Six years after the Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council started the endowment for fraternity and sorority philanthropy, the two councils paid a combined $4,000 on April 15 to push the endowment total over $12,000. The endowment needed to reach the $12,000 mark in order for the councils to be able to award grants to be paid with the money.
Panhel's director of service and philanthropy, junior Megan Murphy, explained that Panhel, along with IFC, worked to finish funding the endowment this year.
"They didn't really know much about it because it sort of fell apart for a while, but we just kind of thought maybe we could complete it, and before you know it we wrote the checks — we wrote them a couple weeks ago and it was really exciting," Murphy said.
Now that the endowment fund has reached its minimum for withdrawal, the two councils will convene to decide which charity or program in Greencastle will receive a grant. Every year, a grant of up to 4.5 percent of the fund ($540), will go to a different cause chosen by the councils.
Eric Wolfe, a greek life coordinator, explained that now that the councils have funds to award, they have to come together and decide who will receive a grant.
Murphy explained that the councils will likely seek out charities in Greencastle that have specific needs and don't already receive support from the university.
Murphy and Wolfe said the councils hope to expand their union to include all greek councils on campus in the long run, but the two councils involved sought to complete the fund this year in order to award grants as soon as possible.
The $4,000 that completed the fund came from fraternity and sorority dues, along with excess funding of the two councils. Murphy said that the money came from every chapter.
The councils will meet at the end of the year to consider charities and organizations and will likely reward the grant early next semester.