SIGMA KAPPA

All Meetings & Events

Meetings and chapter events are not required for the remainder of the spring semester/term. If you plan to conduct a virtual meeting, we recommend you streamline all announcements, votes, workshops and other business for one coordinated meeting. If you would like to meet virtually for chapter meetings, sisterhood events, new member meetings, etc., we recommend the use of Zoom. A Zoom Pro account is $14.99/month and includes up to 100 participants and no limit on length of meeting. A business account is $19.99/month and has the ability for 300 participants. We also recommend asking the university if they have a Zoom enterprise account you can use.

New Member Meetings:

You can determine if the best option for your chapter is to hold over your new members until you return to campus or proceed with unfinished Promise meetings virtually.

Proceeding virtually:

• The vice president of new member education (VPNME) should check SKILLab weekly to be sure new members are completing the eLearning modules.
• Please make sure you have collected new member fees and initiation fees (if they have been initiated), if you have trouble accessing this admin feature, email SKILLab@sigmakappa.org. 

Postponing until Fall 2020:

• Your district programming coordinator can assist in rescheduling and reworking content.
• Make sure you have collected new member fees and initiation fees (if they have been initiated), if you are able.

Ritual Events

All ritual events, should be postponed until returning to campus this fall.

Formal meeting virtually:

• You can, but do not have to conduct parts of ritual for a formal voting meeting.

Order of the Triangle:

If commencement is still happening, we recommend combining the ceremony with that event. If commencement is cancelled, we recommend planning a big homecoming event for the fall and including Order of the Triangle as a part of that event. As a reminder, Order of the Triangle is not a mandatory Ritual event.

Initiation:

• Our preference is that you hold over your new members until you return to campus.
• For any spring 2020 new members that were not initiated, please plan an Initiation ceremony as early as appropriate for your return to campus.

New member ceremony:

• If you have new members who did not participate in the new member ceremony, please schedule a new member ceremony immediately upon your return to campus. There will be no penalty for exceeding the seven day requirement from bid to new member ceremony.

Day of Service

• With the CDC recommendation on large group gatherings through the middle of May 2020, we recommend cancelling all in-person Day of Service activities.
• We encourage you to get creative and reflect on your talent and treasure and how you can virtually serve your community!
  • Ex: Host a virtual dialogue on a topic you are an expert about. If you are talented in the arts, host a performance or send drawings in the mail to friends. Donate your time to connecting with the elderly virtually or over the phone.

Service Hours

• For more information contact Caren Chopp at cchopp@sigmakappa.org. 

Ultra Violet Events

Chapters are encouraged to convert currently planned, face-to-face events into virtual events, such as raffles, member competitions, or live streamed events. For more information or contact Caren Chopp at cchopp@sigmakappa.org.

• Held a fundraiser, but cannot submit proceeds within 30 days?
  • 1. If a chapter has coordinated a proceeds night, they should find out the amount raised, ask the restaurant/store to send the check directly to the Sigma Kappa Foundation (with the chapter name in the memo line) and email a completed chapter contribution form to the Foundation.
  • 2. If the VPPS has checks from donors, she should mail them with a completed chapter contribution form to the Foundation. Keep in mind that many banks consider checks more than 60 days old to be stale and will not deposit them. Similarly, money orders/cashier's checks from cash collected at an event should be submitted in 60 days or less.
  • 3. If the VPPS cannot get in touch with the VPF and request a Billhighway check for proceeds within 30 days of an event, the VPPS should reach out to the Foundation staff. The VPPS should then electronically submit a chapter contribution form (still within 30 days) and indicate on the form that the check will arrive at later date. If notified in advance, the Foundation staff will match Billhighway checks with chapter contribution forms at NHQ. For any proceeds that need to be submitted more than 30 days after an event, or any other Foundation questions, the VPPS should notify Caren Chopp at cchopp@sigmakappa.org.

Keeping Members Engaged:

This is our number one priority! Reach out to your sisters while you are apart. We have added virtual sisterhood ideas and will continue to updated this resource with new ideas. Since some of you might not physically see each other again until August, let’s embrace social distancing as a virtual community!

