Since its founding in the early twentieth century, Phi Kappa has chartered nearly fifty chapters in eight states in the Deep South.

Broughton attended Southern University Preparatory School, a Methodist institution in Greensboro, Alabama, from 1914 to 1917.

[2] While at Southern, he became involved with Phi Kappa and roomed with another fraternity member, Jack Oscar Hain.

In the summer of 1917, Hain visited his former roommate in Troy and found that Broughton had established a second chapter of Phi Kappa—Upsilon—in that town.

[3] The following fall, Hain enrolled in the Gulf Coast Military Academy in Gulfport, Mississippi, with three other members of the Upsilon chapter: Clarence Heath Cowart, F. Joseph Hendley, and William F.

[3] Around the same time, the Gamma Beta chapter was established at the newly created Emory University Academy in Oxford, Georgia and operated sub rosa.

As Mu Theta members returned to their homes across the South each summer break, many founded Phi Kappa chapters in their hometowns.

At its 1931 convention in Jackson, Tennessee, Phi Kappa adopted a new constitution, new by-laws, and a new system of government.

[4] The fraternity was incorporated in Delaware in 1943 under the guidance of alumnus Guy D. Campbell (Delta), a former Exalted Grand Master (national president).

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina was concentrated on the Mississippi Gulf Coast where all but one of the remaining Phi Kappa chapters were located.

[7] The Phi Kappa members plan and coordinate community service projects and social activities.

[8] Phi Kappa's major philanthropy is St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

The annual Grand Masters' Retreat was first held in 1960 to sharpen leadership skills and social ties between the officers of the various chapters.

[9] Founder's Day is a tradition that started in 1980 and is recognized by local chapters on or near Jacob Broughton Nelson's birthday on July 31.

Most Phi Kappa chapters are chartered in a city or town and are not related to or even officially recognized by the public or private high schools from which their members are drawn.

At the national level, Phi Kappa is led by alumni members who comprise a governing body known as the executive council.

Some of the executive council officers are elected by delegates of the fraternity who attend Phi Kappa's annual national convention.