Soapbox Engage Blog

Fraternities and sororities are great places to build leadership skills, community, and a lifelong network of support, encouragement, and camaraderie. While it does require quite an investment of time, energy, and money, joining a fraternity or sorority can help boost academic success, provide opportunities to hone leadership and communication skills, and even lead to job opportunities.

Many people don’t realize that philanthropy and community service are a significant component of sorority and fraternity life! Most Greek organizations have a designated charity or cause they support year-round. Nearly all fraternities and sororities require their members to participate in some kind of community service project each year.

It can get challenging to come up with creative fundraising ideas that people will actually want to attend. If you’re looking for some fun and effective new fundraising ideas for your fraternity or sorority, look no further! We’ve got some ideas that will help you reach your fundraising goals for your service project or philanthropy without all the planning headaches.

Table of Contents

• Why fundraising is good for fraternities and sororities
• 4 top fundraisers for fraternities and sororities

Why Fundraising Is Good for Fraternities and Sororities

Did you know there are about 9 million student and alumni members of fraternities and sororities in America? That’s about 3 percent of the total population in the United States! That’s also some serious fundraising power for communities and national philanthropies!

And, it turns out, members of Greek organizations are actually really good at fundraising! In 2019, Sigma Chi raised more than $1,430,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. The brothers of Alpha Gamma Rho weren’t far behind, raising over $1,390,000 for various organizations.

The sisters at the Delta Gamma Sorority raised $792,499 for their philanthropy, Service for Sight, in 2019. Kappa Alpha Theta came in second, donating $695,242 to CASA for Children.

Fundraising is about more than just collecting money for a good cause (though that’s a big part of it). Greek members can learn valuable life and leadership skills through the process of setting goals, creating action plans, and working together to accomplish those goals. It requires teamwork, communication, planning, business skills, and a host of other things that will benefit you for the rest of your life (and might even boost your resume).

4 Top Fundraisers for Fraternities and Sororities

The passion, dedication, time, effort, and dedication fraternity and sorority members put into fundraising each year is truly remarkable. It’s much easier to keep that passion alive when you’re excited about the fundraiser, and you’re accomplishing your goals. Break away from the traditional fundraising strategies with some of these fresh, fun, effective fundraising ideas!

1) Host a camp or skills clinic for your next fraternity fundraiser

College students, faculty, and staff actually have a lot of skills to offer younger students. Whether you host a sports camp or a computer skills clinic, offering these kinds of events is a great way to serve your community and drive local involvement in your fraternity or sorority philanthropy.

Not only will the kids have fun and learn some valuable skills, but parents and guardians (potential donors, hint hint) will also probably be grateful! Plus, you’ll give your members the chance to use their talents, gifts, and knowledge to make a difference in the world!

If you want to take your clinic or camp to the next level, partner with other groups around campus. For example, invite the basketball team to help put on a top-notch skills clinic. Ask the admissions office for volunteers to lead a seminar about the college application process. Invite the computer science club to help kids learn about computer coding or other fun skills.

Soapbox Engage app to make this fundraiser easier: Putting on a camp or clinic actually takes quite a bit of work and organization. Reduce the administrative load (and eliminate unnecessary paperwork) by having an online registration process!

With the Soapbox Events app, registrations are processed on your website and saved straight to Salesforce. No more manually entering people’s information or keeping up with all those papers. Having online registration also makes advertising easier, so you can reach a broader audience. Plus, you can pair it with an online payment processing system and collect registration fees and donations online!

2) Host a video game marathon for a virtual fraternity or sorority fundraiser

In-person events are still a bit challenging, so many fraternities and sororities (and nonprofits worldwide) are getting creative with their virtual fundraising ideas. Video game fundraisers are gaining popularity and effectiveness!

Video game fundraisers have grown in leaps and bounds over the last 10 years. In 2020 the Games Done Quick gaming fundraiser brought in more than $3.1 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation! So, it’s definitely a proven fundraising concept, fueled in part by the growing number of (gainfully employed) adults playing online video games in their spare time. Salesforce even has a podcast called “Gaming for Good” about mobilizing the huge video game audience to make a difference in the world.

To host a successful virtual video game tournament, all you really need is a “tournament-approved” video game (there are many to choose from) and someone to set up, advertise, and run the tournament. Hosting it as a virtual event definitely cuts down on the cost of refreshments and other expenses.

Some organizations ask players to “pay to play” in the tournament, charging a small entry donation. Other organizations opt to just ask for a donation of any amount. One way to entice more players to your tournament is to charge an entry fee and put a percentage of the proceeds into a “winner’s pot” so there’s an incentive to enter.

Soapbox Engage Apps to make this fundraiser better: No matter what kind of fundraiser you’re hosting, it’s best to have an online donation page so people can give anytime, anywhere. The Soapbox Donations app is entirely customizable and mobile-friendly!

