Greek Engagement
Paint Your Greeks Purple
Greeks and other similar organizations on campus have a huge potential to aid your event in its
growth. There are a variety of ways that you can engage these groups in your planning in order
to make the most of their potential. But keep in mind that if you’re going to engage them, you
have to commit to it! Consider adding a Greek ambassador/engagement chair to your
committee to act as a liaison to the Greek community. They can write emails specifically for the
Greeks- offering fundraising tips and updating them on their progress. The key is to make them
feel important, and to cater to their needs as a team, as you cater to each of your teams’ needs.
Recruiting the Greeks
Most Greek systems have a designated nights that chapters have dinner and meeting, and
many chapters will take announcements from groups on campus at that time. It’s a great
chance to get in and talk to all the members at one time! After you make a general
announcement to the chapter, explaining why they should get involved in Relay For Life, ask to
speak to their philanthropy or external vice president chair- they’re a built in team captain!
Leave them with a flyer and your contact information, and ask for their contact information so
you can get in touch with them with the link to register the team.
Another amazing opportunity to talk to the movers and shakers in these chapters is to present
at each council’s president’s meetings. Then, once you’ve won the president over, attend any
other general meetings you can- whether it’s a social chair meeting, a new member educator
meeting, or a recruitment chair meeting. These are the people on the internal executive board
that may ultimately decide whether or not their organization is coming to Relay For Life. And
the easiest way to get them to come to you is to go to them first! Definitely share your Relay
story when you’re presenting to these groups, and throw in some statistics that will hit home
for them- talk about how many men (1 in 2) and how many women (1 in 3) will be diagnosed
with cancer in their lifetime. They all have brothers and sisters that they’ve chosen to be
affiliated with, and they don’t want them to be statistics!
If you can arrange it, set up shop on Greek row with registration computers. Kick offs don’t
have to be single-station events. If you have a kick off on campus, why not host a registration
site on the dorms or on the row? Go to where your participants already are! Ask a fraternity
and a sorority to “sponsor” the registration site (by convincing them to fork over their internet
password) and register people who are walking by. Be sure to publicize it with the other
houses, and even consider sending runners from your committee to round people up at the
other houses and direct them toward your registration site. Out of sight is out of mind- be
something they see!
When you have Greek teams set up, encourage them to split into multiple teams. Greek
chapters can have hundreds of members- they should definitely engage more than 10-15 of
their members in their philanthropy events. You can encourage them to split by pledge class, by
graduating class, or by their internal house lineages. Dividing them up is also a really great way
to ensure continued participation in Relay For Life- the underclassmen are getting involved so
even when their senior class graduates, there will still be members that have been team
captains and have been to and loved your event. However you divide them up, use the same
spirit of competition to get the numbers up! Use some manner of tracking participants (a
thermometer, tally marks, posters with target team members, sticky notes with every
member’s name on them- only moved over when they’ve registered) to increase competition
within the houses, but also between all the different chapters! No one wants to see that
another sorority or fraternity has twice as many people participating in Relay For Life! Feel free
to set up Facebook groups or fan pages for the fraternity and sorority teams, it’s another way to
get them motivated, and then you’ll be able to message them in an additional way to the email
system. Sometimes people delete emails without thinking twice, but you can generally snag
them on Facebook.
As you recruit your Greek teams, give them some Relay gear to show their support (free swag is
the most popular form of currency on a college campus!). That could be a handmade butcher
paper banner, or a Relay For Life lawn sign (excellent tie in for the new Fundraising Club
initiatives). The banners could say something as simple as “Rho Phi Lambda (RFL) has signed up
for Relay For Life- have you!?” or can use any of the catchy slogans. Everyone likes a little
recognition, especially when it’s visible to everyone else. One university used the Relay For Life
lawn signs three weeks out from their event and had the 2 remaining sororities sign up because
they’d seen the logo in front of every other house and felt left out.
Talk to the Greek Life Office on campus and see if they have suggestions for including the Greek
community in your event. The advisors may be interested in making it mandatory for the Pan
Hellenic or Intra-Fraternity Councils to participate in your event.
Maximizing Fundraising Potential
Large organizations have the innate gift of already having a team built into their structure.
However, there are other features to consider when evaluating their fundraising potential. For
example, Greek organizations have not only local alumni to engage from the chapter on your
campus, but also a nationwide and international alumni network that they can reach out to.
These Greek chapters maintain extensive alumni mailing lists and can reach out- the sky’s the
limit! Of course, sometimes it’s helpful to include some manner of incentive for their
participation, and attached is a sample letter written to incentivize fundraising. One university
used the letters to help encourage Greek fundraising; for each chapter that raised $2,000, the
event chair wrote a letter to their national organization singing their praises, and for the
chapters that went above and beyond and raised $5,000, the event staff partner sent one off. If
you choose to offer a similar incentive, choose fundraising totals that work for your university
and your event!
There are a variety of ways to promote year round fundraisers from the Greeks. At many
universities, the Greeks are the only ones with a lawn or porch to take advantage of. A Greek
team could be the perfect host to a Purple Potty or Purple Flock fundraiser- traveling from
chapter to chapter raising money for their Relay For Life team. If a Greek chapter has taken
control of the Purple Potty/ Purple Flock fundraiser on your campus, invite them to continue
the fundraiser as their onsite fundraiser- they can put the items on campsites instead of lawns.
Alternatively, you can turn the purple toilet into a “Flush Away Cancer” wishing well.
Many campuses require that their Greek chapters host philanthropy events to raise money for
good causes; some of the Greek national organizations even maintain the American Cancer
Society as their national charity. Reach out to these chapters and partner with them in planning
some of the larger scale fundraisers. This could be a Save Second Base baseball tournament,
Tackling Cancer Flag Football, or whatever other creative fundraiser you’d need help planning
that would work on your campus. This way, they fulfill their obligations to the university while
helping out your Relay For Life event total. An option to incentivize this sort of participation is
to allow their chapter to apply the proceeds from this event to their team total.
Social Greek organizations have other fundraising opportunities built right in. For example, a
date auction before one of their social events (a Party With a Purpose) would be a great way to
encourage fundraising in a way that’s fun for their members as well. Or, if you’d like to host a
Black, White, and Purple ball on your campus as a fundraiser, fraternity and sorority social
chairs could be your guide to planning events in the area- they already know how to find the
right DJ, photographer and bus companies!
Other ideas for fundraisers include:

