lodge improvement suggestions
by
David R. Bedwell, P.M.
MEMBERSHIP AWARENESS
Since my last post regarding what we should be doing to increase not only
membership but public awareness of the Fraternity, I received several very kind
replies. One of which asked me to identify areas or specific things a Lodge
could start doing. Well here are a few that my Lodge has started and that seem
to be working. Note: Some of these ideas will cost money, and most will take
commitment. I do realize the average age of the Fraternity, but all it
takes is two or three dedicated Brothers to be the catalysts to excite and
involve others. What we are trying to accomplish is to restore Masonry to its
pre-eminence among the community, political, social, civic, and educational
leaders. And, as a result, to attract increased numbers of good men to the
Fraternity and to hold and engage them in the work of Freemasonry.
- The Lodge should make a survey of its members, capturing name, address,
age, Masonic anniversary, officer positions held, Grand Lodge appointments,
etc. for the member. The file should also contain the name of the member's
spouse, if applicable, the profession of the member (or what his profession
was), hobbies/special interests, and such other information as the Lodge may
deem to be useful and appropriate in finding ways to "activate" that member
and connect him to a program the Lodge will start or has started. All of you
on this list should have no trouble keeping this data electronically.
- The Lodge should make full and effective use of materials developed by or
for the Grand Lodge. In practical terms, this means that such materials will
not "sit on the Secretary's desk," rather they will be explained to the Lodge
members and implemented. Materials such as the Masonic Membership Development
Kit published and available from the Masonic Renewal Committee of North
America. 8120 Fenton St. Silver Spring, MD USA 20910. Included in this kit are
three very good video tapes.
- There are several things we can do to improve interest and attendance in
our Lodges. Focus on Fellowship.
- Encourage those who attend regularly to give you their ideas about
improving fellowship. Stress the importance of fellowship, and get their
good ideas on how to make improvements.
- Give someone the job of greeting all members as they enter the lodge.
Make sure this person knows that it is his job to make the members feel
welcome when they enter and to steer any new member or guests to someone so
he is not left alone. NEVER allow a new Mason to sit alone in the Lodge
room.
- Make sure the WM and officers circulate among the members before Lodge
is opened.
- Make all introductions during Lodge warm and personal.
- Use the time after closing lodge to reinforce the fellowship that was
present before opening lodge. Thank your members for attending.
- ask for feedback. How satisfied were the members and guests with the
quality of fellowship they received.
- Follow up with a personal note to a new member or guest thanking him for
being with you in lodge.
- Include the names of new members in lodge communications with a brief
summary of their interests and the names of their wives and children.
- Place a suggestion box in a prominent place in the lodge. Give members a
questionnaire they can use to evaluate the level of fellowship or lodge
activities.
- Do not waste time. The leading cause of dissatisfaction
with a lodge among members is that the meetings were boring and that to much
time was wasted. A lot of our senior members come to the lodge for relaxation,
fellowship and fun. The reason to be concerned with the use of time has more
to do with future members as it does with those you already have. If your
lodge is typical, more than 85% of your members are not active. We all strive
for better lodge attendance, and since we do not necessarily want longer
meetings, then we must pay attention to the importance of time. By shortening
the amount of time required for minutes, reports, etc. we have more time to be
committed to programs such as Masonic education, or special programs.
- Summarize minutes, correspondence and communications that are not of
major importance to the lodge.
- Begin your meetings at the time they are scheduled.
- Increase the overall pace by which events occur. There is no reason why
responses to question from the Master to the Wardens should be dragged out.
- Make sure each presenter is prepared to act in an efficient and
professional manner. Being prepared saves time, increases the responses of
members, keeps their interest and adds to the satisfaction.
- Post or publish the minutes and Treasurers report. Only read a summary
in lodge.
- Hold introductions to a minimum. Most members see long introductions as
a waste of time. Recognition of new members and guests should be warm and
personal - make them feel welcome.
- Limit remarks at the end of lodge. Call on one Past Master to speak as
opposed to calling on each one.
- By making your lodge meeting more of an event, adding some excitement and
interest to the meetings will help bring members back.
- Consider the interests of the youthful and mature members equally. When
you plan for a meeting keep the needs of both in mind. The older Mason may
want things to remain unchanged; the youthful member may expect variety and
excitement. Try to plan your evening to accommodate both.
- Remember that newer members are determining whether they did the right
thing in joining. They will evaluate your plan for the evening on their
terms. Make sure you know what they expect.
- Focus on quality. No matter what you do, do it well. Nothing works as
well as high quality to achieve member satisfaction.
