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Greek Government Relations Program
How YOU Can Help Us Succeed in Washington
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Greeks as an Interest Group The BIG PICTURE

• On a national level, the Greek system has
  approximately 9 million living members.
• Including approximately 160 members of the United
  States House and Senate.
• The Boy Scouts Girl Scouts are the only more
  common leadership experience shared by Members of
  Congress today.
• There are approximately 100 national fraternities
  and sororities with 750,000 undergraduate members
  at 12,000 chapters on 800 campuses.

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GREEKS IN GOVERNMENT
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Prominent Greeks in D.C.
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Prominent Greeks in D.C.
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Our Biggest Supporters
Congressman Paul Ryan ???
Congressman Pete Sessions ???
Senator Pat Roberts ???
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The Dream Team
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ex. KKGs Biggest Supporters

• Insert names and pictures of any members of
  Congress or people high-up in government who are
  members of your particular national organization
  (ex. Kappa Kappa Gamma would put in Shelley Moore
  Capito (R-WV) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)

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Capital Fraternal Caucus

• Greeks are represented collectively by the
  Capital Fraternal Caucus, which is made up of
  public policy professionals working together to
  shape and present the Greek policy agenda.
• For several years now, Greeks have been working
  together to advance common policy interests that
  can improve the experience we offer to our
  members.

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What Have Greeks Already Accomplished?

• Greeks now have all attributes of a firmly
  established interest group
• A commitment by national fraternity and sorority
  leaders that this is a worthy investment of
  their time, talent and treasure
• Regular visits to DC to meet with Congress
• A strong, visible Fraternity Sorority PAC
• Educated interest group members who seek out
  contact with policymakers on our issues at home
• Growing Congressional support for your positions
• Grassroots and grasstops networking abilities

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What Are the Goals of the Greek Government
Relations Program?

• EDUCATE Washington about the positive impact of
  Greek life
• PRESERVE existing rights of fraternities/sororitie
  s
• ADVOCATE parity in government regulations and
  support collegiate quality of life issues
• IDENTIFY opportunities for Greeks and government
  to work together to improve society
• BUILD permanent Greek presence in Washington,
  similar to the presence of other national
  associations and trade organizations

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Pro Greek Legislation Collegiate Housing and
Infrastructure Act (CHIA)

• The Problem Current federal tax law does not
  allow charitable contributions to be used to
  build, expand or maintain most not-for-profit
  student housing, including fraternity and
  sorority housing. Current tax law allows
  colleges and universities to use tax-deductible
  funds to build, sustain and maintain their
  student housing.

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Pro Greek Legislation Collegiate Housing and
Infrastructure Act (CHIA)

• The Solution Fix the glitch in the tax code and
  allow our educational foundations to use
  tax-deductible charitable contributions to make
  housing grants to local house corporations for
  the purpose of improving not-for-profit student
  housing.

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What are the Primary Concerns?

• Poor Housing Eventually Leads to Poor Members
• Greek housing is on average older than other
  campus housing
• Underfunded for routine and long-term maintenance
• Often includes sub-par life safety equipment
• Lacks the quality of life amenities that todays
  students and their parents expect
• Result More of the best students are not
  choosing to join our groups and live with us.

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What are the Primary Concerns?
QUALITY
Enhance not-for-profit housing through brick and
mortar renovations and new builds.

• Under the current tax code, colleges and
  universities may expend tax deductible charitable
  contributions for the
• Building,
• Improvement or alteration of student facilities
  including dormitories,
• Dining halls,
• Study areas,
• Libraries,
• Computers,
• Laundry facilities,
• Physical fitness facilities, and
• Social or recreational areas.

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What are the Primary Concerns?

• CAPACITY
• Increase the not-for-profit housing markets
  ability to house students at virtually no cost to
  the public.
• Universities, especially state institutions,
  would not be able to replace the housing that
  Greek organizations provide.
• On many campuses, Greek housing alleviates
  serious housing shortage issues.
• 1 in 8 college students today live in Greek
  housing.
• Greek housing holds 250,000 students in 8,000
  facilities.
• Total assets valued at over 3 billion.
• In 2008, there were a record 2.1 million students
  enrolled across the country.

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What are the Primary Concerns?

• PARITY
• Create fair treatment for organizations with
  similar goals.
• Under current tax code, our educational
  foundation would lose its ability to take
  tax-deductible charitable contributions if it
  used those funds to give a grant to a chapter to
  improve chapter housing.
• Meanwhile, our host institutions can use
  tax-deductible charitable contributions to build
  or improve their student housing.
• There is no sound reasoning or policy that
  warrants the continuation of this disparity in
  law.
• Greeks would not be the only beneficiary of this
  policy change on campus as there are often other
  not-for-profit student housing options on a
  campus besides our housing or the schools
  housing.

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What are the Primary Concerns?
AFFORDABILITY

• CHIA is a cost-effective alternative to publicly
  funded housing.
• The average new construction costs for a
  residence hall is 22.4 million and houses 400
  students (56,000 per bed).
• CHIA is estimated to cost the federal government
  just 14.8 million a year in lost tax revenue
  while helping improve housing for 250,000
  students nationwide.
• The change in the tax code will allow us to
  renovate and improve existing housing or build
  new housing with privately donated funds.

