What is a Sorority Philanthropy? And How Do You Get Involved

Sorority philanthropy is a type of volunteerism where members of Greek organizations utilize their resources and reach out to give back to their communities. These initiatives are often organized by a sorority’s “cause committee” or another central committee. Sorority philanthropy often aims to improve the lives of others and make a positive impact on the world around them. Each individual organization has its own unique definition of what constitutes philanthropy, so there isn’t one set formula for all sororities when it comes to these programs. Read on to learn more about sorority philanthropies and how you can get involved with one!

What is a Sorority Philanthropy?

A sorority philanthropy is a type of volunteer initiative that members of a sorority utilize to give back to their communities. These initiatives are often organized by a sorority’s “cause committee” or another central committee. Sorority Philanthropy can also be known as a “cause” or “social action”. A sorority philanthropy often aims to improve the lives of others and make a positive impact on the world around them. Each individual organization has its own unique definition of what constitutes philanthropy, so there isn’t one set formula for all sororities when it comes to these programs.

How to get involved in sorority philanthropy?

There are many different ways that you can get involved in sorority philanthropy. Some of the most popular methods of engagement include volunteering, fundraising, and participating in sponsored events.

Volunteering – One of the most common activities that people get involved in is volunteering their time for a charitable cause. You can usually find a sorority event where you can volunteer by searching online.

Fundraising – Another way to get involved in sorority philanthropy is to fundraise for a cause or organization that the organization has partnered with. This can be as easy as holding a bake sale or organizing a car wash for your local community.

Event Participation – Some sorority philanthropies host events where people can get involved. You might have to pay a small fee to participate in these events, but it’s typically minimal and can be worth it if you have a blast while making a difference.

Why Participate in a Sorority Philanthropy?

There are tons of reasons to participate in a sorority organization’s philanthropy, but some of the most common reasons include:

It’s a Great Way to Meet People – If you’re new to campus, one of the best ways to meet people is by getting involved in philanthropy. This is a great way to form lasting friendships with other students while also making a difference.

It’s a Great Way to Network – Building a network and making connections can be extremely beneficial to your future. Participating in philanthropy is a great way to network with people from all different fields and positions.

It’s a Way to Make a Positive Impact on the World – Getting involved in philanthropy is a great way to make a positive impact on the world and feel good about yourself. Who doesn’t want to do something good for others?

How to Run a Successful Sorority Philanthropy

If you’re a member of a sorority and you’d like to start philanthropy, there are a few things that you can do to make the process easier:

Create a Vision – The first thing that you should do is create a vision for your philanthropy. This includes defining your mission, goals, and the target audience you want to help through your efforts.

Brainstorm – Once you have your initial vision, you should brainstorm different ideas that you can use as sorority philanthropy. This includes thinking about what your sisters and members want to do as well.

Research and Choose – Once you have a few ideas, you should research each one to see if it would make good philanthropy. Look for ways that can be beneficial to others and make sure that it fits your organization’s values and mission.

Get Support – During the process of creating and implementing your philanthropy, it’s important to get support from the members of your organization. This will make the process a lot easier!

Be Creative – While it’s important to choose philanthropy that your organization can handle, it’s also important to be as creative as you can. This will make the process more fun and engaging for everyone involved!

Final Words

Sorority philanthropy is a great way to get involved on campus and make a positive impact on your community. If you’re a member of a sorority, make sure to participate in your sorority philanthropy! It’s a great way to meet people, network, and make a positive impact on others’ lives. Whether you participate in one of the most popular sorority philanthropies or create your own, you’re sure to have a great time while making a positive impact on the world around you.

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Sorority Philanthropy FAQs

How much do sorority philanthropy programs typically raise annually?

