As I commented yesterday… I served as both Secretsry and Treasurer of my Lodge for 14 years. The two Bros. that were in those positions had been trying to get out for three years and fially TOLD the Lodge at Festive Board that if they were not replaced… they would Demit. Period.
I had been a Mason for less than two years but I had at 52 years of age 30 years of business experience which included time with some super mentors that made me a huge successs!
Quite frankly it was a blessing these two fellows were replaced as after I got the books and records, I found the Lodge was a financial disaster!
Grand Lodge assessments and semi-annual reports had not bee done for over two years and the Lodge was being assessed at $5.00 A DAY (which had doubled after one year, the hall rent and Festive Boards had not been paid for the past six months AND with the Bursury Fund being the only account with money AND all 3 accounts in the same bank… it was almost depleted! (Please be assured the only “crime” was complete sloppiness.) Oh and also many, many dues cheques were never depositted and were stale dated… the Lodge was flat-assed BROKE!… I set out to fix it!
Dues levels were of course VERY LOW and (pardon the expression) VERY STUPID! They let guys with 15 years in the Craft pay reduced dues when they rurned 65 and NO DUES after 80… this stupidity stopped immediately (with one Demit)… there were 9 members that were “non-resident” members paying steeply reduced dues… this stupidity also stopped immediately (NO DEMITS).
I had by this time had the owner of my Real Estate company (and himself a Mason in a different Lodge in a nearby town) show me how to set up the simplest accounting and I found two great mentors… one a long time Secretary in another Lodge in town and the other was the Grand Secretary of the day for a few years… and I got going.
In 1995 the Regular dues were $75.00… senior’s $25.00 less (and the same with those non-resident members)… these both STOPPED effective immediately and the dues were raised to $125.00… no demits! I also told the Lodge of my GOAL to have the dues to $1.00 a day by 2025 (more on that in a bit!).
A Bro. who was laid up with a serious job injury (when called him aboutnot being in Lodge) accepted my request to visit him as he lived close by… I did so. He had taken to learn computers… he showed me how to send e-mails with Blind carbon copy (Bcc) AND had builta web page (now called a web site)… so I began sending all mailings (including meeting minutes and Summonses) by e-mail… shit hit the fan both from the Lodge and the GL!
I had figured I could save the Lodge about $2,000.00 a year (which they wanted back as a dues reduction and didn’t get)… then GL came down on me too! I went to the GL Communication and showed them that Freemasony would save (with 135 Lodges at about 100 members each) about 1/4 of a million dollars a year or almost twice the amount of money required for the Higher Education Bursary Fund… e-mail was approved immediately!
None of this was rocket science but with a Lodge comprised mostly by petroleum workers… it was all new!
Since I left in 2009 there have been 3 Secretary/Treasuers.., the first a PM, the second a VW Bro and the present a RW Bro but my goal of dues being $1.00 a day by next year… dead!… the dues on raised $30.00 (to $250.00), the brought back the reduced dues to non-resident members and God only knows about the senior members!
Although I still belong to that Lodge… I moved to Mexico 12 years ago and have not been kept abreast of the foolishness going on… they are nice to me but tell me nothing.
You have got to have balls to keep these things going and unfortunately there seems to be a shortage of guys to do this all over the place!
wow.
As I commented yesterday… I served as both Secretsry and Treasurer of my Lodge for 14 years. The two Bros. that were in those positions had been trying to get out for three years and fially TOLD the Lodge at Festive Board that if they were not replaced… they would Demit. Period.
I had been a Mason for less than two years but I had at 52 years of age 30 years of business experience which included time with some super mentors that made me a huge successs!
Quite frankly it was a blessing these two fellows were replaced as after I got the books and records, I found the Lodge was a financial disaster!
Grand Lodge assessments and semi-annual reports had not bee done for over two years and the Lodge was being assessed at $5.00 A DAY (which had doubled after one year, the hall rent and Festive Boards had not been paid for the past six months AND with the Bursury Fund being the only account with money AND all 3 accounts in the same bank… it was almost depleted! (Please be assured the only “crime” was complete sloppiness.) Oh and also many, many dues cheques were never depositted and were stale dated… the Lodge was flat-assed BROKE!… I set out to fix it!
Dues levels were of course VERY LOW and (pardon the expression) VERY STUPID! They let guys with 15 years in the Craft pay reduced dues when they rurned 65 and NO DUES after 80… this stupidity stopped immediately (with one Demit)… there were 9 members that were “non-resident” members paying steeply reduced dues… this stupidity also stopped immediately (NO DEMITS).
I had by this time had the owner of my Real Estate company (and himself a Mason in a different Lodge in a nearby town) show me how to set up the simplest accounting and I found two great mentors… one a long time Secretary in another Lodge in town and the other was the Grand Secretary of the day for a few years… and I got going.
In 1995 the Regular dues were $75.00… senior’s $25.00 less (and the same with those non-resident members)… these both STOPPED effective immediately and the dues were raised to $125.00… no demits! I also told the Lodge of my GOAL to have the dues to $1.00 a day by 2025 (more on that in a bit!).
A Bro. who was laid up with a serious job injury (when called him aboutnot being in Lodge) accepted my request to visit him as he lived close by… I did so. He had taken to learn computers… he showed me how to send e-mails with Blind carbon copy (Bcc) AND had builta web page (now called a web site)… so I began sending all mailings (including meeting minutes and Summonses) by e-mail… shit hit the fan both from the Lodge and the GL!
I had figured I could save the Lodge about $2,000.00 a year (which they wanted back as a dues reduction and didn’t get)… then GL came down on me too! I went to the GL Communication and showed them that Freemasony would save (with 135 Lodges at about 100 members each) about 1/4 of a million dollars a year or almost twice the amount of money required for the Higher Education Bursary Fund… e-mail was approved immediately!
None of this was rocket science but with a Lodge comprised mostly by petroleum workers… it was all new!
Since I left in 2009 there have been 3 Secretary/Treasuers.., the first a PM, the second a VW Bro and the present a RW Bro but my goal of dues being $1.00 a day by next year… dead!… the dues on raised $30.00 (to $250.00), the brought back the reduced dues to non-resident members and God only knows about the senior members!
Although I still belong to that Lodge… I moved to Mexico 12 years ago and have not been kept abreast of the foolishness going on… they are nice to me but tell me nothing.
You have got to have balls to keep these things going and unfortunately there seems to be a shortage of guys to do this all over the place!
Pardon my long-winded-ness!