26 Years of the 1855 Club — And Its Biggest Upgrade Yet
In May 2000, the 1855 Club launched with five inaugural members. When I started the program, the idea was pretty simple: create a way for brothers to support Eta Iota that was perpetual rather than another one-time campaign, affordable enough that almost anyone could participate, efficient enough that the chapter kept as much of every dollar as possible, and social enough that giving felt like something we were doing together.
Twenty-six years later, those five members have become 98 active givers across nearly half of our pledge classes. What started as an experiment has become a chapter tradition.
By the numbers
Today, 98 brothers are active members of the 1855 Club, representing 46 different pledge classes. Together, current members have accumulated more than 19,000 months of giving — and the Club has now run 26 years without a gap, every month since that first gift in May 2000.
Those numbers have always existed somewhere in a spreadsheet. What’s new is that you can now see them for yourself.
Where the money goes
Every 1855 Club dollar goes into the Capital Improvement Fund, established in the House Corporation bylaws for a single purpose: the long-term upkeep and improvement of the Chapter House.
That fund is the whole reason the Club exists. Back in 2000, rent from the active chapter covered the mortgage, the insurance, and rising maintenance costs — but nothing was accumulating for the bigger projects. Twenty-six years of steady monthly giving changed that. It has paid for remodeled rooms, exterior improvements, HVAC upgrades, and most recently new flooring throughout the upstairs bedrooms, hallway, and stairway.
More than 270 Brothers have contributed over $500,000 to the Fund to date — and it keeps growing every month.
A new home for the 1855 Club page
The 1855 Club page has been rebuilt from the ground up — and for the first time, it shows real, live participation data:
We’ve added leaderboards by pledge class and by graduation decade, and a feed of recent 1855 Club activity, updated daily:
For the first time, you can see exactly where your pledge class and graduation decade stand. Some classes have built remarkable participation. Others are one or two brothers away from moving up the leaderboard. And 54 pledge classes still don’t have an active giver at all.
Find your class. See where you stand. If your class needs another name on the board, add yours.
Easier to join. Easier to manage.
We’ve also rebuilt the mechanics behind the 1855 Club. Payments now run through Stripe, with ACH bank draft as the lowest-cost option for the chapter, along with credit cards and Apple Pay.
Members can now manage everything themselves from their own Member Giving page — see their complete giving history, change levels, update a payment method, or pause giving without having to contact the Treasurer.
The goal is simple: make joining easy, make staying involved effortless, and keep as much of every gift working for Eta Iota as possible.
Same mission, better tools
Coming back to those four founding ideas: perpetual, affordable, low overhead, social. Twenty-six years ago, “social” meant showing off the fancy polo at Birthday. Today it also means a page where you can see, in real time, that you’re one of the brothers actively giving right now. The tools changed. What we’re asking of each other hasn’t.
If you’re already giving: thank you. Take a minute to check your Giving page and make sure everything is current — particularly if you’re still giving through PayPal.
If you’re not: start at the Gold level — $18.55 a month, named for the year on our badge. Find your pledge class on the 1855 Club page, see who’s already there, and add your name to the list.
We’re at 98 active givers. Who wants to be #99 — and which pledge class gets him?