100 Ways to Create Good Members with out Hazing

1. Participate in Ropes Course
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2. Teambuilding Activities (can be facilitated by campus professional – there are hundreds of these activities that you could use)
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3. Participate in and/or plan a Community Service project
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4. New Member Surprise Party hosted by members
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5. Have a Resume Writing Workshop presented by Career Services
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6. Attend Educational Speaker of new member’s choice and discuss as a chapter
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7. Leadership Book-of-the-Month/Semester Club facilitated by new members
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8. Invite Faculty Advisor to lunch with new members
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9. Have a discussion about the relevance of your organization’s Principles and Obligations today
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10. Study Skills Workshop presented by the Learning Center
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11. Successful Alumni Speaker to talk about how the organization gave him/her the skills to succeed
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12. Develop arts and crafts as a community service project
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13. Participate in a Recruitment Workshop
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14. Invite IFC/PHC/MGC/DGC/NPHC Officers to Speak about Community Governance
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15. Invite a Student Activities representative to speak about membership privileges and benefits
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16. Dinner and a Movie
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17. Shadow an Officer and assist in planning of a program/event
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18. Create a vision and goals for the organization
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19. Plan a fundraiser to pay for initiation fees
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20. Include new members in chapter meetings
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21. Include new members in regularly scheduled chapter activities
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22. Discuss fraternal values and how they apply (or don’t apply)
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23. Plan and present a speaker on a health/wellness topic
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24. Require active membership in at least one organization outside the group
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25. Evaluate the process during and after new member education
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26. Host a Parents Weekend activity
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27. Have consultant or national visitor talk about national programs
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28. Discuss what the General Fraternity does for the chapter with dues money
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29. Attend a Panhellenic or Interfraternity Council meeting
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30. Participate in all-Greek events
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31. Review parliamentary procedure and its purpose
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32. Ask leadership experts to discuss issues such as motivation and group dynamics
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33. Have new members take the Meyers-Briggs Personality Type Inventory or StrengthsQuest and discuss
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34. Ask a faculty member to discuss ethical decision making
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35. Ask a faculty member to facilitate a conversation on diversity in organizations
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36. Ask campus health educator to do a presentation on eating disorders or depression, etc.
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37. Ask Department of Public Safety to discuss the prevention of violence against women
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38. Ask a Student Activities representative to describe what the college offers student organizations
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39. Plan a philanthropy project for a local charity
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40. Have a contest for who can recruit the most new members to join and reward the winner with a fully-paid membership badge or initiation fee
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41. Members and new members make “secret sisters/brothers” gifts for each other
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42. Discuss risk management and liability with the University’s Office of General Counsel
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43. Brainstorm ways to recruit new members to present to chapter
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44. Have an all-campus or all-organization community “Meet Our New Members” Picnic
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45. Have new members play on the organization intramural teams
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46. Plant a new member class tree in the community
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47. Sponsor a big/little academic challenge with free textbooks to the winner
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48. Have a candlelight/pass the gavel ceremony about “what membership means to me”
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49. Have a senior Student Life administrator talk about history of student organizations at the University
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50. Brainstorm ways to improve scholarship (other than study hours)
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51. Attend theatrical production or athletic event of the new members’ choosing
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52. Ask the library to give a lecture on effective research methods
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53. Attend a program or event another organization is sponsoring
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54. Have a discussion about membership standards and expectations
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55. Have a chapter goal-setting retreat
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56. Ask new members to accompany members to regional leadership conferences
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57. Attend Student Organization Leadership Development workshops
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58. Deconstruct past hazing activity to determine intent and brainstorm alternatives
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59. Write a “letter to the founders” to thank them for the opportunity (not to be shared)
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60. Attend an Executive Board meeting
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61. Have new members help Executive Board develop an icebreaker for each meeting
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62. Develop a leadership “wish list” or time line of chapter and campus activities
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63. Invite the Chapter Accreditation Program Coordinator to speak about the rationale and benefits of the program
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64. Invite the Learning Center or Career Services to explain their services
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65. Develop a faculty advisor appreciation gesture
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66. Collaborate on a campus improvement project
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67. Develop an event with another organization that requires new members to ask Student Congress for additional funds from the Student Life Fund a campus event or activity
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68. Have new members develop a list of ways to end chapter motivation issues
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69. Ask the Mayor to discuss city issues and how the group can help
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70. Ask the Elections Commissioner to discuss politics in the city/county/nation
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71. Require members to register to vote. Give an incentive to those who do
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72. Require members below a 3.0 to attend a study skills program
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73. Develop a program that allows you to begin calling them “new members” rather than “pledges”
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74. Discuss the founding of the group and how the organization has evolved over time while maintaining the vision. If it hasn’t, how can the group return to its’ roots?
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75. Host a cross-organization mixer with a sister or brother organization
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76. Review the history of hazing, the evolution of new member education and the direction organization recruitment is headed
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77. Discuss the “old way” of pledging versus the “new way” with a panel of alumni, administrators and council officers
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78. Attend a Theatre production as a group
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79. Have a Student Life professional discuss the “Millennial Generation” and how groups can better recruit based on this research
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80. Offer a discount or reimbursement of part of the initiation fee if a new member completes Alternative Winter or Spring Break Extra money if completes Greek Alternative Spring Break
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81. Give highest new member GPA recipient a plaque or $25 gift certificate to nice restaurant
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82. New member who develops best recruitment plan (or scholarship plan) gets a free _____________
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83. Ask alumni to speak about lessons learned while in the organization
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84. Do a chapter fundraiser to send a new member to a professional or national conference
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85. Have a discussion about wearing pins
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86. Attend New Member Education and Hazing Awareness workshop hosted by Student Activities
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87. Select a book as a group and read it during a pledge period with occasional discussions
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88. Allow new members time for themselves to do and be what they want–Don’t monopolize their time
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89. Have a weekly forum for the new members to discuss their feelings
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90. Invite another group to develop a program to benefit the entire student organization community
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91. Invite a Campus Fitness Specialist or Dietician to discuss dietary fads – pros and cons
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92. Ask each member to list the offices/chairs they would be interested in. Have them list five things they would do differently about each. Compile results without names attached and have a constructive conversation
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93. Develop one memento of the new member class to present to the campus
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94. Eliminate the creation of pledge class “paddles”, no matter their use. They’re symbolic of hazing. Come up with an alternative
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95. Ask a professor to do a workshop on etiquette
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96. Have lunch together once a week in a dining hall with the entire organization
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97. Invite faculty advisor to new member meetings
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98. Visit the national headquarters
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99. Support Athletic programs by attending events as a group
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100. Question each activity and evaluate the program each semester with the help of the advisor and a Student Activities representative

