Vik attended San Jose State University from 2006-2010, where he was heavily involved in Beta Theta Pi. During his time in the fraternity, Vik held various positions, including Philanthropy Chairman, Pledge Educator, House Manager, Webmaster, Awards Chairman, Alumni Chairman, Parliamentarian, Recruitment Chairman, Treasurer and Vice President. Viktor also served two years on the IFC (Inter-fraternity Council) and is now a local alumni association president.

Vik is currently using his experience as a fraternity treasurer and alumni association president to help WePay build tools that help Greek organizations collect and manage money.

The treasurer or finance director has the most challenging position in most fraternities and sororities.  The challenges faced by treasurers not only affect the organization itself, they may also have a deep impact on the treasurer’s personal life, free time and friendships.

These challenges stem from both the difficulty of managing the finances of a large organization and the uncomfortable social dynamic that arises when one collects money from his or her friends.  There is almost an inverse relationship between maintaining a good rapport with your brothers and effectively collecting dues.

When I first became the treasurer of my fraternity, we had about a 75% collection rate. That means 25% of our budget was missing (or stuck in accounts receivable). 30% went to the General Fraternity (headquarters) and the remaining ~45% was put toward mandatory expenses like recruiting, rent, and utilities.  In other words, less than 5% of our monthly budget was left for group activities.  We often had to pay out of pocket for various things.

While there is no foolproof way to collect dues from members, there are a few things I learned along the way that definitely help:

• Create a culture of accountability from the beginning. The best time to instill a sense of responsibility is during the pledge period. If you try to emphasize the importance of paying dues on time a few weeks or months after the pledge period, you will be fighting an uphill battle because new members will adopt the predominant culture of older members.
• Take a structured approach. Create a detailed and regimented plan for collecting dues. Be very frank and clear about how things work and never make exceptions. For example: “By the 4^th of every month by 10pm, each member must pay $100.00 in membership dues. A late fee of $2/day will be assessed for every day this payment is delayed. In addition to late fees, any member who fails to pay will be immediately barred from all social events and will be up for review.”
• Democratize the process by promoting transparency. When I was a treasurer, the hardest thing to hear was “brotherhood comes before money.” Unfortunately, I heard it a lot. And the only time I heard it was when I was chasing down late payments. More than anything else, being a good treasurer means keeping track of money and maintaining good records, not deciding when to make exceptions or punishing delinquent members.  To the extent that you can leave that stuff up to the brotherhood as a whole, your life will be a lot happier.

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