred on property insurance
losses due to not properly preparing a chapter house for the
holiday break. Last year’s winter, especially over the
extended school breaks, was mild. It was so mild many people
in the northern states were enjoying warm weather activities
over Thanksgiving and Winter Break. This year most long term
weather predictions are forecasting for below average temperatures
for most of the United States; therefore, preparation will be
critical to enjoy the same “good luck” experienced
last winter. Even if you don’t live in an area where a
freeze loss can occur there are risks to a chapter house which
increase during these two breaks.
We need your help in replicating this “good luck”
even if the weather doesn’t cooperate. A vast majority
of all fraternity property claims which occurred during these
two extended breaks were avoidable. It takes only a little effort
on your part and, most importantly, very little expense to the
chapter. Please take the time to make sure your undergraduate
members adhere to the checklist provided below. We strongly
recommend the steps be communicated to them weekly up to the
start of the winter break. If we help you avoid a claim at your
chapter house this upcoming winter break, we also help YOU avoid
a very big headache not to mention helping you save money!
What are the leading risks to a chapter house during holiday
breaks?
1. Water pipes that freeze and burst;
2. Fire; and
3. Vandalism and theft.
What can you do to avoid these types of losses?
· Service your furnace: Routine maintenance is critical
and relatively inexpensive. In the long run it will save you
money. Your furnace will run more efficiently and be more dependable,
which is critical during periods when there will be no one around
to monitor its performance.
· Leave your furnace on and maintain the heat at 60 degrees.
· Shut off the water supply at the main valve and open
the faucets. If your property is equipped with a fire sprinkler
system, this step is not recommended!
· Make sure all hoses are removed from exterior water
spigots.
· If you leave the water on, open the faucets to a slow
drip. By keeping the water flowing through the pipes, it takes
more severe cold weather to cause the lines to freeze.
· Leave the doors to cabinets that contain water lines
open. This will allow heat to enter the area.
· Check all rooms and unplug all non-essential appliances
and electronics. The source of many fires was an improperly
used, unattended or malfunctioning appliance or space heater.
If they are not plugged in, they are not a threat.
· Hire someone or utilize a responsible member or alumni
to check on the property, at a minimum, every 24 hrs. Controlling
the extent of a loss after an occurrence is critical. Make sure
this designated person has the appropriate contact information.
We recommend the person is provided with:
· Alumni Contact
· A company such as ServiceMaster that can respond to
extract the water and/or secure the property from sustaining
further damage. You can locate a ServiceMaster franchise in
your area by calling 1-800-RESPOND.
· Insurance claim reporting information. Members of FPMA
can report a loss at our web site, www.kirklin.com,
or by calling 1-800-736-4327 ext. (1) 209.
· Make sure the chapter house is securely locked and
ask the local police department to check on it periodically
to deter vandals and thieves. Don’t forget to securely
store all valuables!
· Clean the chapter house before the break. This will
ensure that no heat registers are blocked and will reduce any
potential fire hazards.
· Replace the glass in all broken windows. A number of
freeze losses happened because a broken window allowed a near
by pipe to freeze.
This list of precautions is not intended
only for chapters in the North. In December of 1998 and January
of 1999 over 1.3 million dollars was paid out on freeze related
claims. A majority of these losses were chapter houses located
in the South. An unexpected cold spell hit the region and almost
no one took any preventive measures. Weathermen and women prove
every day that weather is unpredictable; regardless of geographical
location every chapter should follow the steps outlined above.
Why should you take the time to do this?
· The deductible for a freeze related claim under the
property insurance program is $10,000.00.
· All the recommended preventative steps are relatively
inexpensive or cost nothing more than a little of your time
and effort. You could incur the expenses associated with each
step listed above for the next ten years and not even come close
to the deductible amount.
· Dealing with an insurance claim is time consuming and
a hassle.
· Dealing with displaced tenants is a nightmare and can
result in decreased revenue when they don’t come back.
· Avoid a premium surcharge for a loss at renewal. A
loss or a combination of losses over a three-year period exceeding
$25,000.00 could result in a premium surcharge up to 70%. Ouch!
Talk about a budget killer.
· As a participant in the Fraternal Property Management
Association’s Property Insurance Program you can help
reduce loss frequency and severity, which will help in our efforts
to stabilize the skyrocketing cost of insurance for fraternal
properties.
What has been the impact in the past on failing
to undertake these remedial steps?
· During the 1998-1999 school year over 1.3 million dollars
was paid out on freeze related claims alone. That was 53% of
all claim dollars paid during the entire policy year!
· Since 1998 20% of all claim dollars paid has been attributable
to freeze related claims!
· Freeze losses are second only to fire in terms of claim
dollars paid and number of occurrences reported. And just like
fraternity fires, they typically involve human error and are
avoidable.
· The volume of property related claims is 50% higher
in November, December and January than any other month!
We appreciate your effort in preparing
for the upcoming breaks. To assist you in this endeavor, we
have posted an easy to use check list on our website. If you
have any questions or need additional assistance, please contact
Rich Jungman at 1-800-736-4327 ext (1) 215 or by email at rjungman@kirklin.com.
Thank you for your assistance.
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "In looking at the calendar, we'll have already started classes before the Leadership Academy begins. What should we do?"
RESPONSE --- We face this challenge every
few years with planning the dates for the FarmHouse Leadership
Academy. New Year's Day falls on a Thursday this year, which
presents challenges to our Thurs-Sun format for the Academy.
This year we'll have four chapters (Alberta,
Clemson, SD State and Guelph) that have started school when
the 2004 FH Leadership Academy takes place. It's never been
a problem in the past for the presidents and recruiters to be
allowed excused absences from school work. Based on past experience
and due to the nature of this impactful educational leadership
opportunity, we've never ran across a professor or dean of students
that didn't provide excused absences and a chance for students
to make up any missed work.
As we've done in the past, we'll be more
than happy to write a letter to any professors whose class these
eight men will be missing. We'd also encourage anyone facing
challenges with the start of the new school year to print off
a copy of the schedule that's attached to provide to your
professors and any teaching assistants for courses or labs that
you guys will have to miss on Thursday and Friday.
This is definitely one of those once-in-a-lifetime
opportunities that presidents and new recruiters can't afford
to miss. You'll gain so many valuable ideas and so much knowledge
about your positions. Just getting a chance to focus for 4 days
on your role and sharing ideas with the other 29 new chapter/colony
presidents/recruiters is so valuable - not to mention the many
focused training programs and sessions to help prepare you for
issues you may have to deal with. It'll be an experience you'll
never forget
Please let us know at 800-722-1905
if you need us to place some calls or write any letters to professors
if any of you are having difficulties with getting the time
off to attend the Academy. - JG
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "We're wanting to put on our first officer
transition program that we've had since I've been here, what should it include?"
