How CARE Helps GLAD

CARE is a national program with a presence in 50 states and the District of Columbia. Founded in 2002 by Federal Bankruptcy Judge John C. Ninfo, II, CARE brings bankruptcy professionals to college students to discuss the real-life dangers of credit abuse and educate the financially illiterate. It is important to note that CARE is NOT a non-profit organization. That is because CARE does NOT solicit or accept money donations. All CARE presenters receive is the knowledge that their professional experience has helped you avoid problems the presenters see on a daily basis.

YOU are being offered the opportunity to get in at the ground floor of CARE’s GLAD Program. There will be a media blitz surrounding GLAD in the coming years. Your fraternity or sorority name and chapter name will appear on CARE’s Web site, in CARE’s Newsletter—CARE Today—(which goes to judges, bankruptcy lawyers, educators, legislators, and bankruptcy professionals nationwide) and may be mentioned with CARE in other publications (CARE has appeared in NextStep Magazine, Young Money Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, and on National Public Radio. CARE is also a Jump$tart partner). Remember–the only money made from CARE is the debt YOU and YOUR GREEK BROTHERS AND SISTERS learn to avoid!

How CARE/GLAD Helps Fraternities and Sororities:

Dues Collection
With dues ranging from $500 to the thousands, collecting money can be difficult. CARE will show members how to create a budget which includes dues. Members also learn to avoid the pitfalls of credit card use, meaning they will come into the fraternity or sorority with less debt, giving them more monthly disposable income which they can use for “wants” (including dues).

Retention/Event Attendance
With more members paying dues regularly, your group’s leaders will have a better sense of the group’s budget, allowing them freedom to plan bigger and more attractive events. Also, by staying within a budget, members may avoid the need to work forty or more hours per week, and instead work part-time, leaving more time to devote toward greek functions.

School Relations/Public Relations/Image
The negative images associated with “Animal House” or “Old School” can be changed for school administrations, students, and the community as a whole. By providing members with the CARE Program information, and by bringing a CARE speaker (often a federal judge or prominent attorney) to campus, a positive reputation and relationship will develop. What school wouldn’t want a federal judge or esteemed lawyer (especially if he or she is an alum) to speak on campus?

Publicity
CARE has appeared in print in a variety of magazines and newspapers throughout the country. By sponsoring a CARE event, an individual chapter can certainly appear in the student newspaper, and possibly in the local community newspaper. Also, CARE’s Web site link to GLAD will contain an area for you to submit pictures and quotations from your event. This kind of positive publicity can’t be bought! The more a fraternity or sorority name appears in print, on the campus radio station, or even on fliers around campus announcing the CARE speaker, the more name recognition administrators, students, and the community will have. This helps with image, public relations, rush, alumni support, and more.

Philanthropy
Many chapters are required by their national organization or their school to fulfill a certain amount of hours per person of philanthropic activity. CARE can fulfill this requirement.

Alumni/ae Support
Recent alumni/ae are often willing to support the chapter, but often are not in a financial position to do so. Alums out of school for five or more years are often in better position to provide financial support, but choose not to, having grown away from the group. By participating in CARE, recent alums will have learned to avoid credit card debt and use budgets, and so will be in a better financial situation upon graduating. By showing more distant alums that the chapter is taking positive steps to truly improve the lives of their members, the alumni/ae will be more open to providing support.

Also, many judges and lawyers are greeks. They may have lost touch with their chapter over the years, or may choose not to be involved with the chapter because of the perceived negative reputation of greeks. The CARE Program provides an opportunity for greeks to re-establish contact with lawyer alums, encouraging them to present the CARE Program to their chapter, the greeks, or all the students at their school. If a chapter’s lawyer alumni/ae are not in the bankruptcy field, have them contact a friend who is and who would be willing to get involved. This provides a potential opportunity to initiate the individual as an honorary member as well.

Rush
Here’s the big one. All the benefits mentioned above help with rush. A chapter’s publicity, public relations and image, alumni/ae involvement and support, attendance at events, and increased dues collection rates all make for stronger rush events and a healthier chapter overall.

Helping your Brothers and Sisters
Finally, the purpose of one particular fraternity is to “aid college men in mental, moral, and social development.” Similar words are echoed in the visions and missions of most other fraternities and sororities. By providing the CARE information to members, and possibly hosting a CARE presentation at school, a chapter helps further its commitment to its main cause: brotherhood or sisterhood.

David J. Kozlowski, Esq.
Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity alumnus
Former Confidential Law Clerk to Bankruptcy Judge John C. Ninfo, II