“The really efficient laborer will be found not to crowd his day with work, but will saunter to his task surrounded by a wide halo of ease and leisure.” – Henry David Thoreau

Are there a hundred different things you wish you could do with your life someday — anything from exercising to meditation or yoga to writing that novel you always wished you could write to reading more to relaxing and watching the sunrise?

But perhaps you never have the time, like most people.

The truth is, we all have the same amount of time, and it’s finite and in great demand. But some of us have made the time for doing the things we love doing, and others have allowed the constant demands and pressures and responsibilities of life to dictate their days.

It’s time to move from the second group back into the first. Reclaim your time. Create the life you want and make the most of the free time you lay claim to.

It’s not hard, though it does take a little bit of effort and diligence.

Reclaiming that free time

Take my life, for example: there was a time, not too long ago, when my day was packed from morning to night, when I had meetings and long to-do lists and worked long hours and the rest of my time was filled up with social engagements and meetings for civic responsibilities. I had little time for my family, which ate me up, and little time to do the things I’ve always wanted to do.

I’ve always wanted to write, but never had the time. I’ve always wanted to exercise, but was too busy. I always wanted to travel, but who can get away? I’ve always wanted to spend time with my kids, but work comes first, right?

Wrong. I finally got smart and decided that my life is my own, to do with as I wished, and so I took a time out to decide what I really wanted my life to be like. Then I designed my life, and made a series of decisions and steps to get my life to what I wanted it to be.

Today, I wake early and exercise or spend some quiet time reading and writing. I’ve written a novel and a non-fiction book. I write this blog. I run and have finally run a marathon (two actually) and completed a triathlon. I spend afternoons and evenings and all weekends with my kids and wife.

My life is what I’ve always wanted it to be, because I designed it to be that way and worked to make that design come true.

It can be that way for you, to the extent that you’re willing to make changes. Even if you just want to free up a little time for a hobby or for doing something relaxing, you can do that.