RESPONSE --- An effective officer transition
program can mean everything to a new team of officers and the
continuity of a chapter. Without a solid officer transition
program new officers are left trying to sort through binders
and boxes, trying to make headway out of a bunch of disorganized
stuff. Often it takes a new officer two months to really understand
what it is he's supposed to be doing, leaving little time for
innovation and new programs/ideas. This is by no means an exhaustive
list, but we'd suggest chapters, associations and advisors consider
from among these ideas:
1. Each officer (exec and minor officers)
to complete an end-of-the-term typed report - might include
4-5 sections - 1) job description/responsibilities (always is
more than what bylaws state); 2) chapter accomplishments in
his area & update on progress on progress (so new officer
can take up where you left off an run with things); 3) troubleshooting
(I never expected it, but be ready for...); 4) future ideas/suggestions
for position; 5) other helpful info. Reports kept in 3-ring
binders, with other pertinent info.
2. Develop a process of chapter self-evaluation,
in which all chapter members evaluate how well the chapter did
this past year in the 10-15 critical areas of chapter operation
- and leave room for suggestions/ideas. Compile the written
results and share with the outgoing and incoming
officers, association leaders and advisors. This will help the
chapter with its focus and planning efforts.
3. Ensure that goals are not merely the officers'
goals - but the chapters' goals. These can't be effectively
created until feedback is solicited from past officers and the
chapter as a whole. The chapter leadership should work with
officers to focus on the big picture and the idea of a shared
vision. That means officers need to get full chapter buy in
and support before launching into new initiatives.
4. Plan at least a 4-hour period away from
the house in early December before finals. Make sure all of
your incoming officers and outgoing officers are present - as
well as chapter advisors. Set aside time for each officer to
sit down and go over the end-of-the-term reports, ask questions,
brainstorm on ideas with the outgoing officer. Have the officers
turn over binders, handbooks, etc. and discard materials that
are not needed. Set aside time for some team building activities
and brainstorming about the semester, plan for the chapter retreat/strategic
planning session (mid January with entire chapter), work on
calendar for the next semester, etc.
5. Plan a joint association board-chapter
executive board retreat - where all of your new chapter officers,
advisors and association leaders all spend a weekend together
(possibly at a cabin), brainstorm and work on plans for the
coming year. New chapter officers should spend time developing
goals and plans for the chapter for the next year, while the
association meets concurrently. Between the story telling, grilling
out and sharing FarmHouse experiences, you'd find time for the
association and chapter to present their plans/goals to one
another and spend time discussing the shared vision/long term
plans for your FarmHouse Chapter and Association.
Remember, the process of continual
improvement can be impossible if every exec team and set of
officers comes in and starts from scratch each semester. The
development of a strategic plan with long-range objectives,
and a mechanism to ensure that your short-term goals (1 year)
are consistent with the long-term plans is very important to
the process. - JG
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "Could you share some pointers for chapters on being careful about who comes into the chapter house over the break?"
RESPONSE --- Earlier this week one of our
FarmHouse chapters had a suspicious woman drop by the chapter
house who was dressed in a police outfit and claimed that she
was with the local police department. She said she received
a call about a domestic dispute at FarmHouse. She wanted to
look all throughout the house and wanted to talk to everybody.
Fortunately, the chapter suspected something
was amiss and wrote down her license plate number and contacted
the campus police. Turns out the lady was not a police officer.
In fact, she had stolen a Class B uniform, bullet proof vest
and gun from a neighboring town police department and had recently
been released from jail. She was arrested later this week after
the chapter's tip. The chapter and association suspect that
she was scouting out the chapter house before the holiday break.
Chapter leaders, advisors and association
leaders - be forewarned, theft from fraternity houses over the
holidays is a growing concern. Be careful who has access to
the house over the Holiday break and ensure that someone makes
a thorough check of the house daily throughout the break (several
times a day if possible).
Water pipe bursts, vandalism and theft can
cost chapters, associations and individuals members thousands
of dollars if you don't take careful precautions.
For more in-depth information about preparing
your house for the break, click on #4 at http://www.farmhouse.org/questions_week2.htm
...
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "We're working on a Master Calendar for
next semester. We haven't really ever did one since I've been
here. What might have we forgotten about?"
RESPONSE --- Often overlooked, a thorough
Master Calendar for a chapter can be a critical planning tool
to a chapter's success. The very idea of creating a calendar
seems simple. Pulling a complete one together can be much more
challenging than it seems.
First, each chapter officer should be asked
to submit the proposed dates for each of the major activities
he is responsible for that semester (ideally over the break
or at a new officers retreat before the semester begins). For
example: President/VP - retreats, strategic planning weekend,
Founders Day; Pledge Educator - major pledging activities, initiation,
etc.; Total Member Educator - resume workshops, alcohol programming,
etc.; Social Chair - formal, spring party, date parties, etc.;
Scholarship - Scholarship banquet, etc.; Service Chair - your
chapter's philanthropy dates plus the major chapter-wide service
project dates accounted for; House Manager - All-House Clean-Ups;
Treasurer - dates when house bills will be due; Brotherhood
Chair - brotherhood events; FarmHouse Pride Week; Chaplain -
weekly bible studies; Intramurals - whatever info he has at
this pt, etc.
Second, work with the association to get
all of the association meetings, the assoc-chapter planning
retreat, and other alumni events scheduled well in advance and
get those dates on the calendar. Work well in advance with your
Moms Club or Parents Club to get any Parents activities planned
and on the schedule.
Third, obtain a complete semesterly calendar
from IFC or Greek Life (Greek Week, officer roundtables, etc.),
the sorority philanthropies, important dates for the university
(spring break, finals week, when to drop a class w/o failing
grade, etc.).
Fourth, don't forget to plan for attending
the FarmHouse RLCs and note other important FH International
dates that apply to members (FH Int'l awards apps due March
1st, scholarship apps due June 1st, etc.) You can view that
at http://www.farmhouse.org/pdf/calendar.pdf
By getting all of this information pulled
together and compiled, it'll save your members tons of work
and will really make it look like your new exec team has got
it together. Being organized like this from the get go will
help you from double-scheduling events and will enable you to
hold your brothers more accountable. It'll take a lot of work
over the Christmas break, but it'll be worth it in the long
run. -- JG
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QUESTION OF THE WEEK?
--- "I see on the Chapter Award of Excellence
that we get credit for initiating associate members. Could you
explain what an associate member is and why we should initiate them?"
RESPONSE --- Chapters receive a bonus point
on the Chapter Award of Excellence application (due March 1,
2004) for initiating an associate member during the past year.
It's a nice carrot - but chapters and associations are really
missing out if they're not initiating at least one associate
member a year. There are countless men who are worthy near every
one of the campuses where we are located.
