The Epsilon Eta chapter has just qualified for the prestigious Bell Endowed Chapter Fund this month thanks to several Epsilon Eta alumni., as reported by Mike Patton (63-S). So far they have committed $625,000 with 1/2 going to EH scholarships and 1/2 going to on-site transformational leadership training for the Active Chapter brothers. We need just one or two more brothers for the final $125,000 payable over multiple years, if desired, to get us to the critically important on-site training level.
While the additional scholarships supplement our scholarship program, the leadership training is a game changer for our undergraduate brothers, and for us. From brother Jeff Burnside, Beta Upsilon 1980, “Epsilon Eta will get former Grand Consul, Mike Greenberg, Alpha Iota 1982, to run the inaugural training. He may have one or two other trainers with him. There are several categories of leadership you can select. Generally speaking, the $750,000 endowment gets the “Leadership Journey” described as a mini-Horizons for the entire chapter.”
Past Grand Consul – Mike Greenberg
The training modules are accredited and will allow participating undergraduates to differentiate themselves from other job applicants.
From Jeff Burnside: “Half of the annual payout funds tuition scholarships for a number of your chapter’s undergraduates (they apply through the Sigma Chi scholarship online portal). If you’d like, local alums can recommend the recipients. The size of the tuition scholarships depends on the level of endowment (see below).
The other half of the annual payout covers what we call Leadership Development Scholarships. The most notable benefit for endowments at $750,000 and above is our Leadership Journey program that sends trainers to the chapter house so everyone in the chapter can participate. They’re usually held over a weekend. The chapter or its alumni leaders must request the on-site training visit a year in advance. Gallup research shows chapters that do this training have a 76% better chance of staying out of serious trouble.
The other Leadership Development Scholarship benefits include online or in-person courses offered to all undergraduate brothers by the Sigma Chi Leadership Institute that teach them not just “leadership” but several different kinds of leadership. Each certificate comes with a LinkedIn badge. The curriculum is so well done that it is accredited under the U.S. Department of Education accreditation system – an incredible achievement that no other fraternity or sorority has accomplished. Other opportunities include teaching the undergraduates “Mission 365”, “Officer Training Academy” and other leadership guidance. And at annual Province Conferences, the Bell endowments enhance the training for all chapters present. You can see the options here.
Bell endowment perpetual benefits are exponentially larger at each level, these are annual payouts:
$250,000 Blue – $5,000 tuition scholarships, $5,000 value leadership development
$500,000 Gold – $10,000 tuition scholarships, $10,000 value leadership development
$750,000 Platinum – $15,000 tuition scholarships, $15,000 value leadership development
$1M Founders – $20,000 tuition scholarships, $20,000 value leadership development
$1.5M Constantine – $30,000 tuition scholarships, $30,000 value leadership development
Director of Development, Sigma Chi Foundation – Jeff Burnside