20 Ways to Find More Free Time

Not all of these will be applicable to your life — choose the ones you can apply and give them a try:

1. Take a time out. Freeing up your time starts with taking a step back to take a good look at your life. You need to block off at least an hour. Several hours or half a day is better. A whole day would be awesome. A weekend would be even more ideal, though not necessary practical for many folks. With this block of time, take a look at your life with some perspective. Is it what you’ve always wanted? How would you get to where you’ve always wanted to be? What do you enjoy doing, but don’t have enough time to do? What things actually fill up your day? Are there things you could drop or minimize to make more time? We’ll look at some of these things in the following items, but it starts with taking a time out to think and plan.
2. Find your essentials. What is it that you love to do? Make a short list of 4-5 things. These are the things you want to make room for.
3. Find your time-wasters. What do you spend a lot of your time on that isn’t on your essential list? Take a close look at these things and really think about whether they’re necessary, or if there are ways to reduce, minimize or eliminate these things. Sometimes you do things because you assume they’re necessary, but if you give it some thought you can find ways to drop them from your life. Figure out what you do simply to waste time — maybe surfing certain sites, watching TV, talking a lot at the water cooler, etc. You’re going to want to minimize these time-wasters to make room for the more important stuff, the stuff that makes you happy and that you love to do.
4. Schedule the time. As you sit down and think about your life and what you want to do, versus what you actually do, you will be looking at ways to free up time. It’s crucial that you take a blank weekly schedule (you can just write it out on a piece of paper, or use your calendar) and assign blocks for the things you love — the stuff on your essentials list. If you want to exercise, for example, when will you do it? Put the blocks of time on your schedule, and make these blocks the most important appointments of your week. Schedule the rest of your life around these blocks.
5. Consolidate. There are many things you do, scattered throughout your day or your week, that you might be able to consolidate in order to save time. A good example is errands — instead of running one or two a day, do them all in one day to save time and gas. Another example is email, or any kind of communication — batch process your email instead of checking and reading and responding throughout the day. Same thing with meetings, paperwork, anything that you do regularly.
6. Cut out meetings. This isn’t possible for everyone, but in my experience meetings take up a lot of time to get across a little information, or to make easy decisions that could be made via email or phone. As much as you can, minimize the number of meetings you hold and attend. In some cases this might mean talking to your boss and telling her that you have other priorities, and asking to be excused. In other cases this might mean asking the people holding the meeting if you can get the info in other ways. If so, you’ve saved yourself an hour or so per meeting (sometimes more).
7. Declutter your schedule. If you have a heavily packed schedule, full of meetings and errands and tasks and projects and appointments, you’re going to want to weed it out so that it’s not so jam-packed. Find the stuff that’s not so essential and cancel them. Postpone other stuff. Leave big blank spaces in your schedule.
8. Re-think your routine. Often we get stuck in a routine that’s anything but what we really want our days to be like. Is there a better way of doing things? You’re the creator of your life — make a new routine that’s more pleasant, more optimal, more filled with things you love.
9. Cut back on email. I mentioned email in an earlier point above, regarding consolidating, but it’s such a major part of most people’s lives that it deserves special attention. How often do you check email? How much time do you spend composing emails? If you spend a major part of your work day on email, as many people do (and as I once did), you can free up a lot of time by reducing the time you spend in email. Now, this won’t work for everyone, but it can work for many people: choose 2-3 key times during the day to process your inbox to empty, and keep your responses to 5 sentences. (Read more.)
10. Learn to say no. If you say “yes” to every request, you will never have any free time. Get super protective about your time, and say “no” to everything but the essential requests. Here’s how.
11. Keep your list to 3. When you make out your daily to-do list, just list the three Most Important Tasks you want to accomplish today. Don’t make a laundry list of tasks, or you’ll fill up all your free time. By keeping your task list small, but populated only by important tasks, you ensure that you are getting the important stuff done but not overloading yourself.
12. Do your Biggest Rock first. Of the three Most Important Tasks you choose for the day, pick the biggest one, or the one you’re dreading most, and do that first. Otherwise you’ll put that off as much as possible and fill your day with less important things. Don’t allow yourself to check email until that Big Rock is taken care of. It starts your day with a sense of major accomplishment, and leaves you with a lot of free time the rest of the day, because the most important thing is already done.
13. Delegate. If you have subordinates or coworkers who can do a task or project, try to delegate it. Don’t feel like you need to do everything yourself. If necessary, spend a little time training the person to whom you’re delegating the task, but that little time spent training will pay off in a lot of time saved later. Delegating allows you to focus on the core tasks and projects you should be focusing on.
14. Cut out distractions. What is there around your workspace that distracts you from the task at hand? Sometimes it’s visual clutter, or papers lying around that call for your attention and action, or email or IM notifiers on your computer that pop up at the wrong time, or the phone, or coworkers. See if you can eliminate as many of these as possible — the more you can focus, the more effective you’ll be and the less time you’ll waste. That equals time saved for the good stuff.
15. Disconnect. The biggest of distractions, for most people, is the Internet. My most productive times are when I’m disconnected from the grid. Now, I’m not saying you need to be disconnected all the time, but if you really want to be able to effectively complete tasks, disconnect your Internet so you can really focus. Set certain times of the day for connectivity, and only connect during those periods.
16. Outsource. If you can’t delegate, see if you can outsource. With the Internet, we can connect with people from all over the world. I’ve outsourced many things, from small tasks to checking email to legal work to design and editing work and more. That allows me to focus on the things I’m best at, the things I love doing, and saves me a lot of time.
17. Make use of your mornings. I find that mornings are the absolute best times to schedule the things I really want to do. I run, read and write in the mornings — three of the four things on my Essentials List (spending time with family is the other thing on the list). Mornings are great because your day hasn’t been filled with a bunch of unscheduled, demanding, last-minute tasks that will push back those Essentials. For example, if you schedule something for late afternoon, by the time late afternoon rolls around, you might have a dozen other things newly added to your to-do list, and you’ll put off that late-afternoon Essential. Instead, schedule it for the morning, and it’ll rarely (if ever) get pushed back.
18. The Golden Right-after-work Time. Other than mornings, I find the time just after work to be an incredible time for doing Essential things. Exercise, for example, is great in the 5-o’clock hour, as is spending time with family, or doing anything else relaxing.
19. Your evenings. The time before you go to bed is also golden, as it exists every single day, and it’s usually completely yours to schedule. What do you want to do with this time? Read? Spend time with your kids? Work on a hobby you’re passionate about? Take advantage of this time.
20. Lunch breaks. If the three golden times mentioned above don’t work for you, lunch breaks are another good opportunity to schedule things. Some people like to exercise, or to take quiet times, during their lunch breaks. Others use this time to work on an important personal goal or project.

