The Central Office of Beta Gamma Sigma serves as host, provides and mails the invitations, covers the cost, and provides the program for the Chartering Reception. All Beta Gamma Sigma members residing in a given geographic area are invited to this chartering reception. Along with the invitation to attend the reception, BGS members are invited to serve as petitioners for the chapter’s establishment. The governing documents of Beta Gamma Sigma require that at least 10 BGS members residing in the given area petition the Board of Governors for a chapter. Assuming that this criterion has been met, the charter establishing the new Alumni Chapter is presented to the chapter and its petitioners at this event.
During the reception, members of the Board of Governors and staff share information with those in attendance about the Alumni Chapter program, the Society, how to proceed to establish the chapter and then ask for volunteers who are interested in serving on the Steering Committee to plan the chapter’s establishment.
The Central Office of Beta Gamma Sigma also hosts the first meeting of the Steering Committee. As host, BGS (typically) provides the invitation, the facility, a light meal and the agenda for this initial meeting. A member of the BGS staff also serves as the facilitator of this meeting where many details about the establishment of the chapter and a list of decisions that must be made are presented. The Central Office also provides all necessary materials for this meeting and to those serving on the committee.
The Central Office continues to provide support to the Alumni Chapter up to and through the Kickoff Event. BGS loans the up-front costs for the chapter’s kickoff event expenses until chapter funds are received through the receipt of membership fees. Then the chapter settles its account with BGS. BGS prepares and mails the invitation package to all prospective members in the area. The invitation package uses a standard format, which is adapted to include local information. The Steering Committee is given a deadline of when all details for this event must be provided to the Central Office in order to allow sufficient time for the mailing to be received. It is critical that new chapters abide by this deadline so as to allow receipt of the invitation to the potential members prior to the major kickoff event.
1. FEI number – The Federal Employer Identification Number is a number that chapters must have in order to open bank accounts, etc. As a subsidiary chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma, the Central Office applies for and obtains this number for each Alumni Chapter. Once the number is received from the Internal Revenue Service, it is provided to the Alumni Chapter.
2. Sample constitution – A sample chapter constitution is provided to each Alumni Chapter. Chapters are required to adopt a set of governing documents for their chapter as an initial part of their development and must then continue to provide a current copy of these documents to the Central Office to maintain in their chapter’s file.
3. Obtain domain name – The Central Office obtains domain names for all new Alumni Chapters so that consistent addresses are available. Chapters will take over the responsibility of maintaining these addresses after the chapter is established.
4. Information on BGS web page – Beta Gamma Sigma provides basic contact information for each Alumni Chapter on a page dedicated to that chapter on the Society’s web site, BetaNet. If provided by the Alumni Chapter, BGS also includes basic information on the chapter’s upcoming events.
5. Annual membership application/renewal mailing – If requestid, the Central Office sends (by broadcast email) an annual membership application / renewal membership form to all BGS members in the local geographic area that have an email address on file with the office.
6. Process Memberships – The Central Office then serves as the receiver of the memberships, processes and records each membership form and then forwards a copy of the form and the dues to the chapters. The Central Office intends to maintain this role and provide this service to the Alumni Chapters each year, both as a service to the individual chapters and also to allow the Central Office access to new information for the official database of the Society.
7. Process Credit Card Payments – The Central Office serves the chapter in the role of processing credit card payments, both for memberships and events of the chapter. While the Central Office receives and processes memberships annually, the Central Office will only receive event RSVPs while the chapter is first being established. After its establishment, chapters are required to receive their chapter’s RSVPs for events and only forward credit card payments for these events to the Central Office to be processed.
8. Database – The Central Office maintains the official database of members. By processing chapter memberships (new and renewals), a more accurate and complete database can be maintained. Chapters are encouraged to provide the Central Office on an ongoing basis with any database updates they may receive directly.
9. Supplies and Materials – The Central Office develops and maintains supplies and materials for use by the chapters. A list of these items is available to chapters and is included on the Alumni Chapter Collection Supply Order Form (See Appendix C). If additional supplies are required, please contact the Central Office before developing them, in case they are currently being created.
10. Certificate of Insurance – The Society’s liability insurance policy can be used to provide a Certificate of liability insurance rider for Alumni Chapter events. Contact the Central Office for details on how to request this Certificate for your chapter’s events. This rider should only be used in situations where the host facility does not provide coverage for the event. Chapters should also be aware that this certificate does not provide coverage for alcohol related claims. For this reason, chapters are discouraged from offering alcohol at chapter expense.
11. Survey of member opinions – Beta Gamma Sigma has surveyed members from several Alumni Chapter areas about their preferences for Alumni Chapter activities. As a result of surveying alumni members in various geographic areas, some standard responses have been identified. For instance, alumni members would like to see the chapters hold 3-4 events per year, preferably on a Tuesday-Thursday evening. They would like to see speakers on various business topics. Occasionally, they would like to have social activities and would always like to have networking opportunities as a part of the chapter events.
Chapters may wish to survey a segment of their population directly or by broadcast email to those on the Society’s email database.
12. Collegiate Chapter Contacts – The Central Office maintains a list of the Chapter advisors and officers for the collegiate chapters and can make this information available to the Alumni Chapters. Chapters should request this information when needed since it is continually being updated.
13. Training Seminar– Annually, Beta Gamma Sigma provides a training seminaropportunity for chapter officers. This full-day workshop is hosted by the Central Office (and co-hosted by one of the established alumni chapters) and provides an opportunity for leadership from the chapters to learn about new programs and services of the Society, as well as share information with other chapters. While there is no fee to attend this workshop, chapters are responsible for travel costs for their attendees and should consider these charges when developing a chapter budget.
14. Coordinate sharing information between chapters – The Central Office can serve as the coordinator to see that valuable ideas (those that work and don’t work) can be shared between chapters.