Associate membership is designated for men
who never joined another Fraternity during their undergraduate
years or didn't attend college yet have the qualities and characteristics
desired of a FarmHouse man (specifically character, scholarship
and professional excellence). Since a large majority are men
who are affiliated with the university, most go on to provide
valuable leadership and guidance to our chapters.It's becoming
increasingly important for our chapters and associations to
identify, invite and initiate men to become associate members,
particularly when you look at how we have fewer and fewer members
becoming university professors, majoring in agriculture and
living near the campus after graduation.
Amongst the roughly 23,000 lifetime initiates
in FarmHouse, more than 600 are associate members. Several have
received the Master Builder of Men Award, more than a few have
served on the FarmHouse International Board and Foundation Board
of Trustees, many have served as long-time advisors and leaders
of our associations.
"Like converts to Catholicism, they're
often more zealous than those born into the religion,"
says long-time FarmHouse Executive Director Bob Off about our
associate members. So, who might your chapter and association
select?
- One of the best choices, yet often overlooked,
fathers of FarmHouse men who either never joined a fraternity
as an undergraduate or never attended college.
- University Presidents, Deans of Agriculture, university student
recruiters, professors,administrators and coaches.
- Men who don't look or think quite like you do - maybe from
a different culture or background.
- Men who can be groomed to serve as advisors, academic counselors,
help with recruitment and assist in other important areas.
- Men who never married or are widowed turn out to be outstanding
associate members and advisors, as the chapter often becomes
their family.
- Men who are leaders in your community (in business, government,
etc.)
- Men who pledged the chapter as an undergraduate, but had to
withdraw for various reasons, yet still have a love for the
organization (whether it was demands on time, having to drop
out of school, transfer to another school, etc.).
Once initiated, Associate Members have full
voting rights at all Association meetings and have full privileges
of membership in the Fraternity. Associate Members go through
the same formal initiation as all other initiates, usually at
the same time as your fall and/or spring classes. A special
section can be added to the ritual of initiation if you have
associate members being initiated as well.
Initiation fees must be paid for Associate
Members (currently $90 per man, plus $30 if you want the certificate
plaqued), but these men aren't required to pay any semesterly
International Chapter Dues. Oftentimes chapters or associations
volunteer to cover the costs for the initiations, but sometimes
the associate members want to cover the costs themselves.
The bylaws now allow for chapters or
associations to take the lead in identifying and contacting
associate members, although the chapter, advisors and association
board are all required to approve of the candidates before the
initiation takes place. - JG
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "Could you explain what our International Dues
go towards?"
RESPONSE --- At the
following link is a chart breaking down the inflows (income)
and outflows (expenses) of the International Fraternity. We'd
encourage each chapter to print off the two pie charts and distribute
copies to your members to help them better understand what their
dues go towards.
To help you better understand what the actual
expenses are for various programs and initiatives the Fraternity
undertakes, the budget has been broken down to reflect the direct
cost of the programs and related overhead expenses (staff time)
for each of the programs. This is the best way to truly measure
where your dues go.
It's important to look at the two pie charts
side by side to see how many of our expenses are balanced with
income coming in to support those programs or portions of those
programs. For instance, Conclave expenses will account for 12
percent of our expenses for the year, yet 10 percent of our
income from the year is made up of income from Conclave registration
fees and money the Board sets aside for Conclave. Likewise,
Foundation staff and overhead expenses and FRMT dues premiums
are a wash (balance each other out) in our budget, since the
Fraternity's budget serves simply as a flow through for both.
Ultimately, the bulk of our members' dues
are provided to equip the FarmHouse International staff to provide
the programming, support and resources to best help our chapters
succeed.
We have a staff of three full-time employees
working for the Fraternity, two full-time employees working
for the Foundation and two full-time employees who split their
time between the Fraternity and Foundation and one part-time
webmaster. To see a breakdown of the various responsibilities
of each staff member, look at http://www.farmhouse.org/staff_email.htm
The areas we spend the most time and money
on include (see breakdown in attachment) - Conclave, FarmHouse
Leadership Academy, Regional Leadership Conferences/Career Days,
chapter support (consultations, targeted programming visits,
Regional Advisory Council coordination), recruitment assistance,
expansion, board meetings and training conferences and our publications
and web site (Pearls & Rubies, FarmHouse Flash, handbooks,
Inside FH).
For more detailed information, feel free
to contact Jim@FarmHouse.org
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "At our chapter exec retreat this month, we started
looking at the Chapter Award of Excellence and the Chapter Programming
Awards for 2003-04 that are due March 1st. What are some of
the keys to filling out the information?"
RESPONSE --- With the way that we've set
up the FarmHouse International Awards process and changes we've
made for 2003-04, it's imperative that chapters submit an entry
in all 12 chapter programming award areas as well as complete
the Chapter Award of Excellence. Since the scores on the Award
of Excellence account for 1/2 of the total in determining the
Ruby Cup, chapters should seek to score at least a 90 percent
on the Chapter Award of Excellence to be in the running for
the Ruby Cup.
As for the 12 programming award entries -
chapters should take the time to consider all the things that
you accomplished in that particular area in the past 14 months
(Jan. 1, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004). Make sure the goals you create
are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-restrictive).
All 12 of your entries should be set up in
the same format:
GOAL #1: xxx (that you had in Jan. 1, 2003)
Bullet points and/or paragragh explanations on what you did
as a chapter to achieve the goal (including details of whether
you achieved the goal or not, don't forget to include percentages
and other quantifiable descriptors to help judges understand.
Same for GOAL #2, #3, etc. Chapters should
set the format up with 3-5 goals in each area and detail how
they went about trying to achieve the goals. The judges will
be looking more for content, effort in achieving goals and pursuit
of your goals than they will be judging whether a chapter reached
every goal or not.
It's important that chapters put a full effort
into each of the 12 entries. In recent years we've had chapters
finish in the Top 5 in all areas except one and just tank in
that one, making it nearly impossible to win the Ruby Cup because
of a 14th place finish in the one area. Make sure you put a
full effort into each area.
Some other helpful pointers:
1) Make certain that none of your officers
try to submit last year's entry or simply go into the file and
change a few words. Worse yet, make certain that none of your
officers try to copy the goals, ideas, etc. from another chapters'
previous winning entries. (We had a chapter get disqualified
on several apps for that last year - resulting in us no longer
sending out the winning entries from the prior year as examples).
2) Have one brother (often past president
or current president or someone who's a wordsmith) compile all
the apps and work with the respective officers if parts are
lacking, format them all the same (point sizes, look, etc.)
and all in the same computer file.
