Every November, Psi Upsilon brothers, chapters, and alumni put down the razor for men’s health. We grow mustaches, walk and run, host events, and — most importantly — start conversations about things men usually avoid.
It works. In 2014, a handful of brothers at our Pi Chapter at Syracuse stopped shaving and started a team called Boys Things. Last November, that team raised $187,980. In 2025, five Psi Upsilon chapters carried the Fraternity to 4th place overall in Movember’s national Fraternity Challenge.
This year we want every chapter and every interested alumnus on the board. Movember 2026 runs November 1–30.
About Movember
Movember is a global men’s health charity. Since 2003 it has funded more than 1,320 men’s health projects worldwide in three areas: mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. In the United States it is a registered 501(c)(3), so donations are tax deductible. Signing up is free, there is no minimum to raise, and every donation goes directly to Movember through the participant’s own fundraising page.
“Mo” is short for mustache. The tradition is to start November 1 clean-shaven and grow one — a mustache, not a beard or goatee — for the thirty days. The mustache is the conversation starter: when someone asks why you are growing one, you have their attention, and that is when the real work of the month happens.
Why It Matters to Psi Upsilon
Men are dying young from causes that are largely preventable, and the numbers are worst for men the age of our undergraduate members.
- About 60 men are lost to suicide every hour around the world — one every minute.
- In the United States, roughly 80% of suicide deaths are men, at about four times the rate of women.
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans aged 15 to 34.
- Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 15 to 39 — and highly survivable when caught early.
Psi Upsilon has a particular reason to care. The research behind our Psi U Cares initiative found that fraternity members are twice as likely to turn to a brother as to anyone else when they are struggling. A chapter house is often the first place a young man says out loud that he is not okay — which is also why knowing when to hand off to a professional matters.
And the money is only half of it. The dollars fund research somewhere else; the conversations happen right here, among men in exactly the age range these statistics describe. A brother who checks himself, a father who finally schedules a screening, a friend who gets asked twice how he is really doing — that never shows up on a leaderboard, and it may be the most valuable thing a chapter does all year.
How to Get Involved
It only takes four steps, about ten minutes.
- Sign up. Register at movember.com or in the Movember app. You get a Mo Space — your personal fundraising page. Add a photo, set a dollar goal, and write two or three sentences about why you are doing this. Pages with all three raise far more than blank ones.
- Join a team — or don’t. Teams raise significantly more, so join your chapter’s team, an established Psi U team, or start one. Taking part on your own is fine too.
- Join the Psi Upsilon Fraternity Network. This is the step people miss and the one that matters most: it rolls every chapter, team, and individual total into one Psi Upsilon number and enters us in the Fraternity Challenge. You can join as a team or as an individual.
- Ask, and keep asking. Family first — they are the most likely to give — then friends, coworkers, teammates, classmates, and neighbors. Then share your page on social media all month: most people need to see it two or three times before they give.
How to Join the Network
- Sign in to your Movember account and open your Mo Space.
- Go to Networks and search “Psi Upsilon.”
- Choose the Psi Upsilon Fraternity Network and click Join — or use the link below and click Join there.
Four ways to take part
- Grow a Mo. Start clean-shaven on November 1 and grow a mustache all month.
- Move for Movember. Walk or run 60 miles over the month — one mile for each of the 60 men lost to suicide every hour — tracked automatically in the Movember app.
- Host a Mo-ment. “Mo-ment” is Movember’s word for an event: a dinner, a trivia night, a food sale, a tailgate. Hosts often out-raise growers.
- Mo Your Own Way. Set your own challenge and collect pledges for it.
You can do more than one, and you do not have to grow anything — see below.
For chapters
Setup takes about twenty minutes:
- Name a lead — your Philanthropy Chair or Health and Wellness Chair, the officer who leads your chapter’s mental health programming.
- Register your chapter team and set a team goal.
- Join the Psi Upsilon Fraternity Network.
- Put three things on the calendar: a November 1 clean-shave kickoff, one signature fundraiser, and one speaker or mental health event.
