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In 1907, sixteen men influenced your life.
Don't leave their work to be nothing but history. |
Welcome. This page will provide you with information about Triangle Alumni
Associations in general, how to start one, and how to participate in one.
Additionally, you'll be given links to use in contacting Presidents of current
Triangle Alumni Associations with whom you can discuss alumni associations and
who will be able to answer any questions you might have.
Triangle is glad you're interested in alumni associations. If you don't have
one in your city or area, then why not start one?
Why join a Triangle Alumni Association?
"I was a Triangle."
If you've ever caught yourself (or others) saying those words, you are in
desperate need of an alumni association. Triangle Brotherhood does not end at
graduation from the university! It lasts a lifetime, but only you can make it
mean something. You can become a member of, or start, an alumni association to
renew old friendships and create new ones.
A Triangle Alumni Association is simply a group of Triangle Brothers who have
decided to be involved socially with each other. Each association, and each
member of an association, will have varied goals for serving the members and
themselves. The majority will favor the social aspect. Others will want some
professional aspects like networking and finding out about other professional
areas. But all associations are founded in order to continue the development of
each man and of overall Triangle Brotherhood.
What do the Constitution and Bylaws say?
TRIANGLE shall be organized into chapters and associations.
--Triangle National Constitution, Article 4, Section 2
Associations may be organized by TRIANGLE alumni representing any or all
chapters for the purpose of establishing and maintaining contact between
members.
--Triangle National Constitution, Article 4, Section 4
National Council shall establish or authorize establishment of an association
or may recognize a local alumni group as an association.
--Triangle National By-Laws, Article 2, Section 4, Para. 1
An association shall be entitled to voting rights at National Convention if
it has held at least three (3) meetings during the year just preceding the
National Convention. Its voting power at National Conventions shall be qualified
by a certified average attendance at such three meetings of at least twenty-five
(25) percent of the number of members on which its voting strength is based.
--Triangle National By-Laws, Article 2, Section 4, Para. 2
Crawl before you walk, walk before you run
Speed Kills. First and foremost, when starting an organization or joining
one already in progress, you MUST realize that such things take time. If you try
to force it to grow too quickly, you'll only be disappointed and increase the
likelihood that you'll burn yourself and others out more quickly. Take it slow.
Don't force it. It will come if you set an example for others to follow. Be
enthusiastic, but also be patient!
We're looking for a few good men - starting an association
Dodge the draft
Although an association may be started with the effort and desire of only one
man, that can't last. Eventually he'll burn out. In order to avoid that problem,
it is important to recruit others to help out in running the group. At the very
start, you'll probably only have a few people as members and they'll probably be
the "officer corps," but that's fine. The initiators must find a way to divvy up
the work. Once the organization gets going a bit more (say around 15-20 strong
members), you'll be able to have a "real" election. For instance, the Houston
Association of Former Triangle Actives reports that it took over a year to get
large enough for this to happen.
The most important rule in this area is that you need to recruit, but not
draft. Find people who are interested in helping out. Keep reminding members of
vacant officer positions, but don't just assume that they'll do the job. Get
them to willingly volunteer rather than committing them without giving them any
real say in the matter! If you do the latter, it's pretty unlikely that they'll
get the job done. In fact, it's unlikely that they'll want to participate even
on just a membership level. Give them a good reason to be a responsible officer,
then hold them to the responsibility for which they volunteered.
Get them to commit to performing the work required
It's a wise idea to get the officers to commit to the work they've said they
will be responsible for. While in a sense they've already agreed just by
volunteering to be an officer, it is better to get a sense of team
responsibility on top of that. One way to get that commitment is to hold an
officers' retreat within a week or two of the annual election. That will make
them see that the responsibility is being taken seriously. It will also make
them see that others are enthusiastic. Finally, it gives the officers a chance
to set and discuss the plans for their efforts.
The whole officer group should start recruiting new members
The officers are likely to be the members who are most enthusiastic and who
had the best active experience. Therefore, they are going to be the best
marketers of the group to draw in new members. It is more likely that a Brother
who has not yet associated will talk to a Brother from his own chapter. Since
it's likely that a wide variety of chapters will be represented, this
recruitment effort is more likely to succeed if more than one person is
responsible. Finally, it's just a good idea to divide up the work.
Triangle wants you! - getting help
I love you, man!