Hosting a pancake breakfast or any other manner of food fundraiser
o “Fundraising With a Chance of Meatballs” could make a great pasta night!
o On popular party nights, selling food near the fraternity parties in the late-night
and early morning hours (Weenies for the Wasted is a popular hot dog sale
fundraiser)

T-shirt sale competition: Design “Greeks For Life” shirts to sell year round. The chapter
that sells the most can get prime campsite location!

Big Man On Campus: Invite fraternities to compete to be the “Big Man On Campus” and
host a variety of fundraisers. Top fundraising fraternity can be crowned at the close of
your Relay For Life. It’s a great tie in to a lot of the other fundraising ideas.

Men In Tights: Fraternity members wear purple tights all day on a designated date,
carrying Relay For Life collection cans. They are not allowed to open the cans; the cans
are to be turned in at the end of the day for counting. The house with the most money
wins an incentive prize. You can use this at the Relay itself, and can take your awards
ceremony as the perfect time to recognize the top chapter, who gets to hold the title
through until the next Relay! Promotion can be chalked on the Quad, through mailbox
stuffers, table toppers, and signs, like “Get ready because the Tights are coming!”

Encourage sororities to adopt their house sweetheart as a Ms. Relay pageant
contestant. With that many pageant moms, the boys will rock their catwalk and
fundraising!

Renting out fraternity members for manual labor

Hosting internal jail and bail- get committee members into the chapter to run a jail and
bail night. It can be more laid back by saying they can be released from the “jail” (a
room in the house) when they’ve sent a certain number of fundraising emails/Facebook
messages/tweets.

Host a “Distance Challenge” between the houses- to see who can contact and secure
donation from alumni living the farthest away from campus.

Host a garage sale for Relay- vintage is making a comeback! Similarly, sororities can have
a Prom/Homecoming dress drive and sale to local high schools to raise money for their
Relay team

Plan and host a bar night with proceeds to your Relay; “Last Call For a Cure”

Host a inter-fraternity poker tournament. Have a set buy in for the tournament, and the
winner can put the proceeds towards his Relay For Life team.

Before a big date party week/weekend, host Manicures for a Cure. Some manicurists
will donate their time and donate the money they’re paid to the American Cancer
Society. Another great time to hold it is right before Spring Break, and of course it can
become Pedicures for a Cure instead!

Design and sell a Greek Life calendar- and be certain your Relay date is listed in there!
Include things like sports games, testing weeks, and other large event happenings so the
calendar’s an awesome resource for people once they purchase it.

Plan a 5K or 10K and advertise it to the school
o Host a skirt-chaser race, where you allow the female participants a 5-10 minute
head start, depending on the length of the course
o Host an Undie Run- $3 to participate in underwear, $5 to participate clothed

Host a film festival. Invite groups on campus to create and submit videos, then have a
viewing party at one of the chapter houses. A rented projector and a blank wall make
for cinema magic!

