DTD at MC #44

Hello again everyone,

Just a short note today, because I'm busy packing and getting ready for my trip to Marietta. I'll be there BRIGHT AND EARLY Wednesday (I have an overnight flight from Tucson). Hope that you have all made your plans and contacted Matt Dole to let him know that you are coming.

I got the schedule of events for the weekend. Remember, we are building the ritual equipment this weekend, hope you have made plans to help with that. Bob Kubota, seems to me that you are very handy with a hammer and saw! Here is the schedule that I got from Hops.

Hey Rick,

We finalized the schedule for Alumni Weekend; it is also posted on the Web site (http://www.marietta.edu/~delts/alumni/news.html).

Friday, April 27, 2007

Meet and Greet at the Shelter (5-8pm)
Unveiling New Letters Ceremony (6pm)
Build Ritual Equipment in Chapter Room (7-9pm)


Saturday, April 28, 2007 (Doo Dah Day)

Alumni Golf Outing (TBA)


Sunday, April 29, 2007

Breakfast at the Shelter (10am)
Finish Building Ritual
Equipment (11-2pm)
If you see any problems or conflicts, please let Nick and me know, and we'll try to adjust the best we can.

Cya within the week,

Hops

Our last email garnered some responses concerning Goose's note. I'll include them here, as well as his response. It's nice to know that it generated some interest. Let me know what you think.

Tim Parsons sent this note:

Why can't we alumni do an Adopt-A-Delt program?

There must be brothers in the Epsilon Upsilon Alumni Universe that can chip in to help guys on campus become part of our brotherhood. Just think of the experience and lifelong friendships we gained as undergrads. Why can't we pass that same joy onto others by helping others pay their dues. Why not a scholarship fund? C'mon, I know there are people out there are looking for a way to contribute to the house. We all realize that in order for the house to be there in the future it surely needs a few brothers left on campus. So, let's open our wallets and help a brother out.

Tim Parsons

David Broome sent this letter to express his feelings on the subject:

Goose,

I am writing in response to your 'call-out' (via Rick Neel's alumni-wide email broadcast) to any EY alumni who may have fundraising ideas for the Chapter.

Let me get to the point: I don't have any fundraising ideas; my only memories are of volunteer activities in the community - which is certainly still the case for the Chapter today. I have no idea where the Chapter got money in the 1980s, but college didn't cost over $32,000 a year, either (I know, inflation, etc).

Your request for ideas from alumni about fundraising opportunities is an excellent place to start, and hopefully some ideas will be forthcoming. However, you also indicated that "we [undergraduates] are not asking for alumni donations," to which I answer: "Why not?"

To explain: Alumni know quite a bit about being asked for monetary "contributions" in a way that undergraduates may not be aware of ... yet. Both Marietta College and DTD International are VERY diligent about making regular requests for money. At least three or four times a year - sometimes more - we get friendly requests (usually by mail, but the College also does the phone-a-thon fund drive at least
once a year) for "contributions." With all those requests going out, sometimes, some alumnus somewhere takes the bait (myself included).

Epsilon Upsilon Chapter of Delta Tau Delta, however, has not - to my knowledge in the 19 years that I've been an alumnus - ever, even once, made an appeal for money. And, unlike Marietta College or DTD International, our Chapter does not have thousands of alumni - nor (to date)any wealthy alums who are willing to designate a generous percentage of their fortune in their last will & testament when they die. To make the "contribution" process as straightforward as possible, both MC and DTD International provide a customized statement of current level of giving - and giving history - and even a pre-addressed envelope to send the check back in. To alumni this information falls under the "no kidding, so what else is new?" file, but undergraduates could probably take a few pointers from those two instututions when it comes to "getting all you can" out of the alumni.

MC and Delt International have every right to seek contributions from their alumni and, in my view, so does Epsilon Upsilon.

Unless there is some written rule that prohibits the undergraduates from specifically seeking financial contributions from their own alumni (and I re-HE-eally don't think there is), I feel that a formal appeal for "alumni contrubutions" -if only once a year - could be well worth the effort. Face it, the Chapter is currently succeeding in ways that were unimaginable in some previous eras, and a major anniversary year is approaching. You've earned the right to ask.

Again, hopefully there will be responses regarding fundraising ideas. As for making direct requests for alumni contributions, please give it some serious thought. For further indepth ideas in this regard, I remain available. I don't have fundraising experience, but I do have plenty of experience being asked for money ... which (this being the case for all of the other alumni) could nonetheless prove helpful.

Fraternally,
David Broome, class of 1988

Goose responded to David this way:

Brother Broome,

This is Brother Kitson. I really appreciate the speedy response and compliments at the Chapter's progress and thank you for helping to lay the foundation that we stand on right now. As far as asking the alumni for money, the undergrads have felt that asking the alumni for money might take them away from wanting to be a part of this process that Rick has been working so hard on to bring us all back together. Maybe it's because we don't have the thousands of alumni or anything, but we don't want to ask of our alumni financially.

We've discussed the idea before of possibly doing a "Delt Pledge" where alumni would pledge an ammount per new pledge we got or initiated, as well as attempting to establish a Delt Scholarship based on need and accomplishment. Both ourselves, Ferg, and the couple alumni agreed that it would not be in our best interest to pursue asking the alums and risk becoming another organization simply asking for the alumni to give as we really honor the idea that being a Delt is life-long. The Undergrads asking for the money just isn't something that we're willing to do right now.

However, if any of those ideas for fundraising seem like something you think the alumni would like to begin to undertake - I don't think it's unfeasible for House Corps to look for alumni donations for that. Rick has also been CC'ed from your
email as well as this response.

Thank you so much for the concern about the current Chapter. It helps to know that so many people have a vested interest in the how we do. It makes it known that it's that much more important.

Fraternally,John "GooSe" Kitson

I forwarded Tim Parsons note to Goose and he sent me this response. Please note that the Undergrads are not looking to get us back to Marietta so they can get money out of us, they sincerely want to see the Alumni come back to visit them. And I can vouch for that, I make it back to Marietta 2 or 3 times a year, and have yet to be asked for money (except for the ritual equipment fund drive - and that was my idea).

Thanks Brother Neel,

I responded to Brother Broome's email and CC'ed you to it. The undergrads really don't want to head up asking for funds from alumni - that's not the reason we are looking to bring them back and I don't want to give them any reason to think that's the reason. If the alumni would like to start something, I would suggest House Corps taking it over and then becoming the group that decides criteria and need and the like.

If this gets unveiled, however, I'd like to have some sort of undergrad base of
fundraising that could be done to bring with it so it doesn't seem like we aren't doing anything to help ourselves as well.

Once again and as always THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP WITH EVERYTHING,

John "GooSe" Kitson

I do have an idea for a fundraiser to try to help the guys, and I'll go over it with Goose this weekend. If any of the rest of you have any ideas to help them out, please send them to the Chapter.

One last thing, then I have to get back to the suitcase. I understand that some of you may be in contact with a brother and are hesitating to send me their address. I understand that completely, we all get enough crap in our inbox to make us hesitate. Not to mention protecting a friend's privacy. If that is the case, please just forward these emails to them and allow them to make up thier own minds. (And if you get this in that manner, please drop me a line and let me add you to our mailing list.) Also, remember that our 40th anniversary on the Marietta campus is in 2008 and we want a HUGE turnout of Delts. Thanks for helping.

See you in Marietta, have a great week.

Rick Neel '73