- Ask your Alumni Association or House Corporation — the alumni body that supports your chapter house — for a matching gift.
A Movember campaign satisfies all three pillars of Psi U Cares at once, including the annual mental health awareness event we ask every chapter to hold, and it makes strong material for campus chapter reports, Greek Life awards, and accreditation reviews.
For alumni
Alumni have carried Psi Upsilon’s Movember effort from the beginning — Boys Things has been led and largely populated by Pi alumni for years. Three ways in:
- Join your chapter’s team and help your undergraduates raise more than they could alone. A matching gift from an alumni association can double what they bring in.
- Join an established Psi U team such as the Pi Chapter’s Boys Things.
- Start your own — an alumni association team, a city team, a class-year team, an office team — or take part on your own and join the Psi Upsilon Fraternity Network as an individual.
Then tell your brothers. A group text to the eight guys you lived with is the most effective fundraising tool Psi Upsilon has.
The Fraternity Challenge
Joining our network enters Psi Upsilon in Movember’s Fraternity Challenge — a friendly competition among fraternities nationwide to see who can make the largest impact. Dozens of fraternity teams compete on one leaderboard, and every dollar raised by a Psi Upsilon chapter, team, or individual moves us up it.
In 2025, five Psi Upsilon chapters — Pi, Beta Beta, Tau, Omicron, and Alpha Omicron — put the Fraternity in 4th place overall. Imagine what we do when every chapter competes.
You Do Not Have to Grow a Mustache
We hope you do — it is the conversation-starting heart of the month. But Movember has always been Mo Bros and Mo Sisters, and plenty of people cannot or would rather not grow one: brothers on athletic teams or in ROTC, those in clinical placements or jobs with grooming standards, those with religious or cultural practices around facial hair, anyone whose thirty-day effort yields four hairs — and the sisters, partners, spouses, parents, and sorority chapters who want in.
All of them can walk or run the 60 miles, host the event, set their own challenge, or run a chapter’s campaign as captain, treasurer, social media lead, photographer, or event chair. Nobody is required to grow anything. The ask is participation.
Fundraising Ideas
The best chapter fundraisers are cheap to run, funny to watch, and impossible to walk past:
- Pie a Psi U — $5 a pie, more to choose the target.
- A shave party — donors pay to pick the mustache shape.
- A late-night or game-day food sale — our Pi Chapter’s “late-night quesadillas” fundraiser are a great example.
- A mustache bracket — a dollar a vote, champion crowned November 30.
- A 60-mile chapter relay — pool everyone’s miles toward a house goal.
- A faculty, coach, or dean challenge — an administrator grows one if the chapter hits its number.
Two rules: all donations run through your Movember page — never a personal payment app — and no alcohol-related fundraisers. Campus and Psi Upsilon risk management policies apply.
The Chapter Guide has the full playbook, with tips for making each of these work.
Hold a Mental Health Event
We ask every chapter to devote one meeting, dinner, or open event in November to men’s mental health. Campus counseling centers will usually send a clinician for free and are rarely asked; local chapters of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention have trained volunteer speakers; a physician or student health provider can cover testicular self-exams and prostate screening in fifteen minutes. An alumnus willing to talk about his own experience can be the most powerful hour a chapter has all year — ask privately, give him an easy way to decline, and never pressure anyone to tell a painful story.
For most chapters, this one event satisfies the annual Psi U Cares mental health requirement outright. The Chapter Guide has details on who to ask and how to run it.
Educational Resources
Movember produces free, plain-language tools for spotting when someone is struggling and knowing what to say. They take minutes to read and they work.
- Spot the Signs – Make sure you take time to check in on your own mental health and those close to you.
- Give Support – You can’t fix someone else’s problems, but you can be there for them. Sometimes listening is the most helpful thing you can do. You won’t make things worse by asking someone how they’re doing. Keep in mind that it’s always worth preparing yourself before you start the conversation.
- Get Support – If you’re ever worried that someone’s life is in immediate danger, call 911 or go directly to emergency services.
- Movember Conversations – This tool gives you confidence to have conversations with men in your life who may be struggling. This platform helps you navigate having difficult but effective conversations.
