SNOW & ASSOCIATES

Informal Survey of Greek Alumni/ae Databases

This page appears courtesy of Snow & Associates, an international research organization dedicated to helping educational, fraternal and professional institutions maintain better information on their alumni/ae, communicate more effectively with them, and relocate those who are lost. Click HERE to visit our home page.

How accurate are the alumni/ae records maintained by headquarters offices of national greek letter organizations?

In a recent informal survey, statistics from databases maintained by the nat'l HQ offices of several greek organizations whose records have NOT yet been updated by Snow & Associates were compiled. The following are representative results:

• Fraternity C: 27K living, 18K mailable (67%), 9K lost (33%)
• Fraternity D: 75K living, 60K mailable (80%), 15K lost (20%)
• Fraternity L: 180K living, 120K mailable (67%), 60K lost (33%)
• Fraternity P: 40K living, 32K mailable (80%), 8K lost (20%)

• Sorority AO: 80K living, 65K mailable (81%), 15K lost (19%)
• Sorority AZ: 85K living, 69K mailable, (81%) 16K lost (19%)
• Sorority K: 57K living, 47K mailable (82%), 10K lost (18%)

The statistics above may be compared with those of other groups whose records have been updated by Snow & Associates within the last 12 months:

• Fraternity A: 39,978 living, 36,331 mailable (91%), 3,474 lost (9%)
• Fraternity D: 64,659 living, 55,681 mailable (88%), 7,711 lost (12%)
• Fraternity K: 91,915 living, 78,236 mailable (85%), 13,679 lost (15%)
• (Research for Fraternity K is still in progress)
• Fraternity S: 177,850 living, 157,189 mailable (88%), 20,661 lost (12%)

If your organization has more than 17% lost members, you should consider having your records updated as soon as possible.

Normally, Snow & Associates can find verifiable new addresses of 25% to 35% of a greek letter organization's lost alumni/ae, through research on each campus where a chapter is chartered, as well as our in-house databases of over 100 million addresses from postal changes, telephone directories, and an ever-increasing variety of online resources.

Lost members who have social security numbers on file can usually be relocated at a higher rate (often more than 50%) and a lower cost than those who do not.

In either case, there is no cost for those who remain lost, notices of deceased members, partial addresses and phone numbers, or other minor changes, which are provided free of charge.

If you choose, you may send verification mailings to the relocated members. Any mail returned as 'undeliverable' or 'addressee deceased' within 45 days may be forwarded to S&A for a full credit. Normally there are less than 6.4% mail returns.

Most fraternal organizations recover the cost of relocating lost members within a single year of completion, through improved annual giving. And many relocated members who become donors in the first year should continue to support their fraternity or sorority subsequently, providing a 'dividend' of many times the original investment in the years that follow.

Click HERE to request more info on relocating your lost members. Please include the number of alumni/ae who are currently considered living, mailable, and lost in your database.

Since 1988, we have worked with more than 40 national fraternities and sororities, relocating almost 150,000 lost members. We would welcome the chance to be of service to your organization as well.

All text and images © 1995-97 by Snow & Associates.
Snowflake image by SS Designs.

Last updated: 1 April 1997
URL: http: // www . arch . org / survey . htm