Probably the most important part of establishing an association is starting a
relationship with the Triangle National Headquarters. They can do a lot for you
and you can return the favor, as the rest of this section will point out. That
will make for an easier job for you, help for them, and an overall improved
Triangle.
When you can steal the pebbles from my hand, grasshopper
When you're up against a wall, there's nothing like advice from someone
who's "been there". That's one of the best parts of living at the chapter house
as an active...the guy down the hall can help you with that tough calculus
problem since he's already had the class. It works the same way for alumni. When
you're having problems getting the association set up or you have operating
questions, the Brothers and staff at the National Headquarters will almost
always have answers for you.
We deliver for you
An association without members is hardly an association...you've got to find
some people in your area whom you can contact. In order to get some idea of what
other Brothers are in your geographic area, you'll either have to look in the
Alumni Directory (a time consuming process with old data) or contact the
National Headquarters. The National Headquarters staff can search the membership
database for you and give you a printout of the Brothers in your area. In order
to help them, however, make sure you have a list of the appropriate Postal ZIP
codes you want them to look at for your search.
Now that you know who's out there, you've got to contact them. Historically,
it has proven to be a wise idea to arrange a first meeting or event rather than
just saying, "Hey, I'm here. Contact me." That provides a good reason for them
to respond. Unless you are independently wealthy, however, you won't likely be
able to foot the bill for the mailing. The National Headquarters staff can help
with that. If you provide them with a flier, they can do the mailing for you.
You need to simply tell them to which ZIP codes/members you wish the flier sent.
In the beginning (for the first few mailings), if necessary, they'll even do the
photocopying for you. Treat them nicely and they do a great job!
However, they CAN'T continue to help forever. Since you won't be able to
handle many mailings after that time without the help of at least one donor,
you'll want to begin soliciting funds to support mailings. Even after the
National Office stops providing 100 percent support, they can still provide you
with use of the nonprofit mailing stamp (if you ask and you pay).
Land of the lost
Unfortunately, Brothers sometimes forget to leave forwarding information for
their mail when they move and/or they forget to notify the National Headquarters
of their new addresses. When you send things out to the membership and get
information about new addresses, or when you find a Brother who has been "lost,"
be sure to forward that new information to the National Headquarters.
Welcome wagon
We are a mobile population. It can often be an uneasy time in someone's life
when they move to a new city. Triangle associations can ease that burden
somewhat. Maintain contact with the National Headquarters, in this case perhaps
by making sure that the office has an easy way to contact the association's
membership officer, so that they can tell you when someone has moved into the
area. Reciprocally, tell them when an association member moves out of your area
and, preferably, to where he is moving. As soon as you know that someone is
coming to your area, contact them. Invite them over for dinner if an event isn't
coming up soon. Make them feel at home...after all, they are part of your
family!
Are we doing that again? - scheduling events
Friends and family, wow!
People want new friends. If they have friends, they will be more likely to
participate. In order to increase the friendship base of the group, make your
events more interactive (movie nights aren't very interactive, but picnics are,
for instance). Also, don't make everything be an "event." Don't be afraid to
invite friends from the association over for dinner, out for an evening, etc.
Simplicity's the key
This is a volunteer organization. The simpler, and therefore easier, things
are, the more likely people will participate. Make plans but don't make them
complicated plans. Have officers but don't make a complicated bureaucracy. Have
fun events but don't make them hard to get to, difficult to participate in. The
key is to make it fun and not a pain.
A family man
Alumni have families. Participation by a Brother without his family is time
away from the family and that's a bad situation. A man is likely to spend almost
half his week away by just being at work. Don't make it so his leisure time is
spent away from them very often or you won't see him. Making it so that families
are openly and warmly encouraged to participate also makes it so that spouses
and children (read "future Triangles and Greek system members") can have fun
with the fraternity also. In some cases, spouses may also have some good insight
and ideas for events and plans.
I dunno, what do you wanna do?
There are three main reasons to have events. The first, and foremost, is to
have a socially good time. This is the type of event in which the majority of
Brothers and families will be interested. Picnics, Founders' Day celebrations,
formal events, dinners out, and parties are just some examples of this type of
event.
The second event-type is professional. This is likely to be best enjoyed by
Brothers, but shouldn't be limited to only Brothers as spouses and children may
also be interested. Plant tours, professional speakers, resume critiquing,
seminars, and leadership development exercises are some examples of this event
type.