Documented sorority philanthropy programs raise $3,500–$185,000 per chapter annually, with the spread driven by chapter size, university type, programming intensity, and national-philanthropy-partnership scale. Small-chapter sorority programs (40–80 active sisters at smaller-university or regional-college campuses with single-event annual philanthropy programming) typically raise $3,500–$12,000 annually. Mid-tier sorority programs (80–160 active sisters at mid-size-university or regional flagship-university campuses with 2–4 annual philanthropy events plus year-round programming) consistently raise $15,000–$55,000 annually. Major-tier sorority programs (160–350 active sisters at major-flagship-university or top-tier-university campuses with structured 4–8 annual philanthropy events, year-round programming, alumna-network engagement, and structured corporate-partnership programming) raise $55,000–$185,000 annually. The aggregate impact across the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC, 26 international sororities), Multicultural Greek Council (MGC), and National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC, the historically-Black Divine Nine) is documented at over $50 million annually directed to philanthropy-partner organizations across the United States and Canada. The single biggest revenue lever for chapter-level philanthropy programming is national-philanthropy-partner alignment — chapters affiliated with national sororities operating structured-philanthropy-partner programming with specific philanthropy-partner organizations (Make-A-Wish, Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, Reading is Fundamental, Susan G. Komen, Prevent Child Abuse America, Court Appointed Special Advocates, and similar national-partner organizations) consistently outperform chapters operating chapter-specific philanthropy programming because the national-partnership scale provides programming-support infrastructure, brand-recognition advantage, and multi-chapter-aggregated impact-narrative value.

What annual programming structure produces the strongest philanthropy outcomes?

Five programming-structure operating rules consistently produce the strongest sorority philanthropy outcomes across documented chapter programs: (1) anchor 2–4 signature annual events tied to philanthropy-partner programming — standard signature-event formats include philanthropy-partner-themed dance marathons (Children's Miracle Network Hospitals dance marathons typically raise $25,000–$185,000+ per chapter), 5K runs and walks (Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Make-A-Wish walks, and similar event formats typically raise $5,500–$45,000 per event), pageants and talent showcases (chapter-hosted pageants in partnership with men's fraternity organizations consistently produce $8,500–$35,000 per event), and dinner-and-auction events (chapter-hosted formal dinners with silent-auction programming typically raise $12,000–$55,000 per event); (2) integrate year-round programming alongside signature events — year-round programming including monthly philanthropy-partner volunteer-hour engagement (typically 200–800 chapter volunteer-hours annually distributed to philanthropy-partner programming), monthly chapter-internal-fundraising campaigns (philanthropy-percentage-of-sales partnerships with local restaurants, retail partners, and service-business partners typically generate $750–$4,500 per partnership event), and chapter-internal-giving programming (chapter-sister-internal annual giving programs typically generate $1,500–$8,500 per chapter year), the year-round cadence creates compounding-impact rather than single-event-spike-only impact and supports the philanthropy-partner relationship with sustained-engagement-over-event-only-engagement; (3) execute structured alumna-network engagement programming — alumna-network-engagement programming including alumna-philanthropy-event-attendance, alumna-personal-giving, alumna-corporate-employer matching-gift cultivation, and alumna-network volunteer-engagement typically expands chapter philanthropy revenue by 25–65 percent through the alumna-network revenue and engagement channel; the alumna-network-engagement programming should be coordinated through the chapter-philanthropy-officer with alumna-relations support from the chapter-alumna-board or affiliated alumna chapter; (4) build structured corporate-and-business-partnership programming — partnerships with local businesses (restaurants, retail outlets, service providers, college-town businesses) for philanthropy-percentage-of-sales programming, corporate-employer-matching-gift programming, and event-sponsorship programming consistently expands chapter philanthropy revenue by 25–45 percent through the corporate-and-business-partnership channel; the partnership programming should be coordinated through the chapter-philanthropy-officer with university Greek-life advisory support where appropriate; (5) execute structured impact-narrative communication and recognition programming — chapter philanthropy-impact communication (sharing specific dollar-impact, volunteer-hour-impact, and program-outcome impact with chapter sisters, alumna network, parents, university administration, and philanthropy-partner organization), philanthropy-partner-recognition programming (recognizing the chapter's philanthropy-partner relationship through chapter-room signage, chapter-letterhead, and chapter social-media programming), and chapter-internal-recognition programming (recognizing top-fundraiser sisters, top-volunteer-hour sisters, and top-event-leadership sisters through chapter-internal-recognition programming) consistently lifts year-over-year participation and per-sister average contribution by 25–55 percent. Avoid: single-event-only programming without year-round cadence (loses compounding-impact value), missing alumna-network engagement (loses 25–65 percent of expansion potential), skipping corporate-business-partnership programming (loses 25–45 percent of expansion potential), and missing impact-narrative-and-recognition programming (loses 25–55 percent of year-over-year growth potential).

