I have heard stories about how lodges failed, most of it had to do with the members not keeping the lodge properly, and poor management. I didn’t think money would be one of the leading factors as to a failed lodge building.
Maybe I got lucky by joining a wonderful mother lodge with great mentors I get to call brothers. Maybe I got lucky by joining a lodge that rents out its lower complex to operating business, so we don’t have to worry about where the money comes from to maintain our lodge building. Maybe I got lucky because our lodge temple just got a face lift to make the lodge more modern. Maybe I just got lucky.
My journey in Masonry so far had been a wonderful experience, and I feel uneasy not every man that wants to become a mason got the experience I did. Masonry is an experience that must be felt by all 5 senses to fully enjoy.
I have heard stories about Masonry in other countries such as the Philippines where their candidates have to become an EA for a certain number of years and prove excellent proficiency in his PL in order to advance and receive his FC degree. I have heard stories where Masonry is a prestigious organization where only the wealthy can be received.
I agree, I feel as though Masonry today is cheaply and easily obtained. We are selling ourselves short and leaving money on the table. When something is easily obtained, we tend to not value it as much...
As far as meals go, I don’t mind paying the extra $20-$30 for a feast and fellowship. When Masons meet its quality time. ”A better Lodge experience justifies higher costs.”
My lodge has been around since 1894. Someone in the 90s made up a really nice photo album of all of the past masters at up to that point. Each one had a small 3x5 card with it outlining the notable events that occured during that WMs term. Some were amusing (bought the secretary a new chair), others interesting (first phone installed in the lodge). One notation was the issue of dues and initiation fees from 1951. Dues was raised from $9 dollars to $12 dollars ($182 dollars in todays money) and initiation fees were raised from $40 dollars to $50 dollars, or $760 dollars today. Certainly a far cry from the $77 dollars (plus GL assessments) we pay today. The last time in the album mentioning dues was 1991, where dues were raised to $40 dollars, which adjusting for inflation, hasn't changed from that $77 dollars, and obviously is a major decrease in cost.
But, in their defense, there was a lot of fund raising going on in the 70s, our lodge hosted Bingo nights and other events, and managed to put away over $100,000 dollars as a nest egg for the future. The lodge building was built mostly by the brothers themselves in the early 1950s at a cost of around $30,000 dollars. It was fortunate that the shipyard was close by, it was suggested that the navy base commander, a fellow Mason, allowed use of government equipment (cranes, salvaged steel, even a gangway off a ship used as a fire escape) to assist in it's erection. We own the building free and clear, the only expenses we have are the annual property taxes, which this year we've filed with the state for tax exempt status.
In addition, we were fortunate enough to benefit from the John Paul Jones lodge consolidation, selling that old building for a nice sum of money back to Gig Harbor. FInancially, we're in very good shape. This is allowing us to spend money doing those needed repairs a lot of lodges need.
The number of lodges needs to retract, especially those close to other lodges. Sell the properties, set aside the proceeds to create a nest egg that generates income, and do those needed repairs and improvements to your lodge. The only thing holding back this sort of activity is personal animosities, grudges, and personal feelings, not logical rational thought.
So, yes, raise dues, raise initiation fees (but reward the new brother when he's raised with something of intrinsic value in trade, like a ring, proper apron, bible, etc.
And again, as a lodge, don't think that once you've raised that candidate to MM your work is complete. It's only the beginning.
Before joining the Freemasons, were you intrigued by tales of men like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, James Monroe, Samuel Clemens, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Richard Burton and similar historic men who were members of this fraternity with roots in antiquity, and a storied legacy of human triumph?
Were you expecting to make new friends with high minded ideals, and philanthropic activities who would challenge you to be the best man you could be? I personally delayed asking about Masonry until I reached a point in my professional life that I felt I could afford the experience I was expecting. I expected it to cost $1000/year or more. What a surprise when I was told it would be a paltry $30/yr for lodge, and another $30 for Grand Lodge. $60/yr altogether! How can they do it?!?!
I soon found out how. When initiated, were you disappointed to hear the lecture about a white leather apron but have the lodge give a cheap linen one instead, if they gave you one at all?
Were you disappointed when they handed you your working tools, only to take them back?
Were you disappointed when there was no discussion at meetings about the esoterics of the craft, or the politics of free men but just about how much money was lost at the last pancake breakfast or how the building's insurance was canceled?
Were you disappointed to only find a group of misers who don't meet outside of lodge at all, and in lodge have petty squabbles about whether or not to raise the dues from $30/yr to $31 because the Temple board is perpetually behind on the electric bill? I was.
I tried my best to steer my lodge into the type of organization that groomed leaders like George Washington and Samuel Houston to challenge existing governments and found new nations. Where the lodge experience was high quality. Where the regalia is beautiful and provocative. Where real fellowship could happen. I read chapters from "A Traditional Observance Lodge" by Cliff Porter in open lodge on how to create the experience I craved.
