Questions to Ask PNMs During Philanthropy Round
Questions for chapter members talking with potential new members during philanthropy round: what she has already done, what she would actually show up for, how much time she has, and what she wants to ask you. Written for short conversations in a loud room.
The questions
Open any question for the note
How is today going for you so far?
Why ask it
A soft opener that tells you whether she is nervous, tired, or on her fifth party since lunch. Everything after this lands better once she has said one easy thing out loud.
Have you had a chance to hear what our philanthropy is yet?
Why ask it
Establishes what she has already been told before you repeat it. It also gives you a natural opening to explain the cause properly, which is the point of the round, rather than quizzing her on it.
What did you get involved in during high school that you actually enjoyed?
Why ask it
The words actually enjoyed give her permission to drop the college application list. Watch for the activity she circles back to later without prompting, because that is the real one.
How did you first get into volunteering, or who got you into it?
Why ask it
A family member, a teacher, a church group or a sibling: the origin is more revealing than a total number of hours. It also tends to produce the one detail you will still remember at voting.
Of the events you have heard about today, which one sounded like something you would show up to?
Why ask it
Turns a values question into a concrete one. Naming an event and a reason shows she has been listening today, and you learn what she would sign up for instead of what she thinks you want to hear.
Do you like the planning side of events, or the day-of side?
Why ask it
A chapter needs both and the round rarely tells them apart. Someone who lights up about spreadsheets and vendor emails is as useful as someone who wants to be at the finish line handing out water.
Have you helped run a fundraiser before, and what part of it went wrong?
Why ask it
The part that went wrong is where the real story is: rain, low turnout, a group that never showed. It also separates gently between having organized something and having attended it.
Would you rather work on one big event a year or something small every month?
Why ask it
Two different kinds of commitment, and most chapters need both. The answer helps you place her honestly instead of guessing where she would fit.
What are you planning to study, and does it connect to any of this?
Why ask it
A useful bridge for a quieter PNM who finds coursework easier to talk about than herself. It sometimes surfaces a skill the chapter genuinely needs, like design, bookkeeping or event photography.
Some people pick a cause because of something personal, others just because it interests them. Which is it for you?
Why ask it
Offering both as acceptable answers takes away the pressure to produce a tragedy, which happens in this round more than people admit. She can answer either way without feeling she gave the wrong one.
Honestly, how much time a week would you want to give to service?
Why ask it
Honestly is the word doing the work. A modest, realistic number is better information than an eager one, and it shows whether she understands what membership actually asks of her.
Is there a group you left at some point, and what made you leave?
Why ask it
Leaving things is normal and the reasons are informative: a scheduling clash, poor organization, or simply outgrowing it. It is a gentle way to hear how she handles disappointment.
What do you do when people in a group stop pulling their weight?
Why ask it
Every chapter meets this in committee work. Listen for whether she absorbs the extra work silently, avoids the conflict, or talks to the person, since all three show up again in a chapter role.
What would you change about how service gets organized at your school?
Why ask it
Invites a real opinion rather than agreement. Answers about sign-up sheets, uneven workload, or events that raise money without helping anyone are usually more thoughtful than anything a values question produces.
What are you good at that people would not guess?
Why ask it
A break in the pattern of her day, and PNMs remember the conversation where they got to be a person. It also regularly turns up something a chapter can put to use.
What else are you hoping to do on campus besides Greek life?
Why ask it
Widens the conversation and avoids implying that membership would be her whole life. Enthusiasm for other commitments points to someone who will stay engaged rather than someone divided.
Is there a cause you would want a chapter to get behind that nobody here does yet?
Why ask it
Gives her somewhere to go other than agreeing with your cause, and shows whether she thinks of service as something she joins or something she starts. A named cause with a reason attached is worth writing down; a polite nothing comes to mind usually means service is not where her energy is.
What do you want to know about how much time our members really give?
Why ask it
This is the thing PNMs most want to know and least like to ask. Raising it yourself makes the chapter look straight with her, and her follow-up questions show how carefully she is thinking.
What has surprised you about recruitment so far?
Why ask it
Low stakes, and it usually gets an unrehearsed answer about the process itself. It also gives you a chance to reassure someone having a hard day, which is remembered longer than any question.
Is there anything you wish someone had asked you today?
Why ask it
Hands her the floor at the end. Many PNMs use it to say the one thing they prepared and were never asked, and that is often what decides how you write her up.
How to use these questions
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
How the round actually runs
These conversations are short, the room is loud, and the PNM in front of you has said the same sentences several times already today. Two questions with real follow-ups beat eight read off a list. Explain your cause in two or three sentences with one concrete number or one story attached, then spend the rest of the time listening. She will remember how the conversation felt long after she has forgotten what either of you said.
Keep it inside the rules
- Follow your Panhellenic and chapter rules for the round. Alcohol, dating, money and politics are off limits in most systems, and rules about mentioning other chapters vary by campus.
- Do not ask about class rank, test scores or family finances, directly or sideways.
- If she volunteers something painful, thank her and move the conversation on gently. Collecting it is not your job, and it does not belong in a recruitment write-up.
- Ask your recruitment chair in advance what you may say about dues and time commitments, because PNMs ask and vague answers cause problems later.
Listening well in a loud room
- Ask one follow-up before moving on. What did that look like, or what made that hard, gets the detail everything else is only guessing at.
- If she freezes, answer your own question briefly first. Showing the length of answer you want helps a nervous PNM more than repeating the question louder.
- Notice what she returns to without being asked twice. Repetition is the most reliable sign of genuine interest.
- If she is exhausted, say so kindly and make your questions easier. You learn more from a comfortable person than from a performing one.
Writing her up afterwards
- Write one specific line from the conversation while you still remember it, not an adjective. Organized her school's blood drive twice beats seemed passionate.
- Separate what you observed from what you assumed. Quiet in a loud room is not the same as uninterested.
- Note the practical things she told you: hours she has free, other commitments, what she says she is good at.
- If thin service experience is your only concern, write that plainly. Willingness to learn is fair for the chapter to weigh, and vague notes turn into unfair votes.