- Force yourself to plan in detail for the meeting. By doing this forces
you to consider the needs of members.
- Make something special happen at least six times a year during a
meeting. Plan at least six months in advance so you have your choice of a
good speaker or guest. Involve your members in the program and in the
planning.
- Call on individuals in your community who can help you provide excellent
programs for the lodge. The principle of an elementary, middle, or high
school can speak about the scholarship needs of students or ways the lodge
can help improve the school. A financial planner can help members discover
the important financial or retirement services available to them and answer
their questions. A travel agent can speak about trips that are available to
individuals or groups and how to save money. etc.
- Show any number of videotapes that will interest the lodge. Arrange
through a local library, a local university or a lending library. Good films
are: I've Heard the Name, What does it Mean? (part of the membership
development kit), Getting the Most From Your Fraternity - produced by the
Masonic Renewal Committee, and For Many Reasons - produced by the Shrine.
- Invite a stratagic planning expert or futurist available through a local
college or consulting firm to meet with your lodge to talk about how the
needs of men will have changed by the year 2000.
- Ask every member to be involved by accepting an assigned date to lead a
discussion on Freemasonry. MSA Short Talk Bulletins are one source for help.
Have fun.
- Communicate with your members.
- Dress-up and spruce-up your existing publications and communications to
members. Consider at least a quarterly publication mailed to the member and
his family.
- Develop a list of men who have been raised to Master Mason in the past
three years and ask the officers or volunteers in the lodge to contact each
by phone and invite him to a special meeting, a dinner, or a friends night.
Members will respond to a personal invitation from a Brother quicker than
you might expect.
- Mail to members and their wives on behalf of the lodge on significant
holidays, or birthdays. Remember every time a communication comes into the
home from the lodge, it raises the awareness of the member.
- Maintain an attractive bulletin board, and keep it current with member
related news and information.
- Improve the quality of the photographs you use.
- Find a member who may be a designer or graphic artist with desktop
publishing experience and let him review all lodge communications. Listen to
his recommendations.
- Attendance is directly related to the good feelings a man has about being
with other men in a fraternal setting. Attendance is also related to him
having a good time. If they do not find fellowship, friendship or the
connection they expected in lodge, they will not come back.
- Assign every man who is elected to the lodge a buddy. This can be his
recommender or a fellow Mason about his same age who agrees to be at each
stated and special meeting for six months. To personally call and invite the
new member to each meeting. To provide transportation is required. To
follow-up after each degree to answer any questions. To personally introduce
the new Mason to men in the lodge. To contact the family and answer any
questions they may have.
- Introduce the new Mason to other Masons. A new Mason should be
introduced to more and more Masons who are encouraged to become part of his
circle of friends. This way he might connect with others of his age, career,
interests in sports, family, children, etc.
- Buddy-up outside of lodge also. Ask a new member to a ball game or other
sporting event. Keep it light, only discuss the lodge or Freemasonry if he
raises the question. Get to know him as a friend.
- If he agrees, take his photograph and post it on the bulletin board
along with his hobbies and interests.
- Watch for any loss of interest. If attendance starts to lag, get in
touch with him right away and determine the cause. Don't let more than
several meetings pass before contacting him.
- Nothing works as well with members as personal contacts. If you can't meet
face to face, then the telephone works best. a.) Reach each of the newest
Masons-Men who were raised during the last three to five years, but who have
been absent from lodge. Reacquaint them with the lodge and with the last time
you know they were there. (check the lodge registry) Listen to them tell you
reasons why they have appeared to have lost interest. Share with them your
intentions to rebuild interest in the lodge and your goals for attendance and
membership. Determine if there are reluctant to attend because they cannot
recall the proper signs and words and offer to assist them.
- A man joins an organization with the expectation that he will somehow be
involved with the members, involved in the leadership, and involved with the
community.
- Identify the skills, talents and interests of each of your members (this
is where the database you created, comes in handy). Understand that
involvement means using a man's talents. Match their involvement with their
gifts and talents.
- Ask new members how they want to be involved when you visit them during
the home visitation (investigation). Ask again following each degree. Make
the new member feel that involvement is expected.
- Provide new and existing members with more information about the plans
and goals of the lodge.
- Solicit their input. Make the request genuine and sincere. Listen to
what they say.
- Use their ideas in the decision making process. Let members know who
contributed and how important that contribution was.
- Hold a meeting and invite those members who are usually not part of the
decision making process. Seek their advice and get them involved. Seek their
involvement by asking them to join a team or committee. Give them
assignments that matches their needs to their talents. Empower them and hold
them accountable.