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What are the Primary Concerns?
SAFETY

• Only about 50 of our facilities have fire
  sprinklers.
• Just this spring, there were major fires that
  destroyed fraternity houses at the University of
  Wisconsin and the University of Michigan.
• No fire-related deaths have ever occurred in a
  fraternity house equipped with fire sprinklers.
• Installing sprinkler is expensive especially in
  older Greek housing and the cost of
  installation cannot be addressed by simply
  raising the rents of existing students.
• Passing CHIA would allow us to use tax-deductible
  charitable contributions to modernize our life
  safety systems.

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What Would CHIA Accomplish?

• Encourage new contributions to improve collegiate
  housing
• It is estimated that passing CHIA would result in
  400 million in new charitable giving.
• Our fraternal foundation might see several
  million dollars in new giving as we try to help
  our chapters improve their housing.
• Our first priority would be safer housing for
  students.
• Our second priority will be better student
  housing.
• Our third priority will be more student housing.
• The end result of safer, better and more student
  housing is the preservation of the Greek system
  as an important part of the college leadership
  experience.

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The History of CHIA Steps Toward Success

• First Introduced in April 2003.
• The bill passed the House in September 2003, by a
  vote of 408-13, as part of a larger charitable
  giving bill.
• Big Picture political complications kept the
  larger bill that CHIA was attached from becoming
  law.
• Reintroduced in 2005 for 109th Congress but did
  not find a legislative vehicle for passage.

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Current Status of CHIA(as of June 6, 2008)

• We are on pace to have our best-ever level of
  bipartisan support for this bill in Congress!
• We currently have 200 co-sponsors in the House
  and 38 in the Senate.
• We have more than 30 Congressmen and Senators who
  are prior sponsors who are likely to become
  co-sponsors again later this session.
• Our allies in Congress are looking to attach CHIA
  to an appropriate tax bill moving through
  Congress this year.

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Other Greek Legislative Issues

• College Fire Prevention Act (H.R. 642)
• This act authorizes federal funding to provide
  matching grants for fire safety upgrades to
  existing collegiate housing.
• Higher Education Reauthorization
• Will Congress protect a students First Amendment
  freedom of association rights to join the student
  organizations of their choice?

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What Can YOU Do to Help Greeks Win in Washington?

• There has been an ongoing grassroots campaign to
  contact legislators to get more co-sponsors and
  to make this bill a priority as soon as possible.
• Add the Facebook Application Today!
  (www.cfcfacebook.com)
• Bring this information back to your chapter and
  university.

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Facebook Application

• The application will allow you to electronically
  contact your Congressional Representatives to
  push for passage of CHIA and other pro-Greek
  legislation.
• It notifies you of upcoming events and ways to
  get or stay involved in our collective efforts to
  improve Greek life.
• You can access the application by going to
  www.cfcfacebook.com

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Jim
Anderson
16000 South Avenue
Jonestown
FL
32632
Janderson_at_gmail.com
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The Purpose of the Fraternity and Sorority
Political Action Committee

• Purpose Provide financial support to elect
  Greeks to serve in the House of Representatives
  and the Senate. Help non-Greeks who have shown a
  commitment to using public policy to preserve and
  improve Greek life.
• The PAC is bipartisan.
• Its part of our year-round voice in Washington
  and helps us show that Greeks should be taken
  seriously as a political interest group.
• This is a great example of Greeks working
  together to address our common needs.

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The Success of Our PAC

• The PAC is hoping to raise 400,000 this election
  cycle.
• Since our 2005 founding, we are consistently
  considered the largest PAC focused solely on
  higher education and the needs of todays college
  students.
• We are the largest higher education focused PAC
  in existence.
• In the last election cycle, the PAC provided
  funding to 99 House and Senate candidates, 90 of
  whom won election to the 110th Congress.
• We are especially proud that the PAC was involved
  in electing three new NPC alumnae to the House
  and Senate.

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New Programs from the PAC

• This fall, the PAC hopes to pay to have
  Tele-Townhall meetings between Greek students
  nationwide and representatives of both
  Presidential campaigns.
• A new Student Leadership Council has been formed
  for student leaders who give 25 a year to the
  PAC.
• Give at www.fratpac.org

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Our Organizations Involvement with the PAC

• Insert information on the number of your
  organizations members who have contributed to
  the PAC and where your organizations members
  collectively stand in the fundraising rankings.
• Please recognize the member or members of your
  organization who serve on the PACs Board of
  Directors or the Finance Committee.
• Mention that the PAC is the vehicle for
  supporting your specific members who serve in
  Congress or are running this year.

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Effects on ex. Delta Gamma

• Insert personal stories of members from your
  specific national organization who have been
  involved through Facebook, the Congressional Hill
  Visits, or any other way with these efforts.
• Also, this is where you can include any efforts
  the national organization has made on behalf of
  Greek government relations.
• Ex. Delta Gamma just passed a resolution
  requiring all of their chapter houses to have
  sprinkler equipment installed by 2010.

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Your Action Steps

• Join the Facebook application, sign the online
  petitions there, and help spread the word about
  the effort to lobby Congress to pass CHIA in
  2008.
• Help us find members who know Senators and
  Congressmen and ask them to make personal contact
  ASAP to push for passage of CHIA.
• Consider making a contribution to Fraternity
  Sorority PAC so that our collective voice in the
  political process is as loud as possible.
• Give us your ideas for engaging our members to
  help win in Washington.