We hope everyone enjoyed their summer breaks – a little sun, a little fun, a vacation, maybe a summer job, or perhaps time with family/friends at home during a BBQ.

You are returning to an exciting new year…new online resources for Essential Sigma (with upgraded OTP, ATP, and Social Event Tutorial to follow), new reporting opportunity which eliminates C200 completion and needing to turn in an Accreditation verification report, personalized chapter support plans, Officer Academies in January for all chapters to receive officer training, a revised Accreditation program to be rolled out in January 2010, and a celebration of sisterhood this summer at Convention!

Some dates and deadlines to help make sure you are informed and ready for the year.

August 15:

• Received introduction email from your Regional Consultant and have her email and cell phone
  
  
• Know your new Region # (1, 1C, 2, 3, 4, or 4C)
  
  
• Have contact information for your Assistant Director of Chapter Services

Need help with these items? Email your Regional Consultant or sigma@trisigma.org.

August 25:
Fall dues and fees entered in BillHighway, all members are assigned a fee type (member, new member, special consideration, in-house, out-of-house, etc.) in BillHighway, members who wish to be on a payment plan have the installments option marked in BillHighway, and your fall billing period in BillHighway is activated so member statements will be distributed September 5th and payments due from your local members by September 25th.

Need help with these items? Treasurers can log into their account and use the BillHighway help menu or email the BillHighway Support email account.

September 1:

• Electronic copy of your Fall Collegiate Billing is being distributed to treasurers and financial advisors. If you haven’t received, email Jodie Rudolph at NHQ (jrudolph@trisigma.org)


• Received your Individualized Chapter Support Plan from your Assistant Director of Chapter Services. If you haven’t received, advisor can email their ADCS.


• Know your Fall recruitment goal for accreditation – communicated from your Regional Consultant, Assistant Director of Chapter Services (ADCS), or a member of your Regional Support Team. If you are unclear on your fall recruitment goal, advisors please contact your ADCS.


• Vice Presidents, Treasurers, and Secretaries have completed Arc Sequence Training and the Vice President has entered chapter specific information on the VP Admin page. If you have questions here, please email essentialtraining@trisigma.org.


• Presidents should have received notification of any officers who are missing components to meet the OTP (officer training/transition program) or SET (Social Event Tutorial) requirements for Accreditation. If you’d like to double check, presidents can email their Regional Consultant. The deadline for all make-up information to be received is September 15.


• Presidents should have received confirmation of all women receiving either 5th Year Senior Status or Inactive Status. You can verify early by having your Secretary check the chapter’s roster. If the status was granted, the member would not be listed on your chapter’s drop-down list of member names. Additional questions can be directed to Margaret Fields (mfields@trisigma.org).

September 15:

• All SET and OTP make-up items have been completed to count for Accreditation (this is deadline for completion from the September 1 notification)


• First set of chapter reports is due. Specific forms and instructions can be found in Sigma Connect on the Collegiate Reporting page.


• Policy and Procedure education program conducted to ensure all initiated members have the information needed before they sign the RM1- Policy and Procedure Acknowledgement Form.

Need help with these items? Officers can email their Regional Consultants or Advisors can email their Assistant Director of Chapter Services.

October 1:

• Payments received for collegiate Fall billing – if a member has not paid her fall dues, send her to Honor Council on October 3 (according to the 7 days past due standard for Honor Council and assuming your BillHighway due date was September 25). If you have questions on these items, have one member of your leadership team (i.e. Treasurer or Financial Advisor) email Jodie Rudolph at National Headquarters (jrudolph@trisigma.org). All roster updates have been submitted - changes after this date will not change the fall billing fees due. If you have questions on submitted changes, please email Dianna Jett (djett@trisigma.org).


• 100% of initiated members have signed the RM1- Policy and Procedure Acknowledgement Form AND this has been received at National Headquarters. This form requires signatures so it will be necessary to mail, fax, or scan the signed copy and email. If you need to confirm receipt of a fax, email Margaret Fields (mfields@trisigma.org). Regional Consultants and ADCS will have daily updates of forms received and they can also help confirm receipt of this form as well as the RM2.


• RM2 Fidelity Bond Coverage form has been signed and submitted to National Headquarters. This form requires signatures so it will be necessary to mail, fax, or scan the signed copy and email.

October 15:
Chapter Suspension implemented for chapters with one or more of the following:

• Outstanding Fall Billing payments without roster changes or Honor Council documentation being received for individual members owing money


• RM1 – Policy and Procedure Acknowledgement Form not received with 100% of initiated member signatures.


• RM2 Fidelity Bond Coverage form not received.


• Pending Items (as indicated on the posted Pending Notification List posted on the Collegiate Reporting page) are not resolved. This includes holdovers not being initiated from the spring, outstanding fees, missing New Member paperwork (P109, M476 cards, $100 new member fee, T8-Badge Order form, Initiation and badge fees), depledge forms, and pending member transfers.

If your chapter is placed on Chapter Suspension, please first talk as an officer team THEN have one member of your leadership team email Jodie Rudolph at National Headquarters (jrudolph@trisigma.org). When you have designated one person to contact NHQ and then communicate the necessary items to address with the officer team, you all will work more efficiently to get your pending items resolved. Additionally, it also reduces repeat calls and emails at NHQ therefore providing more time to process new information….which means suspensions are lifted more quickly.

