Annual Report

2006-2007 Annual Report

ChAPTER SERVICES

During the 2006-07 school year, we made a total of 199 visits to our 126 chapters and colonies. Every group received at least one visit, and the remaining visits included second visits where they were deemed to be the most appropriate. After a concerted effort to increase the number of alumni chapters in Delta Chi, we ended the school year with 23. If you are interested in starting one in your area, please contact Ray Galbreth at rayg@ deltachi.org. Also during the school year, we started colonies at Cincinnati, George Mason, North Alabama, and University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, while chartering at SUNY-Binghamton, SUNY-Cortland and The University of Michigan (the site of an 1892 charter). Finally, we lost our colonies at Iowa State and Kentucky and our Livingston and Reno Chapters.

PROGRAMMING

The 2006-07 school year included the 2006 Cleveland Convention, and it had the largest attendance in our history with over 300 undergraduates and more than 200 alumni and guests. Besides the usual legislative sessions there were 33 educational breakout sessions, including a full track on recruitment and one for alumni. We also presented 239 chapter programming awards, 24 individual undergraduate awards, 49 individual alumni awards and 50 alumni group awards! We actually believe that there should and could have been far more, if only more chapters and people would have taken the opportunity to apply!!

Over the Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend, January 2007, 117 of our chapters and colonies were represented at our second “A”s’ Academy! It was an all-expense paid learning experience held in Southern Indiana at St. Meinrad Archabbey. The Academy includes full group sessions along with many small group breakout sessions of roughly ten attendees with two facilitators, one Delta Chi and one Greek professional, for each small group. This has been an outstanding addition to our programming! While the Fraternity’s Board decided to start this vital program with no external funding, a key donor to The Delta Chi Educational Foundation stepped forward to offer his support. Steve Michels, Marquette ’87 and a member of the Foundation’s executive committee, has been funding a grant from the Foundation that has provided the significant majority of the Academy’s expenses.

During the first half of 2007, there were the usual Regional Leadership Conferences hosted by a chapter in each of our nine Regions. Together, they had an attendance of roughly 900 undergraduates and alumni with a wide variety of fraternity and personal development breakouts. The oddnumbered Regions also held elections for the positions of Regent. in 2001, the Board of Regents felt that the Fraternity needed to step in and fill that void. The Fraternity hosted its first Leadership College in some time in 2005 and again in the summer of 2007. Both were held in Iowa City, site of the Fraternity’s Headquarters Office. The Leadership College differs from the “A”s’ Academy in that its programming has a different orientation: a single, values-based curriculum focused on identifying, internalizing and solidifying Delta Chi’s shared values with the decision-making process being consistent with the values of our Preamble. Also, chapters and colonies are encouraged to send multiple attendees instead of just their “A”s. First–come, first-served was the rule of the day with a cap of 120 attendees. For the 2007 College, which occurred in July so it was actually in the 2007-2008 school year, the registration fee was waived upon completion of the College. There was a travel reimbursement, and the Fraternity paid all on-site expenses.

FINANCES

The operating budget for 2006-2007 was $1,372,079, and our expenses for the year were $1,466,561. Luckily, the stock market performed well and our investment income exceeded budget by $127,990, so we actually netted $58,190 (4.2%) for the year in the general fund. The Board of Regents voted to add that surplus to the 2007-2008 operating budget so, effectively, we broke even for the year. In the Risk Management Reserve, we are still far short of the reserve balance deemed needed to adequately protect the Fraternity. We have taken a $100,000 deductible to try to help build the reserves, but that involves the need for our chapters to better manage their risks in order not to draw on that deductible more than the $44,000 premium savings we achieved by taking it. Still, we are roughly $500,000 short of the reserve projected as necessary to cover our projected needs in the near term.

The rule of thumb for an Endowment Fund is that it needs to be the equivalent of one year’s operating budget. Using just the general fund’s budget places us roughly $300,000 from that goal. Still, the Fraternity is in the best financial shape in its history with over $8 million in total assets including the $3.95 million in the Housing Fund. The Endowment Fund serves two main purposes. One is to provide investment income to help supplement the general fund income and, thus, avoid the need to raise dues by that amount. For 2006-2007, the Fund earned $123,700 thanks again to the good year in the stock market. The Board of Regents voted to only transfer $40,000 to operations out of the Endowment Fund for the 2007-2008 year, based on concerns over the stock market results from 2006-2007 being potentially inflated and concerns over the near term in the equity markets. The second purpose of the Endowment Fund is to act as a “safety net” in case of a major problem. While another World War or Korea does not seem to loom on the horizon, the Endowment Fund did help keep the Fraternity afloat during those conflicts. Prudence deems that we need to be prepared and, in the interim, benefit from the supplemental income.

hOuSING FuND

As previously stated, the Housing Fund had $3,952,000 in net assets as of June 30, 2006. Included in that figure were loans to 13 chapter house corporations totaling $1,770,000. There were three loans that were substantially delinquent, over 30 days past due, with outstanding principal amounts totaling $262,000, resulting in a delinquency rate of 15% at fiscal year end. The bad debt reserve associated with these three loans totaled $7,400, due to the substantial collateral involved and the loans being well secured. The bad debt reserve for the remaining loans was $384,000. Principal repayments and loan interest for the year totaled $435,000 with the loans on two houses being paid off early. The housing committee stands ready to receive any reasonable loan application from our local house corporations around the U.S. and Canada.

A committee was formed at the direction of the Board of Regents to research the potential for Delta Chi to take a more aggressive position in the area of housing, and that committee is expected to report to the Board at its 2008 preConvention meeting.

STAFFING

Delta Chi has been blessed with great stability in its support staff at the Headquarters. Marge Lee, Office Manager, has been with us since September of 1964. Debra Bilskemper, Secretary, was in her 21st year; Anne Schulte, Clerk, was in her 12th year; and Claudia Jansenius, Clerk, was in her 10th year. Ray Galbreth, Executive Director since May of 1979, headed the professional staff. Karl Grindel, Central Missouri ’01, was the Assistant Executive Director and has been on staff since 2001, serving previously as a Leadership Consultant and Director of Chapter Development. Matt Killingsworth, Kansas State ’02, was the Director of Chapter Services after having previously been a Leadership Consultant for one year before moving up to that position. Matt also served as the Convention Coordinator for both the 2004 and the 2006 Conventions. Rusty Williams, Georgia Southern ’05, was Director of Expansion and Colony Operations after first serving as a Leadership Consultant for one year. We started the school year with six Leadership Consultants: Chad Davis, Syracuse ’05; Jonathan Nichols, New Mexico State ’05; Joshua Redshaw, Minnesota ’06; Justin Roberts, Pittsburgh ’06; Ryan Roberts, Marquette ’06; and Sean Rossiter, Western Michigan ’05. Justin and Sean both left at the end of December, while Josh, Chad and Ryan left in the spring.