“The real problem of leisure time is how to keep others from using yours.” – Arthur Lacey

First, realize that there are two ways of making money for your organization…

FUNDRAISING and SPONSORSHIP!

some fundraising ideas:
- date auctions: note! girls make MUCH MORE than guys
- garage sales/swap meets: make sure you gather tons of items and maybe even post them online beforehand!
- food! call up a restaurant, tell them you’re going to be bring out a lot of people, and ask them what they can do for you
- jail cell: put up a canopy, rope it off, and arrest people for 50 cents for 10 mins! its fun, its cheap, its easy
- bowl-a-thon
- bike-a-thon
- sell food on campus: make sure it’s okay with the school first!
- go clubbing! ask around some local clubs and see if they can cut your a percentage of the profits they make off of pre-sale tickets
- hold your own dance! doesn’t have to be at a club, maybe you can find a cheaper venue somewhere else!
- casino/poker night! get some businesses to donate prizes/gift certificates as prizes, trade in your poker chips for raffle tickets!

some tips on fundraising:
- always ask around for connections, the more resources you have…the better!
- it’s all about the HYPE! publicize your events well!
- attend other organization’s events, they’ll return the favor and come out to your events!
- plan earlier and stay organized, this ensures success.
- Use all means of promoting! facebook, twitter, myspace, email, texting, calling, do whatever it takes!

now sponsorship is a little different, that’s usually just your organization going around, and asking for money.

surprisingly, it can be pretty successful if you do it right.

also, it’s usually easier to ask for sponsorship for a specific event, such as a fundraiser or a culture night.

ideas & tips for sponsorship:
- know your details well! a lot of people will ask you to explain why you want money
- be professional: act mature and dress nicely
- go everywhere! you won’t know til you try
- ask your friends, family, and relatives
- have a sponsorship packet ready to go!
- offer your sponsors advertising space in your program
- don’t forget to acknowledge and thank you sponsors after the event!
- do sponsorship runs in groups or at least pairs, shows unity and teamwork