3) The entries should be reviewed for content
as well as typos, grammar and other edits by as many people
as possible. It won't hurt to pass the drafts around at this
week's chapter meeting and have brothers go through and add
things that others have missed.
4) Don't list the goals you have just developed
this semester (you won't be able to show how you fared towards
reaching them) - go back to the goals that your chapter set
in each area in January 2003. The goals you set this January
should be used for the 2004-05 awards entries.
5) The judges are not always aware of the
importance of activities/offices/events/etc. on your campus,
so explain the significance of the accomplishments (philanthropies,
steering committees, student orientation, etc.)
6) Be sure to include only 1 typed page per
entry for each of the 12 programming areas. The following areas
may include additional documentation - recruitment (an additional
1-page, 1-sided recruitment calendar/schedule); new member education
(an additional 1-2 page syllabus outlining new member educ schedule);
financial management (supporting budgets, audits, balance sheets/financial
statements and financial policies allowed); campus involvement
(allowed a complete list of brothers and campus activities/org.
involved with); and community service (allowed a complete list
of brothers and record of each brothers' involvement in service
projects and # of hours for each).
* For these 5 areas, the judges prefer to
see the attachments noted above to help them better understand
your accomplishments. Please try to include the additional documentation
in these 5 areas.
7) Your applications will be copied onto
white paper for the judges - so don't use any fancy graphics,
colored text, worry about printing them on color paper, using
more expensive paper or spend money on a binder to put them
in.
8) Be sure to include a header at the top
of each entry with the name of the university and which of the
12 programming award areas it is.
Also please see a Question of the Week
from last fall on the changes we've made to the Chapter Award
of Excellence, http://www.farmhouse.org/questions_week.htm#q43
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "In completing our Term Report, we've got
several guys who are now 5th year members; do we still pay dues on them?"
RESPONSE --- That depends on several factors.
The bylaws (Article II, Section 2 (b) ) allow for members to
be placed on alumni status only when one of six requirements
is met:
* member had to withdraw from school before
completing degree;
* transferred to another school;
* enrolled in professional school (vet, med, etc);
* has started a 5th year (but is no longer active in chapter
and/or no longer lives in house - in other words, someone who
no longer is on chapter's scholarship report, no longer participates
in intramurals, no longer has a vote at chapter meetings and
no longer attends chapter social functions);
* has married;
* has proven extenuating circumstances and requested alumni
status.
The tricky one is the 5th year issue. Since
more and more degrees are taking longer than four years to complete,
the majority of our 5th year members decide to remain as active
members until they graduate - so that they can participate in
intramurals, attend chapter social functions, vote at chapter
meetings and participate as an active member of the chapter.
We even know of one brother who lived in the house 7 years and
paid dues all 7 years until they finally earned that degree!
Remember though, that section of the bylaws
requires a 2/3 vote of the chapter and the unanimous approval
of your chapter advisors before the chapter may request alumni
status from the International Executive Director. That request
should be made in the form of a typed letter to be sent in with
the term report.
Chapters need to be aware that we must
be careful about allowing 1st-4th year members to be placed
on early alumni status. Chapter presidents need to make upperclassmen
and men who move out of the house aware that the Fraternity
granting early alumni status for "extenuating circumstances"
is very rare and only for legitimate cases. Chapters must guard
this basic expectation of membership very carefully.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "You guys spoke briefly about an Individual
Award of Excellence at the Leadership Academy. Could you share
how we can get that started in our chapter?"
RESPONSE --- One of the biggest challenges
chapter leaders face year in and year out is fulfilling the
requirements within the Chapter Award of Excellence. Many of
the expectations in the Chapter Award of Excellence center on
percentage of participation at events, programming and activities.
For the past few years we had been hearing chapter leaders labor
over not being able to meet some of the expectations because
they were having difficulty holding all of their members to
the kind of standards and participation requirements as outlined
in the Chapter Award of Excellence.
The Individual Award of Excellence has been
created to help chapters better set minimum expectations for
membership in the chapter and as a means of recognizing individuals
who are meeting and exceeding the standards and expectations
set forth by the local chapter and
International Fraternity. The application is based around objective
criteria and is set up in a similar format as the Chapter Award
of Excellence, which is due for chapters each year on
March
1.
Some chapters are choosing to set aside an
hour at chapter retreats to have each member complete the application
and then have the chapter advisors score it to see how well
each member is doing at meeting our expectations. Then, any
member below a certain point (70 percent?) must meet with the
advisors and exec team to determine how they'll reach 70 percent.
This could become a means for chapters to terminate those members
who are continually not meeting expectations. Members who score
a 90 percent or higher might be recognized with an award or
plaque (like we do for chapters).
We've left implementation to each chapter
at this point and see this as more of a tool that chapters can
use, than an international-wide program in which we'll collect
completed applications from every chapter member annually.
We're putting on a program at each of the
RLCs this year about the Individual Award of Excellence and
have had favorable responses from chapter leaders who are planning
to implement this in their chapters.
At the 2004 FarmHouse Leadership Academy,
chapter presidents received a copy of the new Individual Award
of Excellence. We've also attached a copy of the application
for chapters to customize and ADD to as you see fit (see
attachment). We would, however, caution chapters from deleting
items or areas from the attached document since it will only
hurt your chapter later down the road when you have to annually
submit the Chapter Award of Excellence document to FarmHouse
International.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "We received a 1099 form from our bank, where
we currently hold a savings/money market account. What do we
need to do to file this? We haven't received one before."
RESPONSE --- You only need to file a 1099
if you have an individual complete work for the chapter or association
and you pay that individual $600 a year or more on a contract
basis (vs. cooks and housemothers who are considered employees
and you must file W2s). A 1099 must be filed for each individual
who is considered contracted labor (see www.IRS.gov for more
specifics).
For example, the IRS requires you to submit
a 1099 if you need to hire a plumber who works on his own and
not for an incorporated company, and you pay him $600 or more
for services. Other examples might be for an electrician, handyman,
painter, accountant, website administrator or designer.
Many of the individuals your chapter/association
hires for contracted jobs work for incorporated companies. The
main reason the IRS requires this information is to ensure that
the individual who does the work (plumber, electrician, etc.)
is declaring the money you pay them as income on their taxes.
A secondary reason is to ensure that those you contract with
are not actually employees of the chapter (such as housemothers
and cooks, where chapters must file a W-2 and pay its share
of employer taxes, worker's comp., etc. ).
For a response to related questions
about filing 990s with the IRS, link to
http://www.farmhouse.org/questions_week.htm#q49
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "We're working on plans for a philanthropy and wanted to see if there's an international philanthropy that all FarmHouse chapters are supposed to support. Could you help?"
RESPONSE --- FarmHouse International doesn't
have a specific philanthropic organization that we are associated
with. We encourage each chapter to think about what causes the
men feel strongly about, so that the entire chapter takes an
active part to provide hands-on service and raise money for
that specific organization.