"We can't raise the dues to pay for that... We'd lose members!" was the response I got.
Since I can't reform an old lodge, I want to start a new lodge, and I need knowledgeable and capable men of means to help me.
I need at least 28 men who share this vision of a quality lodge and fellowship experience. Where we can join together at parties, take trips. go to sports games, and do active charity work, and we will have the finances to do it.
In 1932, my lodge wrote a set of bylaws of which I have a copy. Dues at that time were set to $7/year. Seven Silver Ounces. That was about a weeks wages for a low level worker such as a janitor or kitchen staff of the time. Today, a similar base level worker makes $546 minimum wage for a 40hr work week in Washington State. And the lodge experience in 1932 was worth a week's wages for a day laborer, or a day's work for a highly skilled professional at the time, and the lodge could afford a new building.
The simple fact is that my lodge didn't tie dues to inflation, and the misers refused to allow the lodge to raise dues to keep up with the buying power of the past and the quality of the lodge went slowly down.
I propose to start a Masonic club with the purpose of establishing a new lodge with Dues of AT LEAST $546/year which will automatically rise each year with the greater of inflation from the previous year or at least 40 times the minimum wage, whichever is GREATER. The exact amount will be set once we have a good accounting of what it will take to have a festive board at every fellowship meeting, the ability to meet at quality locations, and the funds to have quality experience and educational program.
To put things in perspective: The Columbia Tower Club in Seattle has dues of $311/month. For this, they offer the best view from the highest tower in Seattle, an exclusive luxury restaurant, private meeting rooms, special opportunities for travel and art expositions and a host of other exclusive options. We will strive to give a better quality experience than that club and much better fellowship without the penthouse real estate expense plus all the history of the Freemasons and our deep symbolism and allegory.
In the next few paragraphs I will present my goals for this new lodge and how I think it can be achieved, and why I think that instead of struggling to find new members, we will have a waiting list, and we will have to turn men away.
First of all, this new lodge will have bylaws that insure the financial stability of the lodge through the aforementioned automatic adjustments for inflation and economic conditions and no lifetime memberships except in one special circumstance mentioned below.
It has been suggested by another founding member that the lodge not have a fixed meeting location, and I like the idea that we can meet at various special locations. ANY meeting could be held outdoors or at a fine restaurant, or an exclusive club. The location of the lodge meetings will move around between Tacoma and Longview depending on where the bulk of the founding members are from, and where we can find a good locations.
We will maintain a special place for the lodge members to visit whenever they want. A chamber of reflection, a study, a library, and of course storage for jewels and other supplies. This dedicated place will be centrally located.
The idea is to gather men looking for a quality experience. The name of the Lodge isn't important now, and once we have an active club we can come up with a name.
To join the lodge, members and candidates will need to present an initial investment. The exact price of this investment will be determined by the cost of all investigations and other steps involved in vetting the candidation, contributing toward equipping the lodge with a quality experience, and the cost of any benefits received such as a funeral ceremony. This investment fee will also be tied to inflation/minimum wage. Initial investments may include physical donations to decorate the aforementioned location. For example, A collection of 20 leather-bound masonic, historic, philosophical, or similar books of high minded subject matter. The construction of a nice display cabinet or bookshelf, a piece of Victorian leather upholstered furniture or similar accouterments.
Degree fees must cover the cost of quality regalia. Initiation will have a real white LEATHER apron, a real hardwood brass accented 24" gauge, a real hardwood mason's gavel, and a masonic uniform garment to be engraved with the lodge name, number, motto, and the candidate's name and date of the degree. Some maintenance for lodge costumes, boards, and other aspects of presenting the degree. Likewise for Fellowcraft and Master.
The lodge will keep the boring business separate from the fellowship. The purpose of lodge isn't to pay the bills. It's to bond with the brethren. The fellowship lodge will be a Saturday Daylight lodge. A noon festive board meal and a fellowship meeting at 2pm with Educational programs. We will seek the assistance of other successful lodges in WA who have quality experiences, but our aim is to be the best lodge experience in the state.
Our grand lodge (NC) requires that the dues cover the opex of the lodge. Our capital needs can not be met with fundraisers. There is a lot of truth in the article. Most buildings will cost around 14-20K a year just to keep operating. Then you must add on a capital improvements budget. Charity, etc. Something we could afford when the avg lodge had 200+ members. But there is a breaking point. The lodge must find other sources of revenue, or look to other places for meetings. It cost money to do things, and what we have had to do in my own lodge is self fund. The active members just come out of pocket and pay our way. fair? No, but its what was done for centuries. Masons have quietly been funding our lodges for a long time.
Perhaps I should post my letter here.