Ask if their national organization will match their fundraising. If that’s a no go, ask the
alumni network if they’d be willing and up to the task!

Host “Speed Dating For Life”
So how do you keep this fundraising up? By making it as competitive as possible! This means
that you can get and post fundraising thermometers- whether you post them in front of the
chapter houses or the center of the student union, the Greeks will see their thermometers and
will know where they stand in the grand scheme of things. And definitely go make
announcements to them when they’re gathered all together- whether as a Greek community or
as a house. Let them know who the top Greek fundraisers are- they love to cheer for their
brothers and sisters!
Look over your sponsorship packages, and let the chapters know what they need to do to get
their names on the back of your event shirts. A lot of campuses have restrictions during Rush
that limits where chapters can put their name- but if they have their chapter on the back of
hundreds of shirts from an AWESOME event on campus, they’ll gain a lot of free advertising,
too. Ask the chapters to point this fact out to their alumni! It gives them a
fundraising/sponsorship goal to aim for, and alumni an opportunity to get involved. It’s
definitely a win-win situation.
Other Ways to Engage the Greeks
SURVIVORSHIP
Ask them to prepare a meal at a local Hope Lodge. The Hope Lodges are always looking for
programming for their residents, and large groups like the Greeks provide a great opportunity
to get more people on your campus involved in American Cancer Society services and
programs! Other programs and services they can get involved in include: hosting a Look Good,
Feel Better session, becoming drivers for Road to Recovery, hosting survivor and caregiver
socials before your Relay (BBQ at the fraternities? Tea at the sororities? A walking holiday lights
tour? They’ll find an activity that suits them, just allow them the space to be creative!),
Definitely encourage the fraternities and sororities to reach out to their alumni to find the
survivors and caregivers among them. Have them celebrate these survivors and caregivers, and
ask them to invite them to the Relay, so they can cheer on their brothers and sisters trackside.
If they live too far, they’re excellent candidates for the Rep’ Your Survivor Virtual Survivorship
recognition program!
CANCER EDUCATION
Definitely get the sororities out to volunteer at your campus Breast Festival (Or Breastival, or
Boobapalooza, or whatever you call it!). Even if it’s relegated to selling them shirts that say
“Fight Like A Girl,” or “If you’re going to stare at them, you might as well donate money to help
save them!” and asking them to wear them on campus, it’s a population that will be directly
affected by breast cancer- 1 in 8 women develop it in their lifetime, so it’s a great opportunity
to engage them in fighting back! Be sure they know the statistics and can help spread
awareness beyond just a catchy shirt slogan. Encourage your chapters to send reminders to
their alumni with screening guidelines- breast self exams starting in their 20s, colonoscopy
starting in their 50s, etc. It can be done in a funny way- sororities can send pirate themed cards
in October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) reminding their sisters to “Treasure their chest”
or just saying, “Yo ho, yo ho, a mammogram for me!”
Another opportunity to engage the Greeks is to involve them in a cancer education scavenger
hunt. Have a few of the clues lead the participants to different chapters. They’re a recognizable
location on campus and this gives them a chance to get more involved in Colleges Against
Cancer while learning more about the American Cancer Society!
When Skin Cancer Awareness month comes up in May, ask a chapter to host a spray tan
alternative. If you can get the services donated, excellent, if not, they sell spray tan in a can. It’s
a much safer alternative to UV tanning beds, or lying out in the sun for hours! Use this as an
opportunity to really educate your campus about the dangers of tanning, and remind them to
always practice safe sun!
Invite your Greeks to a Youtube competition. It could be anything from reinventing the Pink
Glove Dance that went viral a while back, or it can be themed around cancer education—from
quitting smoking to wearing sunscreen, to where the money goes after it’s fundraised. If you
give them license to be creative and incentivize their participation, they may surprise you with
the videos they submit!
ADVOCACY
There are tons of ways to get these big groups involved in advocacy efforts! Be sure to remind
your Greeks about the statistics- that 1 in 2 of their brothers will be diagnosed with cancer in
their lifetime, and 1 in 3 of their sisters. Statistics like this really bring the message home- and
can be a huge motivator in getting them more involved! Rock the Vote was an incredibly
powerful movement because it offered college students a way to get involved in the political
climate, empowering them to shape their future and their government. The American Cancer
Society Cancer Action Network (or ACS CAN) provides that same opportunity- using things like
text message alerts and email campaigns to let lawmakers know that cancer should be one of
their top priorities! Annual membership is only $10, and you can ask that your Greek chapters
include it as an option for their members as they pay their dues (be sure to include a
registration form!). Think of all the new grassroots advocates you can recruit!
Another really easy way to involve the Greeks in advocacy is to open existing advocacy efforts
