1. Determine the needs of your volunteers. Typically alumni members will need to see the following before they will consider participating:

   
   Competence
   Are the other alumni who are involved doing their jobs? Are they doing them well? Will they be trained properly to do the tasks that they are requested? Is there an open channel of communication to the active organization? the National Organization? What resources can they tap into (which ones are already in place, which ones can easily be developed)? Does the active organization care about its alumni? Is the active organization pulling its weight?

   Freedom from liability
   America is a very litigious society and these people have worked very hard to provide for themselves and their families. They don't want to see everything they have earned disappear. Does the alumni board isolate its members from risk? Are the volunteers covered by insurance? Does the active organization do its share to minimize risk?

   Ability to Influence People
   No one likes to get involved if their opinions or actions will be ignored. If the volunteers don't feel like they can affect change in the chapter, they won't volunteer for very long. Why should they get involved if everything will remain status quo.

   Good Time Management
   How will their involvement affect their time? How much time must they dedicate and for what purposes? Are the other volunteers putting in comparable amounts of time? Does the active organization use its time wisely.

   Information - What is the situation? How did it get to this state? What has been attempted to improve it -- what worked, what failed? Who are the important contacts and how can they be reached? What resources are available? What am I expected to do?

   Decision making - Do the people in control make decisions or do they waffle on the issues? What information and input do they use to make the decisions? Once the decisions are made are they enforced?

   Community
   Do the alumni and actives work together or are they constantly bickering? Is the chapter in good standing with the university? What is the university's (or key university members') opinion of the greek system? Does the chapter get along and get involved with the other members of the greek system? How are we perceived by our neighbors?

   Friendships
   Are there true bonds of Brotherhood being formed in the chapter? Do the alumni and actives reach out to each other? Are the pledges included? Do the members of the chapter make an honest effort to get to know and like one another or are there just a bunch of cliques?

   Recognition
   Are the volunteers ever recognized and rewarded for the time, effort, and dedication they put in? Does the recognition only come from other alumni or do the actives see the importance of the volunteers?

   Authority/Power
   If they are put in a situation where they have to make a decision or reprimand members or the chapter will they have the ability to do so? Will their reprimand have any weight? Will it be backed by the alumni board or active organization?

   Other factors which should also be considered are:

   Creativity
   Will this person be doing the same tasks over and over, or will he be able to try new things, or try old things in different ways?

   Challenge
   How will this person be kept interested? You don't want things to get boring or stale for your volunteers, so try to challenge them and make them rise to the occasion.

   Advancement
   After a person has served as a volunteer for a period of time, is their room for him on the alumni board? Will he have the opportunity to become an officer?

2. Once you have determined the needs of your volunteers you must get a commitment from them. You don't just want time from these people -- you want emotional and spiritual involvement. Our actives and pledges need to expect the best and should look for it everyday. The alumni can show this to them.
3. Get the volunteers to do only what you really want them to do. Don't get them involved in too much, too quickly. You don't want to burn them out or scare them off. Start with the basics such as keeping the lines of communication open.
4. Remember the six keys to a strong alumni board/group of volunteers:
   1. Find out who they are!
   2. Assess the current makeup of your volunteers.
   3. Orient your volunteers and board members
   4. Plan for ongoing professional volunteer development
   5. Involve your volunteers
   6. Acknowledge and recognize your volunteers and board members!
5. Ask your volunteers to fill out a form so that you will have their information on file. the following may serve as an example.

PLEASE FILL IN THIS FORM AND RETURN IT WITHIN TWO WEEKS TO:
______________________________________________________________________________
Alumni Board President (or appropriate officer)
______________________________________________________________________________
Address                                  City                State     Zip
Part I.
Date:  ____________________
I prefer to receive Triangle mail at __________ home  __________ work.
Name:  _______________________________________________________________________
Home Address:  _______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
City                                                 State        Zip
Telephone: home - (_____)_______________         work - (_____)_______________
cellular - (_____)_______________        pager - (_____)_______________
fax - (_____)_______________
E-Mail:    home - _________________________      work - ______________________
Employer:  ___________________________________________________________________
Address:  ____________________________________________________________________
Job Title:  __________________________________________________________________
Part II.
Memberships and Associations (professional, social, honorary, religious, etc.)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Preferred Meeting Times:  ____________________________________________________
I would particularly like to help the chapter in the following ways 
(check all that apply): 
_____ Enhance the image of the chapter 
_____ Offer personal development workshops
_____ Work on the newsletter
_____ Participate in physical improvements
_____ Attend university meetings
_____ Raise money
_____ Elected position on the board
_____ Other, please specify:  ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Part III.
My immediate concerns are:  __________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________