The third event-type is related to expansion of Triangle onto a new campus.
Due to the likely amount of work related to doing this the right way, the number
of interested people is likely to be relatively small. Since that's the case,
the association probably shouldn't be founded on this, though sometimes that is
appropriate to the situation. In any case, when a new colony is founded, that
can change the complexion of the association and the officers need to solve
problems in advance that may be caused by this work. For further information
about the type of work and events related to this, please contact the National
Headquarters, the National Council Director of Expansion, or read more about
expansion here at the Triangle Website.
Lastly, don't forget to ask the association's members what types of events
they'd like to see. That will make people feel more a part of the group and is
likely to give the group ideas which many hadn't thought of or considered.
As far as pricing goes, try to have some events that cost nothing (except for
what the member brings himself) or that run no higher than $10 - $15 per person.
If you can't avoid having to pay for facilities in advance, then ask alumni who
plan to attend to send a check in the mail in advance. That will increase the
likelihood they will actually come and will reduce the probability that you'll
lose a large up-front investment.
Have you seen Harry?
As was mentioned elsewhere, alumni are busy people. They won't be able to
come to each event, so don't be disheartened if some of the "regulars" aren't at
an event.
You don't send me fliers anymore
It's important to invite people to your events. If they don't know the
association is doing something, how would they know to participate? There are
two main ways of inviting them: fliers and phone calls. Whenever possible, use
both (and more if you can think of some) for an event. Your results will be the
better for it. No matter which ways you intend to invite people, however,
ALWAYS BE SURE TO GIVE ONE MONTH OR MORE ADVANCE NOTICE of the event. Alumni
and their families are very busy people and if you wait too long, they won't be
able to come.
Due to the fact that you'll inevitably have to create your fliers
inexpensively and that people receive tons of junk mail, you'll have a hurdle to
overcome. You can accomplish that task by working to make your fliers
interesting. Not only must the event catch the person's attention, but the flier
should stand out in some way. In other words, don't just say, "Come to the
Triangle Picnic." Try to spice it up a bit. Something like, "Triangle Fraternity
says...You HAVE ALREADY WON!" should do. Be creative, be tasteful, be
enthusiastic, and be friendly.
Not everyone responds well to written invitations, but most people do respond
well to a phone call as it is more personal. It is always a good idea where
possible to split up the phone calls, especially for a large population of
Triangles. It is also a good idea to have Brothers from a chapter call other
Brothers from the same chapter, even if they aren't from the same era. A better
"connection" is made that way.
It's a gas
Well, actually it's not. Collection of money, either through donations or by
voluntary dues, is a necessity. As was mentioned in an earlier section, the
association needs to send out invitations to events, etc., and that requires
either help from the National Office or funds held by the association's
treasurer. Since the National Office isn't able to continue providing mailings
for free forever, somebody's got to start collecting some money. We all know
that money collecting is nobody's idea of a good time.
That being said, even though it isn't fun intrinsically, it can be made less
painless since it has to be done. The first step is to have events that are
interesting, fun, and rewarding. In a sense, it's an "If you build it, they will
donate" concept. When you solicit money, don't forget to put your request in
terms of what it will be used for. People give to things that interest them. The
second step is to be subtle and polite in your requests. Passing an actual hat
might not always work, but will sometimes. Other times it might be better to
just have a jar for donations at the front door with a nice sign requesting
help. The leaders of the association will have to decide what's going to be best
for each situation. The most important thing to remember is to NEVER DEMAND
money...politely ask for it.
We the people - creating a constitution
A constitution provides several critical things to the organization. First,
it will outline why the organization exists at all. Without a written direction
to come back to for reference, it's possible that a set of officers down the
road will "forget" and that will cause strife amongst the group or will cause
disorganization that can make the group fall apart. Associations are important
to Triangle and the fraternity doesn't want to lose them!
Second, the document provides individual officers, the officer cadre, and all
association members with an idea and outline of the duties required of each
officer. This helps people "remember" each year the things that need to be done
by each volunteer. That way, the President won't forget to organize the annual
election, someone won't forget to arrange that mandatory event, etc.
Disorganization is the enemy of the successful association!
Third, it provides the rules by which the organization must live. If disputes
arise among the officers or among members about some decision, expenditure,
philosophy, etc., the constitution can be an impartial "arbiter" of the dispute.
Points of contact
For more information, contact:
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