Greek charity makes another significant pledge to cure the scourge.
Surely in a name association game, the word “fraternity” would likely elicit “Animal House” or maybe even “Solo Cup” as responses. Just as surely, that linkage and the presumptions behind it deserve a major overhaul, if not an obliteration, given the reality of how America’s fraternities and sororities are deeply engaged in profound charity.
Case in point: Sigma Chi International Fraternity has just announced a huge $31 million pledge—this in conjunction with the Huntsman Cancer Foundation—to create the Sigma Chi Center for Advanced Therapeutics and Innovation at the Salt Lake City-based Huntsman Cancer Institute, itself part of the University of Utah. The international arm of the fraternity—founded in 1856 and counting chapters on 237 campuses and over a quarter of a million living and 17,000 active members—plans to raise the funds over the next five to seven years.
The twelve-year partnership with Huntsman has seen Sigma Chi International fulfill (in 2019) an earlier $11 million pledge to the cancer-fighting organization. A subsequent commitment to raise an additional $20 million to support “women’s research, treatment and prevention” is expected to be completed by fall 2025.
The mission of the Sigma Chi Center for Advanced Therapeutics and Innovation is to “fuel groundbreaking research, as well as propel new clinical trials that will lead to safer and more effective treatments, improved quality of life and potential cures for patients across North America and beyond.” The fraternity has made it an institutional commitment to be “The Generation to End Cancer.”
Huntsman Cancer Institute—which specializes in genetic research and is renowned for having discovered more genes related to “inherited cancers” than any other research facility in the world—was founded by Jon M. Huntsman Sr., a fraternity member, and his wife, Karen. They are parents of former Utah governor and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr.
Sigma Chi college chapters raise much of their philanthropic funding through annual early-April “Derby Days” events.
The consistent and profound level of philanthropy coming from fraternities and sororities seems never to be on the radar of America’s mainstream media. For example, the sorority Tri Delta announced last year that its quarter-century efforts to support historic St. Jude Children's Research Hospital had raised over $100 million.
And Sigma Gamma Rho—one of the “Divine Nine” African-American sororities and fraternities—is in the midst of a $2 million, two-year effort to raise funds to cure sickle cell as well as “other life-threatening diseases.” Also known as the “National Pan-Hellenic Council,” the Divine Nine has cultivated a relationship with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that has resulted in donations of over $4 million since 2008.
Another example of “Greek” charity can be found with the sorority Delta Gamma. Since 1936, its philanthropy has overseen and funded Service for Sight, which created five schools—like this one in St. Louis—for visually impaired children.
While anecdotes and individual examples abound, collective evidence of how much money American fraternities and sororities are giving away—and for what targeted charities—seems lost of even the philanthropic community and industry organs such as The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
