I believe the saying goes “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” and while I can appreciate that sentiment, it is my sincere hope that what happens in Vegas for our AFA members this December does not stay in Vegas. Attending the AFA Annual Meeting provides members with the opportunity to learn, grow, and expand their knowledge and skills that are shaping and transforming the fraternity and sorority experience on campuses around North America. I am looking forward to our time together, and I hope for those that are able to attend, you are also looking forward to a time to connect and rejuvenate with our colleagues.
If you were able to attend the 2024 AFA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, you were part of the public launch of the AFA Foundation Elevate the Standard: The Campaign for AFA’s Future. This campaign is the first comprehensive campaign in the history of the Association and is a huge moment as AFA prepares to celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2026. The AFA Foundation is actively working to raise $1.75 million in support of elevating talent, elevating research, elevating innovation, and elevating equity and inclusion.
To date, more than 130 individuals and organizations have made a formal commitment to the Elevate the Standard campaign, and we are not even halfway through the public phase of our fundraising efforts! The Association and the Foundation have already been able to put these gifts into action, and here are two examples:
- The Sigma Phi Epsilon Fund for Senior Student Affairs Officer Development has provided the funds needed to deliver the Supporting and Leveraging Your Fraternity/Sorority Community program at the NASPA AVP Symposium in both 2024 and 2025, and also funded the recent development of the AVP’s Intensive On-Demand Program designated to better prepare AVP’s for the strategic labor of supporting fraternity and sorority communities and the staff members who work with these communities every day.
- The Chi Epsilon Educational Endowment provided the funds needed to deliver the summer 2025 LGBTQ+ Support Series, a multi-series program focused on improving professionals understanding of issues related to LGBTQ+ identifying students in fraternities and sororities and identifying tangible strategies to create more inclusive fraternal spaces for LGBTQ+ students.
We know that the work of fraternity and sorority professionals is becoming increasingly more complex for a wide variety of factors, and the success of the fraternity and sorority movement depends on the professionals doing excellent work every day. I choose to invest in the AFA Foundation as I have been engaged in this work for more than 28 years, and I have seen firsthand the impact of an outstanding fraternity and sorority experience, and the influence that fraternity and sorority professionals have on that experience. I give because I believe in you, in our collective work, and in the impact of the experience on our students. I hope you will join me as AFA looks to the future and help us ensure that AFA can build and retain top talent working with our fraternity and sorority communities.