Grants

Kappa Alpha Theta is planning to bring the Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP) to 20 college campuses this year. ASTP helps college students reduce the risks associated with drinking alcohol. Facilitators educate students on alcohol-related behavior while increasing participants’ interest in critically examining their drinking patterns and eventually implementing the skills they learn. In doing so, students can minimize potential negative consequences through prevention, reduced consumption, or abstinence.

Additionally, Theta is adapting to an increasingly virtual world by offering a Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) program. Most college students overestimate how much their peers are using alcohol. A confidential web-based survey assessing alcohol behavior is used to determine the norm among undergraduate Theta members. All participants receive personalized feedback to educate them and correct their perceived norms of alcohol-related behavior while increasing their interest in critically examining their own drinking patterns.

Documenting Theta history within broader social and historical contexts, the Fraternity’s archival collection enriches the study of women’s history through its exploration of the culture and values of college women and college-educated women. Theta Foundation grant funding supports the staff archivist’s efforts to bring awareness to the general public about the Fraternity’s collection through membership in professional associations and organizations, including the Society of American Archivists (SAA), the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH), and the Indiana Historical Society (IHS).

Theta Foundation grant funding also supports updates to Theta’s Heritage Museum, which opened to the public in 2020. The museum provides an overview of the history of North American fraternities and sororities with chapters on more than one college campus using Kappa Alpha Theta as a case study.

Programming for college chapter officers will provide leadership education and development to both current and newly elected officers, with the hope of reaching as many students in leadership positions as possible. Using the emotionally intelligent leadership model, curriculum will focus on understanding effective leadership and applying this knowledge to any leadership role. Sessions are facilitated in both large and small group settings virtually. The goals for this program are to have students be able to identify their personal strengths, apply those strengths to leadership, describe strategies that foster emotionally intelligent leadership, and demonstrate the ability to create a healthy organizational culture.

ELCs are recent college graduates who provide customized education and leadership development support and resources for students to enhance and add value to their college experience. Their visits are specifically planned to address topics like leadership training, coaching, goal setting, professional development, scholarship, diversity, equity, and inclusion, career planning, and wellness. They provide knowledge and skills by distributing information and guidance, facilitating educational and leadership programming, and offering individual coaching and support. ELCs aim to leave members with transferable skills that can help them in the various roles they have as students, whether that be as aspiring leaders at their places of work, within their student organizations, or throughout their lives in general.

Theta Foundation is proud to support the return of the Emerging Leaders Institute. This in-person event provides leadership education and development to undergraduate members with an emphasis on emerging leaders. Using the relational leadership model, curriculum focuses on understanding leadership as a relational process. Participants get the opportunity to learn and practice leadership concepts, engage with other students, and access professional facilitators to support, challenge, and aid in their reflection. This year, the institute took place over a long weekend at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.

This virtual programming will include a variety of learning opportunities for all members, with a focus on alumnae, new members, and graduating seniors. Session topics may include career readiness, goal/vision setting, and navigating transitions. In particular, Theta plans to offer a Leadership Certificate Program, which is a cohort-based program for students seeking to learn and apply leadership skills with an emphasis on career development and networking. The certificate program is geared toward juniors and seniors who would like to incorporate the foundations of ethical and emotionally intelligent leadership into their continued growth and development as they prepare for life after college.

Theta Foundation is proud to partner with the Fraternity to provide mental health resources to members. This partnership funds access to an online mental health screening, which provides a safe, confidential way for members to determine if their thoughts or behaviors may be associated with a common, treatable mental health issue. Educational materials exist on the site to guide users to help should they need it.

Suicide prevention training is also available to all members through Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training. This online program enables members to become gatekeepers for their Theta sisters, training them to recognize the warning signs of a suicide crisis and question, persuade, and refer someone to help.

Theta partners with both The JED Foundation and the One Love Foundation to provide live programming for members to learn how to support a friend in distress, help advisors and staff identify and support struggling students, and encourage members to become advocates for healthy relationships.

This type of support for members and advisors is critical as mental health concerns are on the rise, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for college campus counseling centers to keep up with demand.

Theta Foundation supports a portion of the cost of Zoom for Education, allowing the Fraternity to host programming online.

Organizational assessment is common among many businesses and higher education institutions to improve outcomes. Access to quality assessment is imperative to the progress of Theta’s educational and leadership programs and initiatives. Without it, the Fraternity lacks important information to make necessary decisions about program offerings and curriculum. Theta Foundation supports a portion of the annual Dyad survey distributed to all undergraduate members which will give the Fraternity actionable data to continue improving upon its programs.

Kappa Alpha Theta Foundation has enjoyed a long history of involvement with Heartspring, formerly known as the Institute of Logopedics, located in Wichita, Kansas. The Institute of Logopedics was Theta’s national philanthropy for 49 years, until 1989 when National CASA/GAL was adopted.

Heartspring’s mission is to be a leader and innovator in providing clinically supported services through education and therapies for children with special needs to empower them to learn and grow on a path to a more independent life. Theta Foundation awards an annual grant to Heartspring through an endowed fund from combined bequests by Marguerite Marshall, Rho/Nebraska, and Martha Wilbur Bowlin, Alpha Iota/Washington-St. Louis.

At a convention meeting of Kappa Alpha Theta in 1922, it was voted to use a funding surplus to establish a book collection at DePauw University as a memorial to the Fraternity’s founding of Alpha Chapter at DePauw in 1870. In 1953, Grand President Ellen Bowers Hofstead, Alpha Eta/Vanderbilt, recommended the establishment of an annual grant to DePauw to grow the original book collection. Theta Foundation continues this tradition today with an annual grant to DePauw University Libraries to fund the purchase of books authored by women or related to women's endeavors.

The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) Foundation is the premier advocacy and support organization for the advancement of the sorority experience. The Foundation for Fraternal Excellence (FFE) exists to support organizations and individuals invested in developing the next generation of fraternity and sorority leaders.