I have heard stories about how lodges failed, most of it had to do with the members not keeping the lodge properly, and poor management. I didn’t think money would be one of the leading factors as to a failed lodge building.
Maybe I got lucky by joining a wonderful mother lodge with great mentors I get to call brothers. Maybe I got lucky by joining a lodge that rents out its lower complex to operating business, so we don’t have to worry about where the money comes from to maintain our lodge building. Maybe I got lucky because our lodge temple just got a face lift to make the lodge more modern. Maybe I just got lucky.
My journey in Masonry so far had been a wonderful experience, and I feel uneasy not every man that wants to become a mason got the experience I did. Masonry is an experience that must be felt by all 5 senses to fully enjoy.
I have heard stories about Masonry in other countries such as the Philippines where their candidates have to become an EA for a certain number of years and prove excellent proficiency in his PL in order to advance and receive his FC degree. I have heard stories where Masonry is a prestigious organization where only the wealthy can be received.
I agree, I feel as though Masonry today is cheaply and easily obtained. We are selling ourselves short and leaving money on the table. When something is easily obtained, we tend to not value it as much...
As far as meals go, I don’t mind paying the extra $20-$30 for a feast and fellowship. When Masons meet its quality time. ”A better Lodge experience justifies higher costs.”
Whew, quite a few good nuggets in this post.
My lodge has been around since 1894. Someone in the 90s made up a really nice photo album of all of the past masters at up to that point. Each one had a small 3x5 card with it outlining the notable events that occured during that WMs term. Some were amusing (bought the secretary a new chair), others interesting (first phone installed in the lodge). One notation was the issue of dues and initiation fees from 1951. Dues was raised from $9 dollars to $12 dollars ($182 dollars in todays money) and initiation fees were raised from $40 dollars to $50 dollars, or $760 dollars today. Certainly a far cry from the $77 dollars (plus GL assessments) we pay today. The last time in the album mentioning dues was 1991, where dues were raised to $40 dollars, which adjusting for inflation, hasn't changed from that $77 dollars, and obviously is a major decrease in cost.
But, in their defense, there was a lot of fund raising going on in the 70s, our lodge hosted Bingo nights and other events, and managed to put away over $100,000 dollars as a nest egg for the future. The lodge building was built mostly by the brothers themselves in the early 1950s at a cost of around $30,000 dollars. It was fortunate that the shipyard was close by, it was suggested that the navy base commander, a fellow Mason, allowed use of government equipment (cranes, salvaged steel, even a gangway off a ship used as a fire escape) to assist in it's erection. We own the building free and clear, the only expenses we have are the annual property taxes, which this year we've filed with the state for tax exempt status.
In addition, we were fortunate enough to benefit from the John Paul Jones lodge consolidation, selling that old building for a nice sum of money back to Gig Harbor. FInancially, we're in very good shape. This is allowing us to spend money doing those needed repairs a lot of lodges need.
The number of lodges needs to retract, especially those close to other lodges. Sell the properties, set aside the proceeds to create a nest egg that generates income, and do those needed repairs and improvements to your lodge. The only thing holding back this sort of activity is personal animosities, grudges, and personal feelings, not logical rational thought.
So, yes, raise dues, raise initiation fees (but reward the new brother when he's raised with something of intrinsic value in trade, like a ring, proper apron, bible, etc.
And again, as a lodge, don't think that once you've raised that candidate to MM your work is complete. It's only the beginning.
Brethren,
Before joining the Freemasons, were you intrigued by tales of men like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Theodore Roosevelt, James Monroe, Samuel Clemens, Rudyard Kipling, Arthur Conan Doyle, Richard Burton and similar historic men who were members of this fraternity with roots in antiquity, and a storied legacy of human triumph?
Were you expecting to make new friends with high minded ideals, and philanthropic activities who would challenge you to be the best man you could be? I personally delayed asking about Masonry until I reached a point in my professional life that I felt I could afford the experience I was expecting. I expected it to cost $1000/year or more. What a surprise when I was told it would be a paltry $30/yr for lodge, and another $30 for Grand Lodge. $60/yr altogether! How can they do it?!?!
I soon found out how. When initiated, were you disappointed to hear the lecture about a white leather apron but have the lodge give a cheap linen one instead, if they gave you one at all?
Were you disappointed when they handed you your working tools, only to take them back?
Were you disappointed when there was no discussion at meetings about the esoterics of the craft, or the politics of free men but just about how much money was lost at the last pancake breakfast or how the building's insurance was canceled?
Were you disappointed to only find a group of misers who don't meet outside of lodge at all, and in lodge have petty squabbles about whether or not to raise the dues from $30/yr to $31 because the Temple board is perpetually behind on the electric bill? I was.
