1930–31 Volume 55 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

South Dakota Alpha Has SensibleBuilding Finance PlanCULMINATING several years of chapterand building finance study. SouthDakota Alpha has evolved and placedin active operation an organization ofbuilding finance that has eradicatedmany of the difficulties connected withthe giving and collecting of housenotes.Approved by Lambda Province inconvention May, 1930, the last fallwitnessed the plan in nearly perfectedoperation in South Dakota Alpha.House building funds, raised by paymentsof a few dollars monthly byeach member of the active chapter,are given immediately upon paymentto three trustees who have the trustredeclared in a bank which activelysupervises the investment and controlof the moneys on deposit. The trusteesact as fiscal agents of the fundand are charged solely with accountingof the funds and the business affairspertinent to future building.None of the principal amounts can bewithdrawn until the depository is satisfiedthat they are being expended inthe acquisition of chapter house propertyor building contract.While not unusual because of itsnature as a trust fund, the plan hasparticular merit because payments towardthe fund are made only duringthe time members are actively enrolledin school or connected with thechapter, and then only for a threeyearperiod. Members leaving schoolleave with no outstanding obligationsdue the chapter or the building fund.They are never called upon to payhouse notes. All house notes unpaidat the time of inauguration of theplan were charged off as void, it be-[393]By HARVEY J. GUNDERSONSouth Dakota, '28ing left to delinquents either to makea gift of unpaid amounts or to notpay anything. In the future, no attemptswill be made to collect anybills from alumni of the chapter andthere will be no one leaving with billswhich should be collected.Success is achieved solely by thestrict adoption of the house financeplan whereby chapter bills due forthirty days are immediately pro-ratedover the members and the offendingparty declared inactive and deprivedof house privileges until the accountis cleared. Failure to clear the accountunder the recent ordinances ofthe fraternity will thereafter soon resultin expulsion from the fraternity.This combination of circumstances, operatingnow for six months, hasproven to keep all amounts paid withinthe time limits set and has thoroughlysucceeded in keeping chapterfinances in perfect shape.B. V. Moore, president of LambdaProvince, gave the idea excellent supportfrom the first and made possiblethe adoption of the uniform planthroughout the district. Mark Bradford,traveling secretary of the fraternity,during a recent visit, notedthe ease with which the plan hadplaced South Dakota Alpha on a permanentlysound financial basis.Trustees named and in charge ofthe operation of the plan at SouthDakota Alpha are Curtiss W. Espe,Wilfred L. Chaussee, and Harvey J.Gunderson. They are interested alonein arranging for future building. Thepresent chapter house continues inownership with the alumni corporation,who receive rents as usual and