to them. When you have petition signatures to gather, be sure to drop by Greek meetings to
leave sheets for them to sign. They have a huge captive audience, and can use that extensive
alumni list to get in touch with other potential signatories. When important votes are coming
up and ACS CAN sends out an action alert, take it to the President’s meetings and get their
chapters on board. They can pound out a few emails at their next chapter meeting!
Remind them, of course, that all of this involvement can look amazing to their national
organization, and offer to write to their national president with the details of how fantastic
their chapter has been in their advocacy efforts. Bonus points for pictures!
MISCELLANEOUS
Get the Greeks involved in Paint Campus Purple! They’re a captive audience to sell shirts to,
and you can even encourage them to design their own shirts for the week. Then they have
team shirts to wear to your Relay For Life, as well. Drop off bags of purple ribbon pins (buy the
ribbon online in bulk to save yourself the craft store runs!) during their weekly meeting and
encourage them to turn your campus purple. Invite them out to a midnight launch of Paint
Campus Purple- if you turn the guerilla marketing into a party and invite people to come out,
not only will many hands make light work, but your peers will show up the next morning to a
transformed campus! Another great opportunity to engage them during Paint Campus Purple,
or in the lead up to your event, is to invite them to decorate and place luminaria bags in their
windows in the evening. You can either leave them with glowsticks or tea lights and ask them to
light the bags all week. How magical would it be to take a stroll around campus one night and
see little beacons of Hope in every Greek chapter?
Sometimes Relay events need just a bit more help with providing food to the event. Reach out
to your Greek chapters- either to donate some ingredients (Greek chapters often buy food in
bulk) or to allow your committee in to cook some pasta for your participants in their kitchen
(the industrial sized kitchens can cut cooking time!). It’s a quick and easy way to get them
involved, and many will help you all with the cooking. Be sure to give them a shout out at your
event to say thank you!
Stepping is a popular Greek activity at some campuses, and it can be a great entertainment
opportunity for your Relay For Life event. You can encourage a competition between chapters,
or if your university hosts a competition for them- get the winner to come in and perform for
everyone!
Some events have found a lot of success in hosting their Relay For Life as the capstone of their
Greek Week- using the Relay as a chance to crown the winners. Talk to the Greek Life advisors
and see if they would be interested in programming alongside Relay. It’s a great chance to
encourage philanthropic involvement in the Greek community (a tenet most campuses push
hard). Working with Greek Life, you can generally have Relay fundraising included in the
competition of Greek Week; the chapters that raise the most money for their Relay teams are
given more points for their Greek Week Games.
Sample Letter
To Whom It May Concern:
Re: Rho Phi Lambda at Relay For Life of Hope University, 2011
Rho Phi Lambda has always had an incredibly strong team at
Relay For Life, and we were so thrilled to have them back again this
year! They were literally the second team to register on the website; the
only one to register before them was mine!
They have been an incredible support over the years, and this year
was definitely no exception. They were present at every team captain
meeting, and were the only team to respond when I asked a Greek team
to adopt the purple potty fundraiser. The enthusiasm they show for the
event every year is incredibly inspiring! This year their chapter had 24
of their brothers registered on their team, and brought even more of
their brothers on the day of the event. Six of them stayed for the full 24
hours and the rest used a shifts system, with 27 of them participating in
about six hours each (for a grand total of a staggering 306 hours!). The
gentlemen also raised an incredible amount of money, coming in online
at $1,090!
Obviously, the Relay experience is more than just those numbers,
because it’s an event that you really get out what you put into it. And
Rho Phi Lambda did a phenomenal job at putting their hearts into the
event. Whether it was diligently moving that sparkly purple toilet from
campsite to campsite to collect extra money on the day of the event, or
setting up a tight rope for people to practice on, they were such an asset
to our event. Their team stayed until the very end of the event, and even
turned in more money towards our goal as they finished packing up.
They were so dedicated, and they have such a strong tradition of Relay
in their chapter. For example, when we sent out the email to former
participants to remind them to register their team, one of their chapter
members emailed back that day to make sure they were signed up for
this year, because he didn’t want them to miss the opportunity to
participate. Rho Phi Lambda really understand what Relay is all about,
and their excitement for it year after year is something the Greek
community at Hope University should really treasure!
I would just like to say thank you one last time to the gentlemen of
the Hope University chapter for all their hard work leading up to Relay
and for helping create the best Relay our campus has ever seen!
With warm regards,
Event Chair
Relay For Life of Hope University, 2011