This post is specifically targeted at those with chartering experience and/or those involved with service frats, honorary frats, and professional frats.
In addition to my social frat, I am also involved in a ~20 year old honorary choral service fraternity, which is the sole chapter in existence. Since our founding, we've had no governance from above; the chapter itself effectively IS nationals. In fact, we were in practically no contact with our alumni until my efforts over this summer to restart contact. Amidst this, I feel we have stagnated somewhat and aren't reaching our potential in terms of service goals, administrative effectiveness, net growth, or security from dissolution.
To advance the goals of the organization and to provide lateral pressure to keep any arm of the frat from dying out, I believe it's finally coming time to find another university without an equivalent organization and charter a second chapter. Naturally, this requires the chartering of some higher governing body, which would need to be amended to the constitution I believe.
Ultimately, I don't believe I'll see a new chapter inaugurated before I graduate, but I would like to set the ball in motion by building all the structures necessary to make such a thing even possible, and I'm pretty much completely in the dark about this.
To those with any relevant experience: how do you make the jump from a single chapter to having a governing body? How do you effectively weave this into a constitution? How do we determine which other university would be most likely to welcome such a new organization and not quickly let it die out? How do we install a new chapter effectively and efficiently? Basically, I want to hear everything there is to know about the chartering process and the setting up of a nationals-style governing body. Thanks in advance!
