A Look at How to More Effectively Retain Our Members

2nd-4th Year Member Retention Study

About the Project

Download: Researcher’s Insights Report (view expanded 90-page report) | Executive Summary

For many years, the retention of our collegiate members has been on the minds of NPC organizations’ staff and boards. We embarked on this project to help organizations identify factors and barriers of sorority membership that influence persistence and retention.

We specifically wanted to know:

• What motivates members to stay involved with their sorority organization?
• What aspects of the experience create barriers or challenges to staying involved?
• What factors have an impact on continued involvement?

Insights at a Glance

While the full 90-page full report provides a wealth of information that can be spliced in a variety of ways, the following insights are reflective of the respondents at large and are inclusive of themes applicable to all NPC organizations. 

• There’s no silver bullet — but there are key factors that can dramatically improve retention.
  • The four key factors to improve retention are Social Integration, Identity Alignment, Belonging and Organizational Support. Focusing on Social Integration and Identity Alignment are the two areas that will have the greatest gains.
  • Social Integration drives personal growth, meaningful connections and support. Identity Alignment is feeling like the sorority is a part of who they are and commitment to it (not personal identity development).
• Eroding social connections = weakening of the sorority bond, & some groups are especially at risk.
  • Overwhelmingly, this study showed us that members join for social connection and they stay for social connection. They leave when the social connection fades or erodes. As a reminder from the New Member Longitudinal Midterm report, social connection is a connection to people, not parties.
  • The four groups identified as at risk are:
    • Women of color
    • Focused Achievers
    • Those who live off campus or not in the chapter facility
    • Chapter leaders
    • Note that there are many ways to splice the data, and as your organization dives into the report, there may be other important groups for your organization to consider.
• Sororities aren’t keeping pace with upperclass members’ evolving needs.
  • The chapter experience needs to evolve with the priorities and interests of students throughout their academic careers. Third- and fourth-year students are looking for a different experience than in their first two years. Their student experience is changing, focusing more on their future career aspirations, and their experience in the chapter should also change.
• We need to help outgoing leaders end on a high note.
  • The expected time commitment and interpersonal responsibility of leaders is a heavy burden, and past leaders struggle to maintain connections, transition back into general chapter membership and don’t feel supported.
  • Past leaders have lower retention perspectives and they don’t feel like the benefits of membership are worth the cost of the financial and time investments. They put in the time, but it is not giving them a better ROI; they are burning out and more ready to leave than other members.

Our Research Partner: Plaid, LLC

Dr. Meghan Grace, Plaid Associate, served as the leader researcher for this project. Plaid is an organizational training and development firm dedicated to creating stimulating and thought-provoking learning experiences. Their research work includes numerous projects in partnership with fraternity and sorority industry associations.

Methodology

Qualitative (Spring 2024): 10 focus group sessions (1 hour in length) conducted in Spring 2024 — 6 in-person sessions at conferences and on campuses, and 4 virtual sessions

Quantitative (Fall 2024): Survey (<15 minutes in length) distributed via Qualtrics in Fall 2024

Resources

If you reference any data from this project, please use the following citation:
2nd-4th Year Member Retention Study by Plaid, LLC, funded through the Amplifying Sorority Campaign.

Community Resources

• Researcher’s Insights Report (view expanded 90-page report)
• Executive Summary
• Community Presentation Recording