Chapter Suspension – just a reminder that this means all chapter activities are suspended. This includes new member programming, campus events like Homecoming, alumnae events, chapter meetings, sisterhoods, etc. To be removed from suspension, all items must be received. So, if a chapter owes money, needs to send M476 cards or something else in hard copy, they will not be able to host any events until the check is physically received. Faxing confirmation or a copy of the check is not sufficient.

Please don’t let your chapter fall into this position – review the pending notification list regularly behind Sigma Connect and respond to Consultant requests to resolve pending items. This is approximately 7 weeks notice to resolve.

October 1 – 15 is a high volume time with Collegiate Dues and new member paperwork. Your consultant and the NHQ staff are here to help you now and we can turn around information very quickly. As we get closer to October 15th and the volume of forms increases, processing time increases. If chapters are not responsive to requests to resolve pending items between now and October 15th please anticipate longer turnaround times which might mean longer periods of suspension.

We hope this detailed listed of critical deadlines will help avoid this situation. We know things like Homecoming are important traditions for your campus, chapter, and alumnae so please plan ahead and be diligent in resolving items before October 15th. We want you to enjoy your traditions, sisterhood events, and new member programming.

Some tips and ideas to break the ice and let potential new members know about the Tri Sigma Foundation

Recruiting this fall? Here are tips from the Foundation staff to help you discuss philanthropy and the Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation with potential new members.

Scholarships – The Foundation offers annual scholarships for graduate and undergraduate study (available for members only).

Our History - Did you know the Foundation began as the Robbie Page Memorial in 1954? We officially became the Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation in 1992. Brush up on your Foundation history by visiting our website here and read a bit more. It’s always important to know the full story just in case a potential new member asks you a tough question. And the Robbie Page story is a WONDERFUL ice-breaker!

Sigma Serves Children - Does your chapter participate in service projects that incorporate working with children? Share these with the women you meet. Better yet – ask a potential new member what service projects she wants to be involved with in the community/campus. You might find an instant connection with Tri Sigma and her interests.

Fundraising Events - Is your chapter hosting a fundraising event this year that you want to share? Was your last year’s event a huge success? Talk about the advantages of getting involved with your chapter’s fundraising events: meeting people, learning how to organize and fulfill different roles (good for her resume), raising money for a philanthropic purpose.

Leadership Programs - Hasanyone from your chapter attended a leadership program hosted by the sorority? The Dunham Leadership Institute, Convention, Leadership Academy? The Foundation supports these programs and completely paid for the Essential Sigma program that every memberuses. Tri Sigma offers cutting-edge leadership opportunities, and many are made possible by the Foundation. Telling potential new members about leadership opportunities is a POWERFUL tool to attract their interest. They’ll be able to graduate and apply for jobs with some important resume additions.

Play Therapy – Be sure that you can explain what “play therapy” is – Tri Sigma has supported this recently-recognized-as-important therapy since its innovation in the 1950s. Now it’s VERY common in many hospitals, largely due to Tri Sigma’s support of fellowships that helped attract professionals to the field. Play Therapy is a technique used in the treatment of sick children in which the child's play is a medium for expression and communication. The therapist uses play to help the young patient relieve stress, understand illness, communicate fears, undergo treatment. Hospital situations using play therapy range from helping a child learn to swallow medicine to helping her learn to live with her illness and prognosis. Be sure you can confidently explain what Play Therapy is.

Looking for crafts or projects to do during the Philanthropy round of recruitment? Some ideas...

Making blankets – Your local hospital would like a few hand-tied blankets for children to snuggle with while hospitalized. Simply cut fleece prior to your recruitment event, and then everyone can tie the ends of the blankets together! For more information about creating fleece blankets, contact Nancy Benedict at the Foundation office at nbenedic@trisigma.org.

Collecting supplies for the hospitals – Tri Sigma supports important teaching hospitals in Dallas, TX and Chapel Hill, NC. These hospitals would love a care package from your chapter. During recruitment decorate gift bags with pictures and inspirational messages for hospitalized children and during the year collect supplies to send to the hospitals. Some items that are always useful are crayons, coloring books and bubbles.

Putting together craft bags – North Carolina Children’s Hospital suggests this: Go on-line and look for “craft kit ideas” or check out Family Fun magazine.Get your chapter to put together a “Grab ‘n Go” bag – a Ziploc baggie containing “stuff” (construction paper, felt, tissue paper, popsicle sticks, pom poms, googley eyes, glue, etc.) and instructions to make a project. A patient can pick up one of these bags and find it complete with everything needed to complete a simple craft project. Send your kits to: University of North Carolina Memorial Hospitals, Department of Recreation Therapy, 101 Manning Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27514.

Designing a coloring book – Do you have a member of your chapter who is a great artist? Why not draw up a few pictures that could be used to create a coloring book? Photocopy the pages before the recruitment event and then everyone can tie the pages together and even decorate a cover page. Easy, fun, non-threatening.

Sending a postcard – Something different, if you’re looking to stand out: get postcards printed with a child’s face on the front or a kid’s design. Ask potential new members to address one to someone important to them, and tell that person about play therapy. The message might read, “I’m at a Tri Sigma party, learning about play therapy. What a help this is for sick kids!” It gives you a chance to explain Tri Sigma. And all you have to do is put a stamp on the card and mail it – no worry about taking crafts to a hospital or shelter!

Have a wonderful fall recruitment! If you need any more tips or tricks from the Foundation, please let us know. Phone Nancy Benedict at 540.459.4212 for more ideas.