How should chapters select and partner with a philanthropy-partner organization?

Philanthropy-partner selection-and-partnership operating rules are the structural variable that determines whether chapter philanthropy programming produces sustained-multi-year-impact or programming-fatigue and chapter-internal-disengagement. Five operating rules: (1) align with the national-sorority designated philanthropy-partner where one exists — most National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) sororities and many Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) and National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) sororities maintain designated national-philanthropy-partner organizations (examples include Alpha Chi Omega/Domestic Violence Awareness, Alpha Delta Pi/Ronald McDonald House Charities, Alpha Phi/Alpha Phi Foundation Cardiac Care, Chi Omega/Make-A-Wish, Delta Gamma/Service for Sight, Delta Zeta/Starkey Hearing Foundation, Gamma Phi Beta/Girls on the Run, Kappa Delta/Prevent Child Abuse America, Kappa Kappa Gamma/Reading is Fundamental, Pi Beta Phi/Read Lead Achieve, Sigma Kappa/Alzheimer's Association, Sigma Sigma Sigma/March of Dimes, Tri Delta/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Zeta Tau Alpha/Breast Cancer Education and Awareness, and similar designated partnerships); the national-partner alignment provides programming-support infrastructure, brand-recognition advantage, multi-chapter-aggregated impact-narrative value, and partnership-staffing support from the national-sorority headquarters; (2) supplement national-partner alignment with chapter-specific community-philanthropy programming where appropriate — many chapters operate alongside the national-philanthropy-partner partnership a chapter-specific community-philanthropy program (local children's hospital partnership, local domestic-violence-shelter partnership, local food-bank-or-pantry partnership, local college-town community-organization partnership) that creates a place-based community-engagement-and-impact narrative alongside the national-partnership programming; the dual-partnership programming supports both national-aggregate-impact and local-community-engagement narratives; (3) execute multi-year partnership-development programming with selected philanthropy-partners — chapter-philanthropy programming consistently produces stronger outcomes when chapters maintain multi-year partnership relationships with selected philanthropy-partner organizations (typically 3–5 year partnership commitments rather than annual-rotation programming); the multi-year cadence supports programming-support infrastructure development, sustained-impact-narrative compounding, and chapter-and-partner relationship development that single-year-rotation programming cannot achieve; (4) coordinate philanthropy-partner programming with the partner-organization development-officer-or-volunteer-engagement coordinator — sustained programming-support coordination between the chapter-philanthropy-officer and the partner-organization development-officer-or-volunteer-engagement coordinator enables programming-design support (philanthropy-partner-organization-supplied programming materials, event-design templates, fundraising-and-communication templates, impact-measurement frameworks), event-execution support (philanthropy-partner-organization-supplied event-day staff support, programming-content support, beneficiary-engagement support where appropriate), and impact-measurement support (philanthropy-partner-organization-supplied impact-reporting that supports chapter impact-narrative communication); (5) maintain chapter-internal philanthropy-officer-development programming and multi-year programming-continuity planning — the chapter-philanthropy-officer position is typically a 1–2 year leadership commitment requiring sustained training-and-development support; chapter-internal training programming including philanthropy-partner-organization briefing, programming-budget-and-financial-management training, event-planning-and-execution training, and impact-narrative-and-communication training, combined with multi-year programming-continuity planning across philanthropy-officer transitions, ensures programming-quality and partner-relationship continuity across chapter-leadership transitions. Avoid: annual-rotation programming across philanthropy-partner organizations (loses multi-year compounding value), missing partner-organization coordination (loses programming-support infrastructure value), skipping chapter-philanthropy-officer development programming (creates programming-quality and continuity risk across leadership transitions), and treating philanthropy programming as event-execution rather than sustained-partnership programming (loses compounding-impact value).