In the past we've had interest shown for
an international philanthropy or common cause that chapters
raise money for, and we've had several trial efforts over the
past decade. However, we've never been able to find a common
philanthropy that all of our chapters would be interested and
willing to participate in and support.
When it comes to developing philanthropies
for your chapter, we'd encourage you to include a hands-on service
element. One example of an excellent balance between fun with
sororities and hands-on service is a chapter that hosts a 3-on-3
women's basketball tournament raising money for a local children's
home. Besides the money that's raised, an additional aspect
to the philanthropy is that FH brothers and competitors also
volunteer for a day of service at the children's home.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "We didn't realize there were so many more documents
required now to be submitted with the Chapter Award of Excellence.
What's the deal with the changes? It seems like a lot of extra
unnecessary paperwork."
RESPONSE --- As we'd mentioned throughout
the past six months, we've made some pretty major changes to
the Chapter Award of Excellence for this year. Those changes
were first announced when we warned chapters of the dramatic
changes in late August. We've tackled multiple Questions of
the Week in Inside FH about the changes since we announced this
in August. We also spent some significant time at the 2004 Presidents
Academy discussing the revised Award of Excellence and additional
detail that will be required this March 1st.
However, we fully realize that many chapters
procrastinate with these awards apps and that some of you may
actually just now be opening up the binder and realizing that
you need documentation and needed to track the percentage of
brothers attending various activities.
So, why?
The prior Chapter Award of Excellence was
too much of a checkmark process. It was left to each chapter
to determine if they met the expectations. Even though advisors
and the Greek Life office had to sign off, in reality, we had
little way of knowing whether a chapter did indeed meet the
expectations. Additionally, we knew very well that we had chapters
that planned programs for the sake of completing the awards
app, but only had 5 percent of the brothers attending some of
those programs. On paper they looked great! However, they were
being scored the same as a chapter that busted its rear to get
90 percent of its guys there for a similar event.
A total of 12 points are now granted for
a 1-page recruitment plan, 1-page new member education plan,
etc. We're not looking for a separate all out strategic plan
with goals/strategies and action steps for each of these, but
simply the chapter's 12 Chapter Programming Awards entries (each
should be set up with the 3-5 SMART goals for that area your
chapter set in Jan 03, and what activities/programs/etc. you
did to seek to achieve those goals in the past 14 months - like
your chapter has done in the past few years).
The rest of the attachments that are required
are self-explanatory - it's too easy to say that your chapter
has completed an audit (we need you to prove this with a 1-page
opinion letter from the auditors); it's easy to say you have
a budget (show us), it's easy to say you have a crisis management
plan (the judges need to see it), etc.
This change will also enable us to keep an
updated version of your chapter's various important documents
for reference (bylaws, cook/housemother contracts, delinquent
accounts policy, financial info, new member program syllabus,
audit summary, newsletters, etc.).
* Note that the last two pages of the Award
of Excellence (membership and scholarship info) will be completed
by the FarmHouse International staff.
We realize this is the first year of the
much-revised application. Fill it out to the best of your ability.
Approximate the number of men/alumni or percentage of men attending
various events based on your best recollection (or the best
recollection of the officer in charge). Then, make sure that
each new officer who is responsible for that section begins
to track this info for Jan. 2004-Feb. 2005. It'll become a much
easier process in Year 2 of the new Chapter Award of Excellence.
The awards apps are on Pages 26-38
of your Chapter Planning Guides and 2004 Presidents binders.
You can also download them from our website at http://www.farmhouse.org/pdf/part2.pdf
Be sure to mail the completed applications to our office at
the address below (and address listed on the cover of the Planning
Guide & Presidents Binder.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "As we get ready for spring break, what are
some of the things we need to be sure to do by the end of the
semester?"
RESPONSE ---
DON'T FORGET:
- Start identifying chapter members and alumni interested in
going to Conclave (we had 383 FH and Ceres members attend in
2002)!
- A mid-semester GPA check of all brothers to see where you
sit as a chapter and help people see the need to buckle down
on academics
- Update your website before summer recruitment kicks into full
gear
- Housemother/cook contract, evaluation and renewal
- Founders Day - Doane, Snyder, Skinner awards
- Scholarship Banquet (if separate from Founders Day)
- High scholarship and most improved GPA awards
- Get all of award plaques in house updated and engraved with
new recipients' names
- Risk management/alcohol awareness program - complete by end
of semester and everyone signs verification form
- Semester-end exec meeting with advisors - to look at achievements,
challenges and opportunities
- Spring newsletter - the earlier the better
SUMMER EVENTS:
- Recruitment - please see Page 2 of http://www.farmhouse.org/flash/MAR2003.pdf
for recruitment tips
- Work projects - house renovations, cleaning, fundraisers,
service/mission projects
- Alumni events - golf tourney/picnic, association meetings,
alumni hosting recruitment events
- State FFA Conventions - contact Lorie at 1-800-722-1905 to
reserve one of the displays from FH International (consider
setting up a joint booth with another chapter if possible -
IL and IL State; KY and WKY; WA and ID; TX Tech and TX A&M;
TR State and AU; etc.)
ADVANCE PLANNING:
- 43rd Biennial Conclave in Des Moines, IA & IA State -
Aug. 11-15, 2004
- Plan date/location for Fall Retreat
- Summer 2004 and Fall 2004 chapter calendars
- Prepare house for summer break
- Summer housing contracts - make sure all brothers in house
for summer/non-member tenants understand policies, agree to
abide by them and sign contracts
WHAT'S DUE?:
- Official Chapter & Association Voting Delegate form -
due April 15, 2004
- Deadline for proposals to change bylaws, policies, etc. -
due April 15, 2004
- Community Service Man of the Year apps - due April 30, 2004
- Summa Cum Laude - due at end of Spring '04 semester
- Foundation Scholarship apps - due June 1, 2004
- Conclave Registration Deadline - July 1, 2004
- FH Website Award competition - have your website ready for
judging by July 1, 2004
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "How did the 5 members of FH at any given place
or time be considered an FH function come about? Our chapter
was wondering how that rule can truly be enforced. And why the
number is (only) 5? Could you help better explain it to the
chapter why/how the rule is there?"
RESPONSE --- For some international fraternities
and campuses the number is as low as 2 or 3. The language for
the FarmHouse policy was originally crafted by an attorney who
was volunteering as legal counsel for FarmHouse in the late
80s and early 90s and approved by past Conclaves.
We're sure there's probably been lawsuits
where events an outsider might consider being an event of the
Fraternity with only 2 guys present has resulted in a lawsuit
and some liability exposure for that Fraternity.
