Establish a scholarship to find the ideal recruit 

The focus of values-based recruitment is articulating the values of the fraternity to find new members whose values match the chapter’s. By doing this, you are communicating what Pi Kappa Phi stands for, dispelling stereotypes, and bringing in the right kind of men who will help the chapter succeed. One way to do this year after year is to offer a scholarship.

Last year, I had the opportunity to work with Theta Theta Chapter at the University of Iowa during their recruitment period. The chapter established the Mark M. McCloy Memorial Scholarship after the founding father’s untimely death. McCloy, a former archon, exemplified what it means to be a brother of the fraternity and the scholarship represents his lasting impact.

 According to Archon Ethan Collins, “We honor Mark’s memory today by offering a scholarship to incoming freshman in his name. We discuss the acronym CLASS and go into detail about how Mark lived by those values. We have more than 150 quality freshman apply each year, and after an extensive interview process, we give our scholarships to the men we believe best live up to the example Mark left us. Though we only give out 4 scholarships, our massive applicant pool is full of athletes, service-oriented leaders, dedicated students, and driven men looking to make their mark on campus. This scholarship not only lets us remember Mark and celebrate the way he lived, but it also gives us the chance to meet some of the best men the freshman class has to offer.”

Watching this process in action was amazing. Not only did the chapter have a chance to pass down McCloy’s legacy year after year, but it brought some of the best new men on to the chapter’s door, giving them access to talk about the fraternity as well, allowing them to have a chance to recruit some great new members into the chapter.

Setting up a recruitment scholarship can be done in two ways.  The simplest and most direct way is to set aside money from the chapter’s recruitment budget for such a purpose.  Often, a few hundred dollars will suffice.  Again, the purpose is not to provide for a windfall to the winner, but to use the scholarship as a method to generate names for recruitment.  Another way to establish a recruitment scholarship would be through your chapter’s Chapter Investment Fund (CIF) held by the Pi Kappa Phi Foundation.  CIFs are endowment-type accounts that allow anyone (i.e. students, alumni and parents) to make tax-deductible donations to Pi Kappa Phi and earmark them for your chapter.  For more information on establishing a Chapter Investment Fund, contact the Foundation at foundation@pikapp.org 

For more resources from the Foundation such as scholarship templates, visit the resource library at foundation.pikapp.org.