Theta's Finance Department Showcases Our Growth and Impact

This blog is one of several highlighting Theta’s amazing staff and what they do to keep Kappa Alpha Theta Fraternity, Theta Foundation, and Fraternity Housing Corporation (FHC) functioning and thriving every day.

What encompasses finance within an international nonprofit organization? This is not an easy question to answer! Attempting to explain to friends and family what it is that we do in the finance department is frequently misunderstood, or at least underestimated. It is definitely interesting, fun, and rewarding, but simple? Not at all!

With nearly 150 active college chapters and more than 200 alumnae groups, Kappa Alpha Theta headquarters is always buzzing with activity. We are included in discussions about recruitment, Founders Day, the next Grand Convention (held biennially), the Kappa Alpha Theta Magazine, Theta Portal, the National Panhellenic Conference (of which Theta is a founding member), and so much more. And with all other departments working on these items, the finance department is singularly involved in each and every one of them. Without finance, there simply would not be any of these programs or events.

I was able to speak with Julia Osburn, Fraternity controller, who reiterated that “[finance] has an influence on all departments because if their bills are not paid, programs will not happen, and all departments must communicate with finance to accomplish these goals.” Julia commented, “Finance is a concrete data point for the Fraternity that allows us to see our growth and our impact. It becomes apparent what we are striving to accomplish based on our programming and what resources we are assigning to those programs.”

Without finance department leadership, there would be no guidance and oversight of the budgets for all things that make Kappa Alpha Theta function. Julia concluded by praising the finance department as one that is cohesive, supportive, and doing their best work in a team environment: “Finance is a well-oiled machine. Finance alone may be a team of eight, but we are really a team of almost 50 because without everyone from Fraternity staff working together, the goals of Kappa Alpha Theta could not be accomplished.”