The rule can be easily enough enforced. When
the chapter catches wind of an event, whether planned or impromptu
at an out of house members' house, any type of pre-party, etc.,
the chapter should call a special meeting to vote on the event
(requires 3/4 vote) and to ensure that proper risk management
steps are followed for the event. If the vote fails and members
go to the event anyway, the chapter needs to hold those brothers
accountable, just as you would for other violations of the policy.
These members also need to be aware that they have violated
policy and thus, will not be covered under our liability insurance
program should problems occur.
There is no such thing as an "unofficial"
function - not to a court of law anyway. Chapters need to be
aware that it doesn't matter whether the event has been formally
planned by the chapter in advance or thrown together at the
last minute.
Once the event has been publicized through
the chapter house, over a chapter email list, announced at a
chapter meeting, at dinner, a sign posted, or spread through
word of mouth to the chapter, it becomes an event that an outsider
might consider a FarmHouse event.
We know events with alcohol take place at
out of house members' apartments. What's important is for the
host of the event to know what risks he assumes by having that
event, allowing minors to drink on his rented property or providing
the alcohol or charging people at the door for it. The chapter
must realize that whether you like it or not, the chapter shares
responsibility for such an event.
The chapter has to be diligent to make sure
that any event a reasonably minded outsider would view as a
FarmHouse event is being properly run, with risk management
rules being followed.
As for the 5 or more number, don't let the
chapter get caught up with that. Think in terms of what a reasonably
minded person would think: - say 10 guys decide to go out to
a bar together, assuming it wasn't announced at chapter or posted,
etc. there's no need to vote on that. It's merely 10 guys going
to a bar. The bar and the individual will assume primary liability
in this case. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be your brothers'
keeper and make sure that they get back home safely and conduct
themselves in a responsible way. - as another example, consider
12 guys are invited to a sorority's formal. It's not a FarmHouse
event, nor an event an outsider would consider being an FH event
- so there's no need to vote on it. In this case, the sorority
and the 3rd party vendor would assume primary liability.
It's important to use reasonable judgment
and have your risk management chair and exec board think through
proposed events to determine if it's an event an outsider would
consider a FarmHouse event.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "I recall reading from the Fall Board Meeting
Minutes that the International Board approved two dues increase
proposals, which would be forwarded on to the chapters and associations.
Could you provide some detail behind the plan that's being proposed?"
RESPONSE --- Below is the text from the white
paper that was presented to each delegate at the 2004 FarmHouse
Leadership Academy in January and was distributed and discussed
during a Conclave Town Hall Meeting at each of the four Regional
Leadership Conferences in February. The proposals and supporting
materials were also mailed to Association Presidents in late
February. The proposals will be forwarded to the Finance Committee
at Conclave for discussion and a possible recommendation. The
FarmHouse International bylaws require a majority vote for a
dues increase to pass (each chapter may seat 1 voting delegate,
each association may seat 1 voting delegate and each International
Board member has a vote).
1. Situation: FarmHouse
International Fraternity has not had a chapter dues increase
since the 1994 Conclave. During the period from 1994-2002, the
US Department of Education reports a 53 percent increase in
tuition at colleges and universities in the United States. The
International Fraternity has managed to survive without a dues
increase the past 10 years due to:
· the realignment of the Foundation and the Fraternity
(with the Foundation now paying 100 percent of salaries/benefits
for its employees and its share of split-time employees);
· continual cutting and trimming of budgets and streamlining
office operations;
· maintaining a lean staff of two full-time employees
in director and field positions (a third staff member in the
field was hired this past summer).
The reality is that the Fraternity staff has trimmed as much
fat as possible from our operations. One basic example of how
our expenses aren’t keeping up with our revenues is looking
at health insurance costs. The cost of premiums for our staff
have seen double-digit percentage increases each of the past
seven years – with premiums for FarmHouse increasing 154
percent in the past eight years alone. Not to mention standard
cost of living increases we try to provide as an employer.
The 2002 Conclave unanimously approved action recommending the
2004 Conclave pass a dues increase. The question was not whether,
but how much of a dues increase is needed and what it will look
like.
2. History/Background: Following multiple successive
biennial dues increases prior to the 1996 Conclave, the FarmHouse
International Board determined that we must temporarily halt
further dues increases and focus on growth as our primary means
of revenue increases. As of the 1996 Conclave, FarmHouse had
the highest 4-year chapter dues/initiation fee rates of any
men’s fraternity (we’re moving more towards the
middle of the pack now).
The 1997 decision to separate the Foundation and Fraternity
staff and the gradual efforts by the Foundation to begin to
cover its employees’ salaries and benefits helped the
Fraternity offset its increasing operating costs.
The Fraternity’s ability to develop and fund desired new
programs, modernize its technologies and achieve the kind of
membership growth we desire has been difficult the past 10 years
with a limited Fraternity staff and no increase in dues.
During a strategic planning retreat in April 2002, it became
painfully clear that in order for the Fraternity to begin to
achieve the vision that was being created, a significant increase
in revenues was needed. However, the FarmHouse International
bylaws requires that any chapter dues increase be proposed at
least four months in advance of a Conclave. Thus, the recommendation
from the 2002 Conclave to the 2004 Conclave.
3. Proposal #1: The International Board proposes
to the 2004 Conclave a 2-year incremental dues increase that
will raise international chapter dues from $170 to $200 per
year (semesterly dues would increase from $85 per semester to
$92.50 per semester for the 2004-05 school year and $100 per
semester for the 2005-06 school year).
4. Proposal #2: The International Board additionally
proposes to the 2004 Conclave that beginning in Fall 2006, chapters
be assessed international dues of a $6,000 flat fee per chapter
for international dues or $200 per man (whichever is greater).
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "With Founders' Day quickly approaching, what
are some things that our chapter members should have in mind
for how to approach the day's activities?"
RESPONSE --- Founder's Day is not only a
great way to celebrate the founding of FarmHouse in 1905, but
also the unique founding of your local chapter. Many men have
come before you and just like you have sacrificed time, pleasure
and comforts to build the chapter that you are currently part
of. They are taking time out of their busy schedules to attend
the chapter's activities, so take the time to talk with and
thank them for their continued interested and support of the
chapter.
Think of Founder's Day like a recruitment
event. Approach alumni like you approach a potential new member;
introduce yourself with a handshake and a smile. Ask them where
they live, what they do for a living, when they were in the
house, ask them if they want a tour, etc. Alumni, just like
potential new members, can be valuable assets to the chapter.
Keeping alumni information current is another
issue to consider during Founder's Day activities. Have 2-3
members in charge of a sign-in table with name tags, a schedule
of events and an information form for alumni to update their
address, phone number or e-mail if this information has recently
changed.