How is sorority philanthropy programming evolving across NPC, MGC, and NPHC organizations?

Sorority philanthropy programming evolution across National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), Multicultural Greek Council (MGC), and National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) organizations shows five structural evolution patterns: (1) expansion of digital-platform-and-virtual-event programming — chapter philanthropy programming increasingly integrates digital-platform programming (chapter-specific philanthropy-partner peer-to-peer fundraising pages, social-media programming, virtual-event programming, and digital-content programming) alongside traditional in-person event programming; the digital-platform programming consistently expands chapter philanthropy revenue by 25–55 percent through the digital-engagement channel and supports alumna-network engagement across geographic distribution; (2) expansion of structured-corporate-partnership and matching-gift programming — chapter philanthropy programming increasingly integrates structured-corporate-partnership programming (event-sponsorship programming with regional and national corporate partners, percentage-of-sales programming with restaurant and retail partners, corporate-employer-matching-gift cultivation with alumna-network corporate-employer connections, and structured-corporate-volunteer programming with corporate-partner employee-engagement programs); the corporate-partnership programming consistently expands chapter philanthropy revenue by 25–45 percent; (3) expansion of structured-impact-measurement-and-narrative programming — chapter philanthropy programming increasingly integrates structured-impact-measurement programming (dollar-impact measurement, volunteer-hour-impact measurement, program-outcome impact measurement, and beneficiary-engagement impact measurement) with structured impact-narrative-communication programming (impact-narrative-content development, chapter-and-alumna communication, chapter-recognition-and-celebration programming, and chapter-internal-engagement programming); the impact-measurement-and-narrative programming supports compounding-engagement and year-over-year-growth outcomes; (4) expansion of cross-organizational-collaboration programming — chapter philanthropy programming increasingly integrates cross-organizational-collaboration programming (NPC-MGC-NPHC cross-council programming, sorority-fraternity cross-organizational programming, sorority-other-student-organization programming with multicultural-student-organizations, athletic-team-organizations, academic-honor-society-organizations, and faith-based-student-organizations); the cross-organizational programming expands programming-reach and supports campus-and-community-level philanthropy-engagement programming; (5) expansion of multi-year-strategic-planning and continuity-development programming — chapter philanthropy programming increasingly integrates multi-year strategic-planning programming (3–5 year programming-development plans with year-over-year-growth targets, multi-year partner-relationship-development planning, multi-year alumna-engagement-development planning, and multi-year corporate-partnership-development planning) with continuity-development programming across chapter-philanthropy-officer transitions; the multi-year-strategic-planning programming supports sustained year-over-year-growth and programming-quality continuity across the annual chapter-leadership-transition cycle. The aggregate sorority-philanthropy impact across NPC, MGC, and NPHC organizations is documented at over $50 million annually with strong year-over-year-growth trends, expanding philanthropy-partner relationships, expanding digital-platform programming, and expanding corporate-partnership programming. Avoid: single-channel programming approach (loses multi-channel expansion value), missing digital-platform integration (loses 25–55 percent of digital-engagement opportunity), skipping multi-year-strategic-planning programming (loses sustained-growth opportunity), and missing cross-organizational-collaboration programming (loses programming-reach expansion opportunity).