Reach out with ALEC — Ask, Listen, Encourage Action, Check In
- “You haven’t seemed like yourself lately — what’s going on?” Then ask a second time.
- Give your full attention. Do not fix it, do not one-up it, do not fill the silence.
- Encourage action. Sleep, food, movement — and, if it has been going on a while, the campus counseling center. Offer to walk over with him.
- Check in. Follow up in a few days. The follow-up is the part people remember.
And know your limits. If a brother tells you he is thinking about suicide, do not carry it alone: stay with him and call or text 988 together, or 911 if he is in immediate danger. Getting a professional involved is the right move, not a betrayal of his trust.
Chapter Health and Wellness Chairs should complete the Be There Certificate, a free online course on supporting someone who is struggling. Every new Psi Upsilon member also covers this material in Tightrope, the Fraternity’s required online risk management program.
Our Movember History
In 2014, Michael Dellon, Pi ’17, and a handful of brothers of the Pi Chapter at Syracuse started a team called Boys Things. The first year raised a few thousand dollars. Then roughly $7,000, $16,000, $24,000, $48,000, and $89,000, before clearing $127,000 in 2022 — the 4th highest team in the United States and 8th in the world that year. Last November the team raised $187,980.
Boys Things is roughly 70 people now, more than half of them Pi brothers and alumni, and Dellon still captains it with fellow brothers from the chapter. In 2025, the Pi, Beta Beta, Tau, Omicron, and Alpha Omicron Chapters carried Psi Upsilon to 4th place overall in the national Fraternity Challenge.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to grow a mustache?
No. Walk or run 60 miles, host an event, or set your own challenge — instead of growing, or alongside it. Movember has always been Mo Bros and Mo Sisters, so women, partners, and friends are welcome in all of it.
Does it cost anything to sign up?
No. Registration is free and there is no minimum you must raise. Movember is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so donations are tax deductible.
Where does the money go — and do I have to collect it?
Donations are made directly to Movember through your fundraising page. You never handle cash or run money through a personal account. If your chapter takes cash at an event, one officer should deposit it and make a single donation to the team page, with a written record.
When does it start and end?
November 1 through November 30. Sign up before, during, or late in the month — but the tradition is to start clean-shaven on November 1 and take the before photo.
Do I have to be on a team?
No, though teams raise significantly more. Take part on your own and still join the Psi Upsilon Fraternity Network so your total counts toward the Fraternity.
What is the difference between a team and the network?
A team is a group of people fundraising together under one name — usually a chapter. A network is a group of teams: ours combines every Psi U chapter, team, and individual into one Fraternity total and enters us in the Fraternity Challenge.
I am in Canada — does anything change?
Only the paperwork. Sign up through ca.movember.com so your donors receive Canadian tax receipts, then join the network the same way.
Can alumni take part?
Absolutely, and many do — see “For alumni” above.
More Resources
- The Fraternity Challenge leaderboard: us.movember.com/mospace/network/view/id/50983
- Movember sign-up, the Movember app, and free posters and social graphics: movember.com
- Canadian participants: ca.movember.com, so your donors receive Canadian tax receipts
- Psi U Cares: psiu.org/psi-u-cares
- American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, including the Out of the Darkness Walks — community fundraising walks for suicide prevention: afsp.org
988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988 in the U.S., or 9-8-8 in Canada
Questions, Support, and Sharing Your Story
Join the Psi Upsilon Fraternity Network and there is nothing to report to us — we can see the activity of everyone in the network, including dollars raised, miles logged, and photos posted, and we follow it throughout November. If you are not in the network, we will not know what your chapter did unless you tell us.
If you need guidance or support — or if you have a story you would like us to highlight — contact Justin Sines, Chapter Services Coordinator, at justin@psiu.org. A chapter’s best event, a brother’s reason for taking part, a total nobody saw coming: those are what we share on psiu.org and across Fraternity social media.
And post it yourself. Use #Movember, tag Psi Upsilon, and share from personal accounts as well as the chapter’s — being visible in November is how the awareness spreads.