Wednesday, July 27, 2022

From the NPC Chair: A New Strategic Framework for NPC

Dear friends,

The NPC Board of Directors met in June in Louisville to conduct business, including a robust discussion of a new strategic framework to guide NPC’s work during the next two years. 

In setting our future direction, the board approached strategic planning in a slightly different way. We began by reviewing our strategic priorities as identified last fall:

    Growth in Panhellenic communities

    Champion the sorority experience

We then discussed the Conference's current strategic goals and our renewed focus on growth in recruitment. We also noted that our previous strategic plan was very complex, with many layers, and more challenging to measure.   

As the outcome of our discussion, we determined we should streamline our approach and incorporate the prior two strategic priorities into a new strategic framework that the board and staff will build upon and monitor on an ongoing basis. Moving forward, we are focusing on the priorities that matter the most to our constituents. The board plans to communicate our objectives, initiatives, and measurable outcomes from our workforce on these initiatives to our wider Panhellenic community on an ongoing basis. We plan to do that by using a simplified reporting format for all to clearly see progress.

Following is a high-level look at our new strategic framework and the two priorities in it.

PRIORITY 1: GROW PANHELLENIC COMMUNITIES

Through dedicated coaching and resource sharing, NPC personnel will assist College Panhellenic Associations in increasing recruitment participation and, as a result, collegiate membership.

Stimulating the growth of our collegiate Panhellenic communities is of utmost importance, and we will do that by leveraging a number of recruitment-focused strategies. Specifically, this includes the digital marketing campaign already underway with our College Panhellenics to increase promotion of the sorority experience and stimulate recruitment registration numbers so NPC organizations see increases in membership. A top priority also includes reducing the barriers for potential new members to participate in recruitment and join a sorority as these barriers hinder our membership growth capabilities. NPC staff and volunteers will continue to look at innovative opportunities for our College Panhellenics to reduce restrictions and barriers for potential new members and recruit more women to our organizations.

Data collection and analysis is another critical area that NPC is investing in so the entire Conference can have important information available to everyone as we look to make crucial decisions regarding how to best support growth within our Panhellenic communities.

PRIORITY 2: CHAMPION THE SORORITY EXPERIENCE

Through marketing and community engagement, NPC will improve the public perception of the sorority experience.

Continued advocacy for our sorority experience is critical for our broader publics—potential new members, parents/caregivers, guidance counselors and coaches, college/university personnel and administrators, among others—to support and engage with us. National and campus-based advocacy initiatives within our new strategic framework will provide further positive messages and images to promote the modern sorority experience, improve public perception and, ultimately foster new member interest in recruitment and sorority membership. 

The board recognizes that we need to stay agile and flexible with whatever may happen within our community in the future. Continuous review and oversight, along with the possibility of shifting and changing objectives and initiatives, is critical to the success of this strategic framework. 

Interfraternally,





Cheri M. De Jong
2021-23 NPC Chair

Wednesday, July 6, 2022

Together as Sorority

This content first appeared in the Summer 2022 edition of "The Lyre," the official magazine of Alpha Chi Omega, and is reprinted with permission.

When you join a sorority, you enter a community. You have chapter sisters to laugh and cry with, an alumnae network to help you pursue your dreams and even a national sorority that connects you to sisters coast to coast and beyond! But have you ever thought about the even larger sisterhood you're a part of?

When you accepted your bid to your chapter, you also joined the Panhellenic community. As the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) vision states, we are all "advancing the sorority experience together." We come together as nearly 5 million sorority women across the world.


Jen Daurora (Delta chapter of Alpha Chi Omega at Allegheny College) serves on the NPC Board of Directors and points out that no matter which of the 26 NPC member organizations we are members of, we all have shared experiences including leadership opportunities, education and the ability to support our communities through philanthropy and service. And most importantly, she adds, "I think the underpinning of women supporting women rings true throughout the NPC experience."

We strive to uplift our sisters in all their endeavors, and our empowerment can extend to the Panhellenic community. It's why our collegiate chapters have Panhellenic delegates to connect the Alpha Chi Omega chapter to the larger campus, and why many cities have Alumnae Panhellenics to bring together women from all organizations for networking and making a difference.

In a time when some are questioning the value of the sorority experience, we can work together as sorority women to share the benefits we've received and that others can obtain if they are open to the experience.

"From my perspective, togetherness for NPC really means the way we leverage our collective strength to advocate for and promote the sorority experience as a whole," Jen explains. "Because while it is important that each member organization strives to be its best and each chapter strives to reach its full potential, it's important that as a community we're helping one another reach our goals as well."

How can we do that? Jen suggests that collegians let potential new members (and others!) know what makes them proud to be in a sorority, whether it's learning to manage an officer budget or having a sister notice your potential that you didn't even see in yourself. For our alumnae members, Jen recommends they share openly with their networks that they're sorority women. She also explains it's important to articulate broad benefits; the collegiate experience you had might look very different for today's student, but the opportunities and lessons are far-reaching.

Of course, while we all share a sorority experience, we also each have a story. And your storywith all of its nuances and lessons and moments that make it distinctly yours—is a powerful piece of advocating for the experience.

"Be proud of what you've gained from this experience," Jen says, "and tell your own story."