It might also be helpful for the chapter
to brainstorm about how you'd like for alumni to assist the
chapter (open up their home for a summer recruitment event,
put members through mock job interviews, help conduct annual
audit of books, etc.) - and include a list of 20-30 possible
opportunities for alumni to review and check off areas in which
they'd be willing to help the chapter with.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "Do we need to do one big service project as a
chapter for the Promise of Service Week or can each guy do different
service projects?"
RESPONSE --- Chapters are free to decide
how you'd like to provide a "Promise of Service" to
your communities the week of April 11-18, 2004. The Promise
of Service Week was designed as a way for every FarmHouse man
to provide meaningful service to our "fellow man and world"
during the week of our Fraternity's Founding. With chapters
and individual members having such diverse interests and gifts
for service, we created this powerful way for every member to
be able to give back to his community in a way that best fits
him.
At a minimum we're asking each brother and
alumnus to commit to at least 1 hour of community service. We'd
like each chapter to track this, maybe by creating a big poster
board in the house with everyone's names and list what service
project each member does. Shoot for 100 percent participation.
Participation in the Promise of Service Week is one of the expectations
in the Chapter Award of Excellence.
Many of your brothers likely already have
service projects lined up to do that week (Highway Cleanup,
volunteering at homeless shelter, helping with church youth
group) or have an ongoing service project you'll be helping
with (Big Brothers Big Sisters, elementary school tutoring,
coaching youth sports teams, etc.) Any and all service that
your members provide back to the community will qualify for
this important initiative.
It's also important for us to truly understand
what we mean by "Promise of Service." Traditional
campus-wide "philanthropies" such as sorority volleyball
tournaments, softball tournaments, watermelon fests and such
are fun and raise money for good causes - but if they don't
have a hands-on service element included with them they don't
reach their full potential. As an example, raising $500 for
a foster children's home is great, but 30 guys spending an afternoon
at the children's home doing yardwork, painting, cleaning and
giving the staff some help can have far more impact on their
lives as well as yours.
We're encouraging all 28 FarmHouse Chapters
and our Texas A&M and Guelph colonies to each shoot for
100 percent participation in this initiative next week. Please
send us an email afterwards to let us know the various service
efforts your chapters participated in.
We're also again challenging every chapter
advisor, FarmHouse association member, International Board member,
staff member and alumnus to all join us in this initiative.
It'll be a wonderful way for us to "serve our fellow man
and the world."
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "Our chapter has never done summer recruitment
before. How do we go about it?"
RESPONSE --- Summer recruitment is very important
for every FarmHouse chapter.
1. Gather names and information you have
found as well as names alumni and parents have submitted.
· Break down the names into different criteria, location,
GPA, age, etc…
· Look up the names on the internet to determine if the
person was involved in sports or other organizations or whether
the person was a valedictorian or in the National Honor Society.
· Search everything from Google to high school web sites.
· After researching the names, you may then be able to
eliminate some of the names from the lists, creating a better
targeted list.
2. Get alumni involved with recruitment
· Make sure to know the location of your alumni, actives
and recruits; most of you already have a map depicting the location
of your alumni, put the location of the actives and those you
wish to recruit (once you know their locations).
· Ask alumni who may live near a recruit to visit the
recruit and his parents.
· Have the alum talk about FarmHouse and what it can
do for the recruit. There are some advantages to that approach.
1. First, the alum may know the recruit and his family, making
communication easy.
2. Also, the alum may live very close, saving the chapter members
from having to travel to that area thus cutting costs.
· If alumni are going to be asked to be involved, send
them information that you want them to pass on to the recruits
they will be talking to.
3. Take advantage of the strong connection
the chapter has within the state FFA and 4-H
· Have a FarmHouse display at the conventions in the
summer.
· While at the conventions, have fun and show enthusiasm
to be there. If people see that you don’t want to be there,
then why would they? Incorporate the FiSH Philosophy into your
presence.
· Hand out information about FarmHouse and specific information
about your chapter.
· At your display, have a drawing for a couple of FarmHouse
sweatshirts. In order for the person to sign up they must fill
out a slip that includes: name, address, phone number, e-mail,
what university they plan to attend in the fall (if a senior)
and any other information that the chapter feels fit to ask.
At the end of the convention, give away the sweatshirts, but
the pay off comes when the names are sorted through and the
chapter has just found more names to add to the recruitment
list.
4. Next, make contact with the recruits:
· Send the people on the list letters or a brochure to
inform them of FarmHouse
· Arrange face-to-face visits with the recruit and a
couple of chapter members.
· Make phone calls to the recruits, talk to them about
college and FarmHouse.
· Also, make sure to contact the recruit’s parents;
parents are a great way to recruit.
5. Invite the recruits to summer recruitment
events.
· Make the events regional, giving the chapter the best
opportunity to reach as many people as possible.
· Make sure to utilize the resources that chapter members
and alumni may have, swimming pools, fishing, hiking, camping,
boating, the list goes on.
· Utilizing the resources will often help, making the
events relatively cheap in the end.
6. Everyone in the chapter must attend the
summer event(s).
· Create stiff fines for those who do not attend.
· Design a system that would allow an active to attend
two out of three events.
· If there is a low turnout of recruits, the actives
can still have fun and enjoy the opportunity to see each other
over the summer.
A successful summer recruitment is going
to take planning, organization and the efforts of everyone in
the chapter. If those things are put together, you can promise
yourselves that there will be a bunch of young men that want
to be part of FarmHouse next fall. Just remember to not get
frustrated if events don’t produce like you hope. This
will be your first try at a lot of recruitment methods, learn
from the successes and failure. -TMN
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "We read something about a FarmHouse International
Community Service Man of the Year award. What's that all about?"
RESPONSE --- The FarmHouse International
Community Service Man of the Year was created several years
ago to recognize exemplary efforts by our members of providing
outstanding service back to their communities. Each year we
select one undergraduate who has gone above and beyond our call
to service.
Previous recipients have donated as many
as 500-600 hours of community service in the prior year - most
volunteering to assist with at least a dozen different service
projects - everything from coordinating blood drives, to making
a year-round commitment to Big Brothers' programs, to volunteering
at local hospitals, to giving up entire summers for mission
experiences.
The award is not just a recognition of who
contributes the most hours of service. We also look at who contributes
the greatest good back to society, how the individual has influenced
his chapter to make hands-on community service more of a priority
and the year-round commitment that's been made.
We'd strongly encourage chapter presidents
and advisors to help get deserving brothers get the recognition
they deserve for their contributions to our communities.
Applications are due April
30, 2004. The simple 1-page app is available
at http://www.farmhouse.org/pdf/part2.pdf
... The 2003-04 recipient will be recognized at Conclave for
his outstanding contributions.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "I know we are late sending in the name of our
delegates for Conclave, but could you tell me more about their
responsibilities?"
