NIC Blog
Interested in being a sponsor for our Annual Meeting?
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You have demonstrated your interest in and commitment to the fraternity and sorority industry through your support of prior meetings of Greek leaders.
Why not leverage that prior investment by sponsoring, attending and, perhaps, exhibiting at the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) 2010 Annual in Washington D.C. on April 18-19 in Washington D.C.?
The NIC Annual Meeting is attended by nearly all of the chief executive officers of the NIC's 73 men's national and international fraternities, as well as other leading volunteer officers of the fraternities and educational foundations and the chief volunteer. The same key decision-makers for men's national and international fraternities you are already targeting through your investment in Greek marketing will be at the NIC Annual Meeting.
In addition, many of the CEOs and chief volunteer officers of the members of the National Panhellenic Conferenece will also be at the Washington D.C. meeting to participate in the NIC's Government Relations program which includes a day of lobbying on Capitol Hill.
There are a wide range of sponsorship levels starting at $1,000 to $5,000 for typical sponsor packages. Support of higher levels are be negotiated for the most committed Greek marketers which can include exclusive naming and sponsorship rights at the NIC Annual Meeting. Please review the enclosed sponsorship opportunities information and contact Meghan Ward-Bopp of the NIC at 317-872-1112 or meghan@nicindy.org if you have any questions.
I hope you and your company will supplement your investment in marketing to the fraternity and sorority movement by becoming an NIC 2010 Annual Meeting sponsor. Want more information? Click here to download the sponsorship information sheet. What a great opportunity to have access to your key current and potential Greek customers and to further demonstrate your support of fraternities and sororities.
Best interfraternal regards,
Bob Marchesani
NIC Board Chairman
Welcome to the New NICindy.org!
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Tips and how-to log in to the new website!!
Welcome to the new site!! We hope you'll find the new Directory, resources and forum useful and easy to use!
The day has finally come- the new NICindy.org website has launched!
One of the biggest changes you'll notice is the individual maintenance of accounts for the entire website, rather than one account for each university just for the Directory. You can create your own username and password and it will give you access to the new site, the directory, blogs and forum.
How do you submit grades? How do you update your information for the Directory? Well, one of the biggest changes on the website is the individual maintenance of accounts for the entire website, rather than one account for each university just for the Directory. Everyone on your staff must maintain their own username and password which will give members access to the directory, resources, blogs and forum.
How do you log-in?
- In order to verify your account, you will need to go to this page: http://www.nicindy.org/member/forgot_password/
- Once you enter your email address and click "submit," a temporary password will be sent to that e-mail for verification.
- You will need that temporary password to login in to your account.
- Once you are logged in you can click your username in the top right hand corner to go to the Settings.
- Click "Username & Password" to change your password to whatever you choose.
*If your email isn't recognized, then simply follow the process to "sign-up" on the top-right hand corner of the website. You must use the same email that you provided to us within the Online Directory, otherwise it will not recognize you.
How do you update your information for the Directory?
- Once you are logged in you can click your username in the top right hand corner to go to the Settings.
- Click "Edit Profile" to update your information for the Directory.
How do you delete people in the Directory that no longer work at your university?
Email meghan@nicindy.org with their name and email address.
How do I submit academic information?
Once you are logged in you can click on the "Submit Academic Info" on www.nicindy.org homepage under "INTERCHANGE."
If you have any problems contact Meghan: 317.872.1112 or meghan@nicindy.org
Lobby Stats in Washington, D.C. Running With the Big Dogs?
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Posted by Robert L. Burns
NIC has involved itself in lobbying efforts regularly at the federal level and less often at the state level. It is prudent to know something about the environment we enter when making these efforts.
A thumb-nail sketch of lobbying activities in Washington for last fall (2009) reported in The Washington Post showed that there were at that time 12,500 registered lobbyists in D.C., which is 23 lobbyists per member of Congress. This does not include amateur folks like us who are brought in on special efforts. The 23 lobbyists per member of Congress includes only those who do so much lobbying that they are required to register. In late 2009 it was estimated that health-care interests alone were spending $1.4M per day lobbying Congress. That number of lobbyists and that level of expenditure likely have increased this year.
Include in this level of lobbying activity the annual efforts of our host institutions on their own behalf and on behalf of the projects and priorities their governing boards (local and state level) establish and maintain.
Our host institutions, almost all of them, maintain at least one full-time staff person who has professional responsibility for "government relations." The larger and more complex the institution, the larger and more active the government relations staff. Whatever else these staff do, a part of the assignment is lobbying at the state and federal levels. If the host institution is part of a state system, it also works with the government relations professionals who are employed by those state systems, often in the state capital, often also in Washington. Both the individual college's Board and the Governing Board of the state system establish legislative priorities on a regular basis, and those priorities are central to the work of the government relations staffs-lobbyists. It goes without saying that the campus president, system chancellor, and other executive officials are involved regularly in direct lobbying activities as well.
At the same time, our host institutions generally are members of at least one higher education association, often depending on the type of institution: state colleges and universities, land-grant/research universities, private institutions, church-related colleges, etc. These higher education associations, generally headquartered in Washington, maintain their own staffs of professional lobbyists to work on those associations' lists of legislative priorities and regarding specific House of Senate bills.
Thinking about these levels of professional lobbying in Washington can help us understand the environment we enter as we keep our appointment at a Congressional office on The Hill. It also can aid us in understanding typical responses from universities and colleges when we request letters of support and ask for help in working on our own specific lobbying efforts.