- Reward real performance and real contributions in some meaningful way.
COMMUNITY AWARENESS
Today, any lodge that is not connected with its community needs to consider
becoming involved for the following reasons:
- Future members are in the community and when the lodge is involved, they
will discover what Masonry is all about.
- Future members demand that any organization they join be active in
community outreach.
- The community is the responsibility of everyone - including Masons.
- The lodge is a perfect community-service organization.
- Masons will be proud of their role in the community.
- Any organization, to grow, needs to be able to involve all its members in
some way. Community involvement is one way to do this.
The best way to get members involved, is to respond to a need in the
community. Here are some ideas:
- A Library needed a computer. Hold a special dinner in the lodge and accept
contributions from members. Members can also man a booth outside the local
supermarket and raise money as well as distribute information and answer
questions regarding Masonry.
- Give a Scholarship. Host four events during the year on weekends for
members and guests. Members can prepare food, run games and hold a
collectibles auction.
- Meals on Wheels route. The lodge can adopt a route that would serve two
meals a day for eight families for a year.
- Roadway beautification. Masons can join with youth groups (Demolay,
Rainbow, etc.) to maintain a section of the roadway in town.
- Fix-Up a playground. The lodge could take on the fix-up, paint-up ,
clean-up of a local playground.
I am not saying to turn Freemasonry into a service club. The real importance
is not to change what the lodge is doing, but to increase member interest,
participation,awareness and pride through family and community involvement.
Local government is trying to establish partnerships with organizations in the
community that can solve community-related problems without a lot of fuss.
Individuals in the community tend to evaluate the relevance of organizations by
the degree of their involvement.
But, you say we have a smaller lodge. These are things that a small lodge
with less than 100 men can accomplish.
- Sponsor the 4th of July celebration and picnic every year.
- Sponsor a grade school basketball tournament.
- Provide medical supplies for a local EMS unit.
- Provide funds and labor to renovate a local ballfield.
- Sponsor a local youth to a Shrine Bowl Band Camp.
- Raise funds to assist a public library.
- Adopt a needy family at Christmas.
Lodges that are larger can:
- Adopt a local elementary school, meet with the PTA to determine a schedule
of volunteer events and other support you can provide the school.
- Volunteer to raise $10-20,000 for three to five significant awards for
teaching excellence in a school where the lodge is located. Present the awards
at an assembly that includes teachers, students, parents and the local media.
- Partner with another civic organization in the community to solve a
problem that may be larger than the resources available.
- Develop ten $500.00 awards for learning excellence and make these
presentations during the school year.
- Develop a major senior-center volunteer effort to help the aged in some
area of need.
These are but a few of the many ideas that will establish your lodge as a
relevant force within your community. The idea is to create favorable public
awareness of our Fraternity, who we are, and what we do. This in turn will begin
to attract good men, who will want to join an organization committed to making a
difference.
Three things my own Lodge has done since January have been:
- Hosted a Masonic Awareness Night. The members were asked to submit names
of men who they thought would make good Masons. 15 potential Masons and their
spouses were invited to a dinner at a very nice restaurant. Following dinner a
short (30 minute) program was presented based around the videotape "What it
Means to Be a Mason". Following the tape, a short presentation was made
explaining Freemasonry, our charities and our involvement with the community.
To date we have received 4 petitions as a result of that evening.
- We have established a partnership with a local elementary school. In June
the lodge will co-Sponsor the schools fun fair. This involves helping man the
game booths and helping out in general. This will create favorable impressions
with the parents and teachers.
- On April 13th, the Lodge is hosting a "Community Awareness Dinner". All of
the city officials, civic, and educational leaders have been invited. We will
have dinner followed by good entertainment. The main purpose is to
re-introduce ourselves within the community, and to give our officials a good
understanding of the Fraternity. Also at this dinner, certificates will be
presented to the three local judges for their commitment and we will present
the Mayor and city council with a large framed picture of WB George Washington
in full Masonic regalia, to be hung in city hall.
I will not kid you. This all takes hard work and commitment. But as I stated
earlier, four of us have been basically doing the work. But, the excitement is
building and more and more members are jumping on board. Since we earnestly
began working to turn things around in January of '95, we have received 26 new
petitions. One of the petitions was the Fire Chief, along with four firemen. The
community awareness is starting to pay off. Research has shown that if we don't
embrace a renewal effort, more and more lodges will be forced to close their
doors.
Well, this has been a lot of typing, and I'm tired. :) I hope some of these
ideas will help. Try giving one or two of them a chance, and see what happens.
All you can do is improve your lodge and membership.
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