RESPONSE --- The deadline for chapter delegates
was April 15,
so we need that information from any chapter/association that
hasn't sent it in as soon as possible. The role of a chapter
delegate will be to act as the voice of the chapter during the
Conclave committee meetings and business meetings.
Each chapter delegate will be assigned to
one of the seven Conclave committees - Bylaws and Ritual Review,
Finance, Programming, Membership Growth, Chapter Health and
Enhancement, Resolutions and Credentials.
The official voting delegate from each chapter
and official delegate from each association will need to be
ready for committee meetings starting at 1 pm on Thursday,
August 12th. Conclave will kick off Thursday
morning with a keynote leadership program and training for Board
Members, volunteers, advisors and association leaders (more
details coming soon on this). We'd recommend you consider arriving
into Des Moines (Downtown Des Moines Marriott is host hotel)
some time Wednesday, Aug. 11th,
so you won't miss anything. Depart no earlier than noon on Sunday,
Aug. 15th (the Ruby Cup, Outstanding Association
Award, several Master Builder speeches and retiring Board addresses
will take place at the Closing Brunch on Sunday).
Among the legislation that delegates will
be discussing and debating - two proposed chapter dues increases,
a proposed association dues increase and a number of proposed
bylaw changes. More details on the bylaw changes that have been
proposed will be sent to chapters and associations by May
1st.
Official Voting Delegates will receive
notebooks by mid-July with the proposals before Conclave, information
about candidates for the International Board and committee assignments.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "I'm the new house manager and heard you can send
us something about making sure the house is ready for the summer
break. Can you help?"
RESPONSE --- See
the attached brochure about
how to prevent summer lawsuits/claims/property damage from Rich
Jungman at Kirklin & Company, the insurance broker who provides
our FRMT liability insurance coverage and many of our FarmHouse
Alumni Associations' property and boiler insurance.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "Could you provide an update on how the lobbying
effort in Washington, DC, went for last week for the Housing
Bill?"
RESPONSE --- Unfortunately, it appears that
little significant legislation in Washington D.C. will be passed
before the elections in November. Our best hope was that the
Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act (HR 1523/S 1246) would
be able to be added to the Charitable Giving Bill that had versions
of it pass through the House and Senate with more than 95 percent
support on each side. The problem is that versions that each
chamber passed had different language, which meant the bills
would have to go to conference to get ironed out and hammer
out one bill that would be forwarded to the President to sign.
Our lobbyists were successful in getting HR 1523 attached to
the House's version of the Charitable Giving Bill, but not with
the Senate bill, which had passed before the House version did.
The Minority Leader of the Senate, Tom Daschle, has the power
to stall bills before going to conference - and that's exactly
what's happened to this bill and other significant legislation.
Without taking political sides, what's happened is apparently
a common type of filibuster that happens when one party controls
the majority in the House, Senate and administration.
The lobbying team is looking at other means
of trying to gain support for the bill. Fraternity and sorority
headquarters leaders visited more than 200 Senators, Congressmen
and/or their staff members on Tuesday, April 27th as part of
the 3rd Annual NIC Day on the Hill and had more than 450 people
in attendance at the NIC's Congressional Reception in DC.
Thanks to our lobbying efforts, HR 1523 now
has 75 co-sponsors and S 1246 has 15 co-sponsors. The lobbying
firm will be looking at other options for how we might be able
to attach this bill to another that has a better chance of passing.
Unfortunately the concern is that the HR 7 Charitable Giving
Bill won't make it through conference before the November elections.
We're still optimistic that the Bill
will gain additional support and eventually be passed, but it'll
take a while and much more persuading to make it happen.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "What are some of the key things judges are looking
for in the scholarship applications and about how many applications
do you get a year?"
RESPONSE --- With more than 1,300 undergraduates
and dozens of FarmHouse men in graduate school on the campuses
where we have chapters, you might expect that we'd have hundreds
of applications come in for FarmHouse Foundation scholarships
each year. However, we typically average between 15-20 scholarship
applications and grant seven scholarships annually, so if you're
a top student, your chances are better than you might think.
Some of the key things the scholarship selection
committee looks for include:
- Demonstrated academic success and commitment
to scholastic achievement;
- Leadership to the chapter and/or the campus;
- Commitment to community service and making those around you
better;
- Financial need (as gleaned from letters of recommendation)
- not necessarily a determining factor, but taken into account
- Letters of recommendation - Judges are looking for demonstrated
integrity, initiative, work ethic and commitment to help others.
It's imperative that you have at least 3 letters of recommendation
(but no more than 5) submitted with the application (it's ideal
if the letters of recommendation and application are submitted
together in one packet).
Applications and letters of recommendation
must be postmarked by June 1,
2004. This is a hard deadline - if it's not
postmarked on time, you won't be eligible. One application qualifies
you for consideration for all seven Foundation scholarships.
A total of $8,300 in scholarships are open to all members from
all chapters throughout the Fraternity (another $22,000 in local
chapter scholarships is granted annually by the FarmHouse Foundation).
The 2004-05 scholarship applications can
be downloaded at http://www.farmhouse.org/pdf/scholarship_applications.pdf
Be sure to allow yourself at least
a week or so for those you ask to write letters of recommendation
to complete them. It's best if you take the initiative to personally
collect the letters of recommendation and put them together
with the packet you will submit.
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QUESTION OF
THE WEEK? --- "We received something in the mail earlier this
month about a proposal to change Conclave voting. Could you
provide some more info about this?"
RESPONSE -- Delegates at the 1996 Conclave
passed a proposal that would change the voting structure at
Conclave to give more votes to chapters with larger membership
(essentially moving FarmHouse from a US Senate style of governance
to a US House of Representatives style of governance). However,
the proposed bylaw change failed in the ratification process
as less than 2/3 of the chapters ratified the change to the
bylaws that fall. The proposal was discussed further at the
1998 Conclave, but no action was taken by delegates.
At its Spring 2004 meeting, the FarmHouse
International Board decided to forward a modified version of
the '96 Conclave proposal on to the 2004 Conclave for consideration.
If the proposal passes and is ratified afterwards by 2/3 of
the chapters and 2/3 of the associations, this change would
not come into effect until the 2006 Conclave.
In forwarding the proposal to the '04 Conclave,
the Board sees an opportunity to expand the number of Conclave
voting delegates from 68 to approximately 118, while at the
same time reducing the power that the International Board has
at Conclave from 14.7 percent of the votes to 8.5 percent of
the votes. The Board also sees this as an opportunity to provide
our chapters (customers) that provide the majority of our operating
revenue with more of a say.
Below is the change that's proposed:
Article VIII, Section 2
It has been proposed to amend this article and section as follows:
The official body of the Biennial Conclave
shall consi