I tried my best to steer my lodge into the type of organization that groomed leaders like George Washington and Samuel Houston to challenge existing governments and found new nations. Where the lodge experience was high quality. Where the regalia is beautiful and provocative. Where real fellowship could happen. I read chapters from "A Traditional Observance Lodge" by Cliff Porter in open lodge on how to create the experience I craved.
"We can't raise the dues to pay for that... We'd lose members!" was the response I got.
Since I can't reform an old lodge, I want to start a new lodge, and I need knowledgeable and capable men of means to help me.
I need at least 28 men who share this vision of a quality lodge and fellowship experience. Where we can join together at parties, take trips. go to sports games, and do active charity work, and we will have the finances to do it.
In 1932, my lodge wrote a set of bylaws of which I have a copy. Dues at that time were set to $7/year. Seven Silver Ounces. That was about a weeks wages for a low level worker such as a janitor or kitchen staff of the time. Today, a similar base level worker makes $546 minimum wage for a 40hr work week in Washington State. And the lodge experience in 1932 was worth a week's wages for a day laborer, or a day's work for a highly skilled professional at the time, and the lodge could afford a new building.
The simple fact is that my lodge didn't tie dues to inflation, and the misers refused to allow the lodge to raise dues to keep up with the buying power of the past and the quality of the lodge went slowly down.
I propose to start a Masonic club with the purpose of establishing a new lodge with Dues of AT LEAST $546/year which will automatically rise each year with the greater of inflation from the previous year or at least 40 times the minimum wage, whichever is GREATER. The exact amount will be set once we have a good accounting of what it will take to have a festive board at every fellowship meeting, the ability to meet at quality locations, and the funds to have quality experience and educational program.
To put things in perspective: The Columbia Tower Club in Seattle has dues of $311/month. For this, they offer the best view from the highest tower in Seattle, an exclusive luxury restaurant, private meeting rooms, special opportunities for travel and art expositions and a host of other exclusive options. We will strive to give a better quality experience than that club and much better fellowship without the penthouse real estate expense plus all the history of the Freemasons and our deep symbolism and allegory.
In the next few paragraphs I will present my goals for this new lodge and how I think it can be achieved, and why I think that instead of struggling to find new members, we will have a waiting list, and we will have to turn men away.
First of all, this new lodge will have bylaws that insure the financial stability of the lodge through the aforementioned automatic adjustments for inflation and economic conditions and no lifetime memberships except in one special circumstance mentioned below.
It has been suggested by another founding member that the lodge not have a fixed meeting location, and I like the idea that we can meet at various special locations. ANY meeting could be held outdoors or at a fine restaurant, or an exclusive club. The location of the lodge meetings will move around between Tacoma and Longview depending on where the bulk of the founding members are from, and where we can find a good locations.
We will maintain a special place for the lodge members to visit whenever they want. A chamber of reflection, a study, a library, and of course storage for jewels and other supplies. This dedicated place will be centrally located.
The idea is to gather men looking for a quality experience. The name of the Lodge isn't important now, and once we have an active club we can come up with a name.
To join the lodge, members and candidates will need to present an initial investment. The exact price of this investment will be determined by the cost of all investigations and other steps involved in vetting the candidation, contributing toward equipping the lodge with a quality experience, and the cost of any benefits received such as a funeral ceremony. This investment fee will also be tied to inflation/minimum wage. Initial investments may include physical donations to decorate the aforementioned location. For example, A collection of 20 leather-bound masonic, historic, philosophical, or similar books of high minded subject matter. The construction of a nice display cabinet or bookshelf, a piece of Victorian leather upholstered furniture or similar accouterments.
Degree fees must cover the cost of quality regalia. Initiation will have a real white LEATHER apron, a real hardwood brass accented 24" gauge, a real hardwood mason's gavel, and a masonic uniform garment to be engraved with the lodge name, number, motto, and the candidate's name and date of the degree. Some maintenance for lodge costumes, boards, and other aspects of presenting the degree. Likewise for Fellowcraft and Master.
The lodge will keep the boring business separate from the fellowship. The purpose of lodge isn't to pay the bills. It's to bond with the brethren. The fellowship lodge will be a Saturday Daylight lodge. A noon festive board meal and a fellowship meeting at 2pm with Educational programs. We will seek the assistance of other successful lodges in WA who have quality experiences, but our aim is to be the best lodge experience in the state.
Our grand lodge (NC) requires that the dues cover the opex of the lodge. Our capital needs can not be met with fundraisers. There is a lot of truth in the article. Most buildings will cost around 14-20K a year just to keep operating. Then you must add on a capital improvements budget. Charity, etc. Something we could afford when the avg lodge had 200+ members. But there is a breaking point. The lodge must find other sources of revenue, or look to other places for meetings. It cost money to do things, and what we have had to do in my own lodge is self fund. The active members just come out of pocket and pay our way. fair? No, but its what was done for centuries. Masons have quietly been funding our lodges for a long time.