Billhighway has propelled fraternity and sorority organizations to financial management success for over two decades. Our automated financial management technology saves time and money at both the chapter and headquarters levels. Through integrations, Billhighway manages the entire process, from member payments to national fraternity and sorority dues revenue collection to banking and event management.
Membership dues act as a lifeline for sororities at the chapter and national levels. Greek organizations rely on member contributions to pay the bills. Sororities have other sources of income, but dues are the financial foundation upon which a chapter’s survival depends.
The capital acquired from dues primarily covers the following costs:
- Community service
- Philanthropic projects
- Social events
- Parent weekends
- Alumni reunions
- Insurance
- National fees
- General chapter expenses
Each chapter chooses what expenses to cover through membership fees. For example, some chapters use a portion of dues revenue to fund scholarships and payment plans for members in need.
Understanding Chapters Versus Headquarters
Each Greek chapter uses local chapter dues as well as national dues to bring in essential revenue for the organization.
In America, collegiate sororities fall under the National Panhellenic Council (NPC), while the North American Interfraternity Council (IFC) governs fraternities. These national organizations provide support and advocacy for the fraternal industry. A portion of the dues collected from each student–member goes toward fees that the national councils charge each chapter. Through its programs and initiatives, the councils encourage the sharing of information, resources and best practices to ensure the sorority and fraternity experience continues to meet the needs of today’s collegiate women and men.
What do the national councils provide specifically? Chapters receive these benefits:
- Coaching
- Crisis communication support
- Recruiting materials
- Guidance
- Insurance
In addition, upon acceptance, new brothers and sisters gain access to direct benefits, such as the following:
- Connections & Networking
- Leadership Opportunities
- Fundraising & Event Planning Experience
- Participation in Philanthropic Activities
- Education & Academic Focus
- Lifelong Friendships
- Sense of Community
- Future Career Opportunities
The national headquarters sets generalized standards, offers support, and provides the above benefits to each chapter. Outside of these areas, sorority chapters govern themselves. As a result, the new member dues and active member dues vary greatly depending on the Greek organization and chapter to which they belong.
With the input of alumni and senior members, each sorority chapter decides its budget by committee. In addition to national organization fees, the committees budget for expenses such as programming, philanthropy, social events, apparel, and formal recruitment.
The active members of each chapter vote on the budget each semester. This system is democratic but leads to several organizational challenges, such as separating national and chapter fees, and parsing chapter revenue into different categories.
Sorority Life Without Billhighway
What was life like before Billhighway? Before Billhighway, chapter officers would have to:
- Run an accounting system
- Manage all member payments themselves
- Find a way to accept those payments
- Ensure the money in the bank account matches with the bookkeeping
- AND work with a CPA
Managing all these tasks with low-tech tools, such as excel spreadsheets, savings account passbooks, and paper checkbooks, consumes enormous time and energy, causes confusion, and results in costly errors and damaging budget overruns. Today all these activities happen seamlessly within Billhighway, with a cost-efficient, easy-to-understand bundled pricing structure.
Benefits of Billhighway
As chapter officers know, dealing with finances gets complicated. Creating a budget takes both time and skill, and implementing that budget requires substantial accounting know-how. After that, cash management becomes time-consuming, and bill payments also need a treasurer to ensure proper handling and balanced books. On top of this, revenue from non-dues sources, such as fundraising, need accurate budgeting and accounting.
Billhighway’s comprehensive sorority financial management software provides chapters with advanced features that keep them on budget while easing the burden of billing and accounting tasks.
By comprehensive, we mean one program that handles all of a chapter’s financial needs, from dues collection to national headquarters payments to budgeting and accounting. Key features include the following:
- Billing members
- Payment options
- Expense management
- House Corporations
- In-person payments
- Fully mobile cashless solutions
- Member payments
- Donations & fundraising
- Mobile deposits
- Financial & member reporting
