Theta Chi - Iowa State University

THE TOMAHAWK Theta Chi at ISU 3 ACTION STATUS FOR STRATEGIC PLAN I n August 2017, several members of the undergraduate and alumni leadership met during a strategic planning session to develop a vision to best position our chapter over the next several years The result of that discussion was to develop a list of themes and goals To refine our vision and develop a strategy, we reached out to our alumni for their input as to how best accomplish these goals More than 100 alumni responded to our survey to gauge the relative importance of each theme This document reflects the results of that survey, an action plan for those themes, and a current status report Themes with support of our responding alumni base. 1. Provide incentives and scholarships to recruit highly accomplished new members as well as award academic achievement within our current members ACTION PLAN Short term: to recognize and encourage well- rounded student leaders, we will, under our current annual campaign structure, explore additional areas instead of only GPA of awarding dollars for undergraduate excellence, ie, leadership, philanthropy, etc Long term: to award more for outstanding achievement and offset the ever-growing expense of college, we will explore opportunities to develop an endowed scholarship fund at the Iowa State University Foundation STATUS Short term: award scholarship dollars based on merit beginning with fall 2018 performance Long term: ongoing conversations about establishing an endowment Need to review processing of scholarship awards 2. Renovate the chapter facility resulting in state-of-the-art common study areas (re: increase and improve the academic space) ACTION PLAN Develop a schematic design of a renovation or addition to the chapter house which adds state- of-the-art group study areas Subsequently, determine the support of our alumni for this project STATUS Schematic design accomplished; further discussions ongoing regarding next steps 3. Better inform and promote the strengths of the chapter (re: brand and identity development) ACTION PLAN Form a task force comprised of undergraduate and alumni leadership with a review by International Headquarters to document current perception on campus and create a minimum of three recommendations for sustainable actions to improve the perception of our chapter In addition, develop a "Mission Statement" and a "Vision Statement" for the organization, which reflects the concept of "Theta Chi for Life" These statements will be prominently displayed in the chapter house STATUS Task force has been formed under leadership of Jake Wiemiller '16 with additional input from Larry Buss '68 Draft document in process 4. Alumni leaders should provide advice and counsel to the chapter leadership to provide more consistency each year as undergraduate executives regularly transition and to further demonstrate "Theta Chi for Life" in helping young men develop ACTION PLAN Establish a Chapter Advisory Board, which is now currently mandated by International Headquarters This board will meet and exceed the minimum time and performance requirements, which will be outlined in a training session conducted by International Headquarters staff STATUS Chapter Advisory Board has been established Members include: Jon Fleming '75 – Chapter Advisor, Co-Recruitment Josh Hibben '02 – Vice President Denise Denton – Health and Safety Alan Terrell '00 – Financial Bryan Larson '10 – Co-Recruitment Jake Wiemiller '16 – New Member Educator Sarah Rudy – Live-in Graduate Student Advisor, Scholarship Brandon Cutler '04 – Risk Management Moses Bomett '13 – Professional Development Andy Nelson '07 – Management 5. Alumni should assist in the recruitment of prospective new members through a referral process ACTION PLAN Increase and diversify communication with a target audience of alumni who reside in geographic areas of recruitment priorities, ie recent trends for the state of Iowa, Minneapolis/ St Paul metropolitan area STATUS E-mail blasts are sent to alumni brothers on a regular basis 6. Formalize a mentoring program between alumni and undergraduates to further demonstrate "Theta Chi for Life" in helping young men develop ACTION PLAN Electronically communicate with alumni to research those interested in mentoring our undergraduate members STATUS This has been arranged through Theta Chi IHQ resources 7. Semiannual newsletters ACTION PLAN Expand our vehicles for communicating with our alumni base Specifically, broaden the scope of utilizing Facebook, the Alpha Mu website, monthly electronic messaging, etc Emphasize updating our e-mail address accuracy through collaboration with the university and International Headquarters Explore the content of this messaging with a greater emphasis on current affairs of the undergraduate chapter Begin the transition from paper copies of The Tomahawk to electronic version STATUS After collaboration with the university we have increased accurate e-mail addresses from 380 to 630 (out of 763 living alumni) After a scrub, we have 497 active e-mail addresses 8. Alumni Weekend events ACTION PLAN Continue this highly successful event, while receiving input from our attendees how to improve the experience STATUS Ongoing event; highly successful with this year's event seeing record number of attendees 9. Develop intentional proposals for charitable giving via tax-deductible gifts ACTION PLAN Beyond giving to educational opportunities, ie, scholarships, explore other tax-deductible giving options As an example, in the near future we hope to offer a tax deductible giving opportunity (ie, The Theta Chi Fraternity Educational Equipment Fund) STATUS This account has been established at the University Foundation 10. Debt/mortgage reduction ACTION PLAN Perform an in-depth analysis of a funding model going forward giving high regard to both achieving our goals as well as respecting the appropriate amount of debt STATUS This account has been established at the University Foundation Themes without significant support of our responding alumni base and no action plan currently established: 11. Increase facility capacity 12. Increase non-academic spaces within the facility

• Cover