During 2008, five active chapter leaders and three alums collectively sought to develop a program to keep the Chapter focused on the perennially most important Chapter goals of academic achievement; brotherhood recruitment/development; Chapter financial viability; and leadership on the Hill and community. The development of this program was met with enthusiasm by the active chapter through excellent leadership by active chapter leaders, including past GM’s and current officers spanning several class years.
In 2009, the Foundation, the House Corp and the Chapter announced to alumni the creation of the Gamma Omicron Scholarship/Leadership Program. The intentions with this program are to encourage/reward excellence in academics and leadership modeled upon the principles of entrepreneurship. Chapter operations provide a real life example of this every semester! The more the brothers ingrain these achievement/teamwork principles into their daily work ethic, the more they will demonstrate them in college and their future endeavors.
The program is designed to reward both Chapter scholarship (GPA) and brothers’ leadership within the chapter and “on the Hill”.
1. The first overall qualifier is the chapter (brotherhood) must meet at least KU’s “all men’s” GPA and be current in all chapter financial obligations.
2. The second qualifier is a brother must meet the KU “all fraternity” GPA and be current on all obligations to the chapter.
3. A qualifying brother’s GPA, will have an added leadership factor (a fraction of one GPA equivalent, or less, depending upon the office held). The calculation is (GPA+Factor) times the number of semester hours completed. The product of a brother’s calculation, will then be computed as a percent of the total product of all qualifying brothers, times the funds set aside by the boards for that semester, to determine his “payout”.
4. Note the qualifiers require the “brotherhood” to be mutually successfully, before individual brothers can qualify! Depending upon the semester funding, it is hoped a majority of the brothers should earn payouts! Go to the Gamma-O SLP web site to see calculations using a semester’s actual results modeled into these formulas.
All these goals are clear, understandable, measurable with objective data, and attainable goals!
The cost of attending KU, both tuition and housing, will continue to be a significant financial cost for the members of Gamma Omicron. This only makes more important the need for an endowing fund that will support at least $20,000/semester to have a meaningful incentive to reward at least a majority of the brothers. Note, the qualifications are intentionally not based on need, but on performance of the brotherhood and individual brothers.
On the behalf of the development committee, the active chapter, and the Boards of Gamma Omicron and the Educational Foundation, we solicit funding for an endowment that will carry Gamma-O into her second 100 years at KU! Achieving $40,000 annual funding, requires an endowment of $1 million at a 4% return; variable depending upon the size of the endowment fund and the rate of return. The Chapter has demonstrated the will to perform. Let us demonstrate support to them. Please review the pledge form criteria, selecting your preference, and then send us a generous financial gift!
For the Good of Our Order