Outstanding Business

Will there be a May outstanding business close?

• National headquarters will continue to pull and send outstanding business reports in hopes to help maintain and clear outstanding items. We will not be penalizing for not clearing outstanding business this May.

Voting

• Convention delegates: 
  • Please remember that collegiate chapters are encouraged to designate the chapter president as the first delegate. Chapters can identify any initiated member to serve as the second delegate. More information about selecting your convention delegates can be found here under allowance information.
• Membership status petitions:
  • Please continue to use the fraction needed for votes as stated on each petition.
• Quorum:
  • If you can get 20% of your active chapter members to vote, we can use the vote. This might mean you keep an electronic vote open for a few days to achieve this percentage.
• Anonymity:
  • At the moment, we are not concerned with this. Please use whatever means you need to help with virtual voting. Suggested platforms: Kahoot, cloudvote.

Standards of Excellence

For now, we are going to hit pause on all SOE and reporting. If you have outstanding membership petitions you are able to process, please send those to reports@sigmakappa.org. We will pick SOE and reporting back up in August.

Recruitment

• Recruitment workshops:
  • We encourage you to coordinate virtual trainings throughout the summer to ensure your chapter is prepared for fall primary recruitment! These workshops cannot be mandatory but are highly encouraged. Host a conversation workshop via Zoom, have a rotation group leader virtual hangout, and get creative to think of engaging virtual ways to keep your chapter excited to recruit this fall.
• Plans & Reports:
  • If you are a chapter with fall primary recruitment, it is still extremely important to develop your fall recruitment plans and continue to prepare your chapter for recruitment. We encourage all VPMs to submit the Primary Recruitment Plans Report and all COB Chairman to submit the COB report by June 1. This allows our recruitment volunteers and staff time to review your plans and reach out to assist and support you over the summer.
• New members & recruitment:
  • If you have spring new members who will not be initiated prior to fall primary recruitment, Sigma Kappa is allowing new members to recruit for fall 2020 primary recruitment. If you are in this situation, please connect with your recruitment coordinator for support. It will be more important than ever to schedule a new recruiter workshop and rating workshop either virtually this summer or immediately upon the return to campus. Ideally, you should schedule an Initiation ceremony prior to primary recruitment. However, if that is not an option, new members can still recruit for fall 2020.

Programming & Additional Sisterhood

• Remote sisterhood events and programming:
  • As a chapter if you have creative ways to engage members please feel free to do so!
  • Here are some suggestions for virtual sisterhood activities.
  • We are continuing to explore our options in offering a virtual program for all our membership.

Reworking the Budget

Chapters should work with their CFCs to determine the best course of action for their budget. 2020-21 budget review is still in process so any adjustments can still be accounted for now (consider using conservative membership numbers). Current VPFs should also work with CFCs to ensure the chapter has enough funds to operate this fall, especially for Convention and fall recruitments

Refunds

Refunding dues or cancelling dues should only be done on a case by case basis. Please reach out to your CFC to determine what your chapter should do! The chapter may still need those funds and the VPF/FINA should work with the CFC to determine if they have excess funds beyond what is needed for the term/beginning of fall. Initiation fees - if they have collected already, we encourage them to pay, but not due until two weeks prior to Initiation. Best practice is to make sure all new member fees and initiation fees are collected so we do not have to worry about chapter outstanding debt in Fall 2020.

Late Fees

Billhighway has turned off late fees for the Sorority and NHC.

Badge Orders

If they have already ordered badges, we will process on our end, and hold until they know their initiation date. If they have already initiated, they should order as soon as possible. An email will be going out letting chapters know.

Excess Funds

Reach out to CFC to discuss all excess funds and budgeting. Chapters need to ensure they have enough for Convention and fall operating expenses, including recruitment if applicable. After that, the true amount of excess can be determined and CFCs can provide suggestions for spending (common suggestions are Foundation, housing, updating ritual or recruitment supplies, or sisterhood/morale boosting events)

Contracts

Look at the contract cancellation or impossibility clause. If your community has a travel limitation or gathering limitation, that should allow you to cancel or postpone the event.