Theta Xi - Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

ALPHA CHAPTER OF THETA XI SPRING 2016 ALPHABET Renovations and Capital Campaign Momentum Stays Strong Alumni Strategize for Long-Term Goals (Continued on page 5) F irst, I'd like to give a big thank-you to all alumni who've joined in our ambitious plan to transform our beloved chapter house. Our fun- draising campaign and initial renovation execu- tion remains strong; we hit our initial fundraising target in the week leading up to our official an- nouncement's second anniversary at this year's 6294 celebration. Our campaign committee re- ceived guidance from our fundraising consulting firm, Pennington & Company, that we had the capacity to raise up to $500,000. We decided to challenge ourselves and stretched our goal to $750,000. We created our project list to reflect that target, as opposed to developing a wish list of required and desired renovations, and have been executing on that original plan. We've com- pleted Phase I renovations (public areas in first floor and basement) and have started on Phase II (bathrooms) and have received rave reviews from alumni! Our active chapter and alumni association have already begun reaping tangible benefits from your donations. The chapter executed another successful recruitment and the current house membership is above 50 brothers; the house will be full next year with 37 brothers for the first time in recent memory. The first phase of renovations is already providing a competitive advantage by attracting more members. The alumni association has begun receiving more pledges and donations, including several increased pledges from exist- ing donors and from alumni who were impressed with the completed work when they visited 1490 Sage Avenue during Homecoming and 6294. In the short term, we will continue focusing on our immediate priorities. We will work to con- tinue collecting pledges to allow us to complete Phase II. This summer, we will rebuild the front stairs to address our most pressing safety pri- ority. The first- and third-floor bathrooms will be renovated as soon as we collect the $80,000 Winter 2016 Phase II work included a rebuild of the second-floor bathroom. Early Theta Xi artwork provided the inspiration for the stone mosaic. What has been done? P Set and reached a $750,000 goal (project list included just highest priority projects that the goal could afford). P Phase I has been completed. • Phase II has been started (second-floor bathroom) and included installing one window to show what we could use. How has it impacted Alpha Chapter? • We've seen significant improvement to chapter operations and will reach in-house capacity for the first time in years. • It has been an asset to recruitment. • Our alumni support has been great—we've proven what we can do and are earning more support. What are we doing now? • Collecting pledges. As liquidity comes in, we will do more to focus on bringing in already pledged funds. • Continuing the second stage. We are starting on the front steps this summer. • Working on collecting more money. We need $80,000 more to finish the rest of Phase II (first- and third-floor bathrooms). What's next? • Execute the remaining renovations. Once we finish Phase II, we will move on to Phase III (kitchen or bedrooms next). • Reach $850,000 to $900,000 in total commitments to complete inside renovations. • Reach $1.1 million in total commitments to replace all windows. A Look at Chapter House Renovations and Fundraising needed to complete those tasks, which will hopefully be by winter or summer 2017. We ex- pect those projects will further help with recruit- ment success. In the longer term, we need to make a strategic choice. We could choose to declare victory and complete our original work plan. Or we could take advantage of our current momentum and pivot to a larger target fundraising goal to ex- ecute an even more impactful renovation. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make pivotal improvements to our chapter house. This will poise us for success in years to come. How- ever, if we aren't able to fix it now, we may not have the chance to revisit this anytime soon. Raising our goal to $850,000 or $900,000 would

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