You can associate each donation with a campaign in Salesforce. So, when your fraternity or sorority runs multiple fundraisers at once, there’ won’t be any confusion! All this is so easy to set up and maintain that you’ll have more time to do the essential things, like run your fundraiser and keep your fraternity and sorority going strong!

3) Host an alumni event fraternity or sorority fundraiser

Whether it’s a cocktail hour, tailgate party, or paint night, Greek alumni love reconnecting, participating in memorable traditions, and staying involved in their beloved fraternity or sorority. Plus, they remember the importance of fundraising for your philanthropy, so they’re the perfect audience for your next fundraiser!

One option is to invite alumni back to campus for an event, like tailgating a major sporting event or attending a significant fraternity or sorority event. Another fundraising strategy is to bring the party to the alumni!

Virtual fundraising events for alumni are becoming more popular in the age of social distancing. There are loads of creative ways to host these kinds of events. Consider inviting a chef or bartender to host a virtual cooking or mixology class for a small donation to your philanthropy.

Do you have an artist in your fraternity or sorority? Capitalize on their talents by putting together a virtual paint night (bonus points if you help alumni paint something connected to your organization or school). Even virtual yoga fundraisers have been known to work! Whatever virtual event you think alumni will be excited to attend, that’s the right fundraising event for your fraternity or sorority!

Soapbox Engage Apps to make this fundraiser better: One thing that makes fundraising from alumni infinitely easier is being able to get in touch with them quickly and easily. With the Soapbox Directories app, your sorority or fraternity can maintain up-to-date contact information for all your alumni.

Need to contact alumni from a particular graduation year or even a specific geographic region? No problem! Search all your directory entries using all sorts of filters! Plus, every time someone donates through your Donations app or signs up for an event with your Events app, it will automatically update their contact information in your directory! No more manually updating contact information on complicated spreadsheets.

4) Host a fitness fundraiser for your fraternity or sorority philanthropy

This is another fundraiser idea that works as an in-person, virtual, or hybrid event. Many people are getting more involved in virtual fitness activities, especially now that gyms and athletic events are closed or canceled. Plus, more people than ever use fitness trackers (like Apple watches, FitBits, Garmins, smartphones, and other devices). Why not capitalize on this and help them make a difference with their wellness goals?

There are loads of ideas and ways to structure a fitness fundraiser! USA Swimming, for example, hosts an annual Swim-A-Thon challenge. Participants ask family, friends, and neighbors to pledge a donation per lap completed (or make a flat donation to the cause). The participant then goes out and conquers as many swim laps as possible during the set amount of time. The more each participant swims, the more money you raise!

This type of fundraiser really can work for just about any athletic endeavor, from hiking or kayaking to running, cycling, and even CrossFit! The goal is to choose a fitness goal or event that many people will be excited to participate in and raise money for.

Soapbox Engage Apps to make this fundraiser better: Keep the sign-up process for your fitness fundraiser simple with the Soapbox Events app! One long-term benefit to using this app for your fundraising events is that you can contact previous participants to invite them to attend future events! So, when your fitness fundraiser becomes an annual tradition, you’ll be able to contact all your previous athletes with a few easy clicks!

Suppose you’re thinking of hosting an in-person event. In that case, you can set ticket sales to start and end on specific dates, limit the number of tickets sold, and even offer promo codes to certain groups! (For example, if you wanted to offer current students a discounted entry fee, you can do that without any complicated bookkeeping!)

These are just four fundraising ideas that work as in-person, virtual, or hybrid fundraisers. Now that you’ve got some great fundraising ideas on the calendar for your philanthropy, it’s time to start getting the word out and mobilizing people to support a great cause!

Here are three more resources to help take your fraternity or sorority fundraising to the next level.

• 4 Great Alumni Fundraising Strategies That Actually Work in 2020: Many alumni are actually eager to support their alma mater and organizations or clubs they participated in, but some are turned off by fundraising methods that feel outdated and out of touch with reality. The good news is there are plenty of ways to improve overall giving and build strong alumni relationships. This blog has four ways universities can leverage an alumni network for more effective fundraising.
• 9 Steps to Plan and Host a Virtual Fundraiser: Virtual fundraising events will likely stick around long after the COVID-19 pandemic is over, simply because they’re effective and affordable. This blog has some great tips and tricks from industry experts on why you should start hosting virtual fundraising events and how to plan your first virtual fundraising event (and make it a smashing success).
• 3 Elements of an Effective Fundraising Appeal Letter: Sending printed appeal letters is still one of the most effective ways to raise money and build strong relationships with donors and alumni. This blog breaks down a few elements of what makes a great appeal letter and some tips on how to improve your letters (including some sample fundraising letters to get your creative juices flowing).