Financial Policy
Sigma Kappa Sorority is a not-for-profit corporation and relies on the national fees from its members to finance yearly operating expenses and chapter services. The operating expenses include such items as our national headquarters’ office and supplies, equipment, postage, printing, legal fees, insurance coverage, and national headquarters employees’ salaries. Chapter services include creating and distributing annual supplies, officer and chairman handbooks, the field consultant program, organizing and conducting national convention and College Officer Training School, and publishing our national magazine, Sigma Kappa Triangle.
Alumnae members support Sigma Kappa through annual dues paid to their local alumnae chapter. A portion of those dues ($15) is paid by the alumnae chapter to the national organization as per capita dues for each member.
In order to maintain quality services for our chapters, it is vital for every Sigma Kappa member to uphold her financial obligations to the Sorority. There are three national fees paid by collegiate members of Sigma Kappa.
1. New member fee - paid once, due at the time of formal pledging.
2. Initiation fee - paid once, two weeks prior to Initiation and includes a lifetime subscription to the Sigma Kappa Triangle and life membership in Sigma Kappa. Portions of this fee also go into the national convention fund and operating expenses fund. The badge fee can range from $45 on up depending on the type of badge ordered and is not considered part of the initiation fee. (A new member may not be initiated until the new member fee, initiation fee, and badge fee have been paid.)
3. Per capita dues - paid yearly by all initiated collegiate members. This fee is used to pay for the field consultant program, expenses of the collegiate province officers, collegiate district directors, and other national officers who work with our chapters across the country. It also pays for the many supplies sent periodically to chapters and provides funds for one delegate from each collegiate chapter (lodging and meal expenses) to attend both the national convention and COTS.
The national liability insurance/risk management programming fee is paid yearly by every initiated member and new member to provide liability insurance coverage for the chapter and its members.
There are local duesfor each collegiate chapter. This money is used to keep collegiate chapters operating. The money is used for recruitment, social activities, scholarship and new member programs, intramural and other campus activities, Panhellenic dues, chapter supplies, and other miscellaneous expenses. Every collegiate chapter sets its own dues based on local financial needs and, with the assistance of its advisory board, budgets and manages the financial business of the chapter.
Thehousing/furnishing feeis charged by each local house corporation/property committee or the National Housing Corporation. These monies are used to purchase chapter furnishings and equipment, and to provide funds for housing, a lodge, or other meeting facility for the chapter.
Each new member and her parent/guardian must sign a Financial Responsibility Form prior to Initiation. This is the first step in developing a strong sense of fiscal responsibility in each new member. When a collegiate member is 30 days in arrears (their debt is 30 days past due), national policy requires that the member must be automatically suspended.
The National Policy Handbook, V.A. outlines the policy for automatic financial suspension and NPH V, D. Outlines financial expulsion policies.
V. Terminations/suspension of membership
A. Automatic financial suspension
Applies only in case of failure to pay bills. Any member 30 days in arrears to the chapter or the corporation board shall be automatically suspended.
Procedure
1.The vice president of finance and her advisor notify the member that she is on automatic financial suspension and set a time limit for the debt to be cleared. The advisory board chairman shall hold her badge and membership certificate. Copies of this notification shall be sent to the advisory board chairman, the financial advisor, the collegiate province officer, and national headquarters. If the member does not clear the financial indebtedness by the set date, expulsion procedures shall be initiated per NPH V.D., and the debt shall be referred to a collection agency.
2. During such a suspension:
a.The member's parents are asked to sign an interest-bearing note for the amount involved. This should be handled by the financial advisor.
b. The member is responsible for all bills and fees, both local and national, incurred during the time of suspension.
c. The member shall attend meetings, recruitment events, new member ceremonies, and Initiations, but has no vote or social privileges and cannot hold office.
3. Any member who leaves school or graduates while indebted to the chapter should be placed on AFS by the above procedures.
4. Reinstatement of the member and return of her badge and membership certificate are automatic upon payment of all outstanding bills. The member must furnish the national headquarters with documentation by the chapter, which is endorsed by the advisor and the collegiate province officer, that all indebtedness has been rectified.
D. Financial expulsion
Occurs when a member on AFS fails to pay her indebtedness by the date set in the notification of automatic financial suspension.
Procedure
1. The vice president of finance sends a Petition for Special Dispensation requesting financial expulsion to the advisory board chairman for approval. The petition must be accompanied by the AFS paperwork and member financial records. No chapter vote is required if the member has signed the AFS form.
2. If the member has not signed the AFS form acknowledging the indebtedness, the chapter must vote (2/3 affirmative vote) to expel the member for financial reasons. A copy of the minutes with this information must accompany the petition form.
3. The petition requires approval by the advisory board chairman, collegiate province officer, collegiate district director, and unanimous vote of national council.
4. The badge and membership certificate are forfeited and shall be returned to national headquarters.
5. Upon approval of the petition, national headquarters will notify the member of the financial expulsion and reinstatement procedures.
6. See Section XII. B.
7. The chapter shall send the debt to a collection agency.
8. The date and the reason of financial expulsion shall be recorded in the official documents of the chapter (member's card in vice president of alumnae relations’ file and beside the constitution book signature of the member) and on the next Personnel Report.
9. Reinstatement
a. A member expelled for financial reasons may petition national council for reinstatement when she is no longer a collegian and at least three (3) years have passed from the date of the financial expulsion. The petition must demonstrate that the expelled member has paid the outstanding financial obligations or include payment for outstanding financial obligations. The petition must also demonstrate that the expelled member is again ready to be a financially responsible and participating member with the good of Sigma Kappa at heart.
b. A petition for reinstatement is approved upon the unanimous vote of national council
c. For final processing of the reinstatement, a reinstatement fee shall be paid and a badge and membership certificate shall be purchased.
d.When reinstatement occurs, national headquarters will notify the chapter of reinstatement. The financial reinstatement shall be recorded on each document where the expulsion was previously noted (member's card in vice president of alumnae relations file and beside the constitution book signature of the member). The member's status is modified to alumna.