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Membership Growth In Your Chapters

MajaOES

Writer
Premium Member
Membership is always a difficult discussion to hold. I am hoping to see some positive ideas from this thread that maybe struggling chapters can maybe work with to help bring up their membership numbers.

So how do you encourage membership growth in your chapters?

Have you found something in your chapter that has worked well in retaining new and active members?

For those members you find do not attend anymore, have you found a way to bring them back to meetings and participate in your events?

Brothers, for those of you that are members in OES, how would you recommend talking to another Brother about joining?



Thanks and I look forward to reading the responses. :14:


Maja Gerdin PM
 

BroBill

Site Benefactor
Site Benefactor
Membership is always a difficult discussion to hold. I am hoping to see some positive ideas from this thread that maybe struggling chapters can maybe work with to help bring up their membership numbers.

So how do you encourage membership growth in your chapters?

Have you found something in your chapter that has worked well in retaining new and active members?

For those members you find do not attend anymore, have you found a way to bring them back to meetings and participate in your events?

Brothers, for those of you that are members in OES, how would you recommend talking to another Brother about joining?



Thanks and I look forward to reading the responses. :14:


Maja Gerdin PM

We have a variety of tools that we use in our Chapter/Council and they are 100% "educational", no-pressure, information programs. Our main program is what we call "Blue Shirt Night" where we invite Master Masons from all of our "feeder" lodges (of the 6 Chapters in our district, there are generally 5 plus one out-of-district lodges that feed ours) to a program where we dine first, then the officers and companions adjourn into the lodge room and assume our stations, and then we call the guests in. Once they come in, we let them look around at the different floor setting and officer stations for a few minutes and then present the program. We discuss much of the info on the back of the petition form which describes the degrees and then we present them some "questions" to think about regarding their first three degrees. You have a treasurer, but you have someone else who "pays the craft their wages", why? How are wages paid to the craft and how do you know if ought be due them? Normally we close up the program by pointing out they've seen the first part of the story and ask why they wouldn't want to know how it ends? If you see the first part- and enjoyed it, don't you want to see the sequels and pre-quels? Our best Blue Shirt Night generated 14 candidates who completed their degrees.

Our second program is a lodge visit program. Some lodges invite our local Chapters to send speakers to educate lodge members about Chapter and Council. I did one a few months ago and spoke- very carefully- to a lodgeroom full of master masons, FC's, and EA's. It's very tricky having FC's and EA's in the room, but it can be done with careful navigation.

Finally, within our individual lodges, we watch for the master masons that are asking questions and are curious about the work and we propse the same questions to them- how do you determine if "ought be due them"?, and so forth.

It takes constant work and an active Membership Committee to create, seek, and take advantage of opportunities to speak with master masons and stimulate some interest that THEY want to satisfy. We want Companions that have come to Chapter/Council to satisfy their internal desire for light, not feeling like they were "recruited". We find the degrees mean much more to a candidate when they're there to find answers to questions they truly care about rather than because they were pressured.

Good luck Companion! I wish you well in your labor!

BroBill
 
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Mac

Moderator
Premium Member
BroBill, I really appreciate your insights and will take them to heart once I'm in the YR, which will be soon!

But I believe the original post was in regards to OES and not YR. ;)


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BroBill

Site Benefactor
Site Benefactor
BroBill, I really appreciate your insights and will take them to heart once I'm in the YR, which will be soon!

But I believe the original post was in regards to OES and not YR. ;)


Freemason Connect Mobile

Ah, the pitfalls of answering from an Android where it isn't apparent which forum the original post is in! Mine merely shows the list of new posts.

On the other hand, might I suggest these same tools might also be effective in other organizations? They are essentially all based on building curiosity in the prospective candidate, inducing them to seek further light or further advancement. Obviously now that I know this was an OES question, I'm more than a bit embarassed, but I think with some appropriate modification, these same tools can be easily adapted to use for any organization in masonry.

Maybe that's just me trying to recover from an embarassing faux pa..... perhaps... :^)

S&F
BroBill
 

Blake Bowden

Administrator
Staff Member
Membership is always a difficult discussion to hold. I am hoping to see some positive ideas from this thread that maybe struggling chapters can maybe work with to help bring up their membership numbers.

So how do you encourage membership growth in your chapters?

Have you found something in your chapter that has worked well in retaining new and active members?

For those members you find do not attend anymore, have you found a way to bring them back to meetings and participate in your events?

Brothers, for those of you that are members in OES, how would you recommend talking to another Brother about joining?



Thanks and I look forward to reading the responses. :14:


Maja Gerdin PM

If an OES Chapter is associated with an unhealthy Blue Lodge, chances are it will fail. From the outside, the OES appears like an old stuffy organization. I think Brethren are more than willing to support it, but how do we make the OES attractive to our ladies? One of the issues with the younger generation is our kids. It's extremely hard for a husband and wife to attend a Masonic function, such as an OES meeting, if they have children. Why not have the older OES ladies watch the kids in a separate room and rotate out at each meeting? Trust me, the younger crowd would love a break and if they have someone to watch the kids for an hour or so while they learn the lessons of OES, participation may increase. Just a thought.
 

Michael Neumann

Premium Member
If an OES Chapter is associated with an unhealthy Blue Lodge, chances are it will fail. From the outside, the OES appears like an old stuffy organization. I think Brethren are more than willing to support it, but how do we make the OES attractive to our ladies? One of the issues with the younger generation is our kids. It's extremely hard for a husband and wife to attend a Masonic function, such as an OES meeting, if they have children. Why not have the older OES ladies watch the kids in a separate room and rotate out at each meeting? Trust me, the younger crowd would love a break and if they have someone to watch the kids for an hour or so while they learn the lessons of OES, participation may increase. Just a thought.

My wife has made roughly the same suggestions.
 

OES513

Registered User
I have made the suggestion to Rainbow girls watching the kids...there where a few times I missed my OES meetings because my husband had to work and I had no sitter....or Older OES volunteer..it is very hard when me and hubby work oposite schedules..

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Don.riney

Premium Member
Children are a challenge to be sure. My wife and I are in the east while raising our grandson. It is not easy but out chapter is very, very supportive of us. I think the OES has a problem bringing in more members not because of the small percentage who have kids (though it is a factor) but rather because of our profile within the lodge.

All Ladies of OES are with a very slim exception the immediate female relations of a Mason. Though the lodge does not sponsor any OES chapter it would not exist with out Masons. Chapters need to keep this in mind when trying to find ways to bring in membership. If a Masons Wife/daughter/grand daughter/ sister/ etc ask him about the Order and he can only say "Well I know they meet at the lodge on Monday night, but I don't really know anything about them." it will be difficult to gain their interest. The brothers of our order are the direct connection to the lodge. If the Worthy Patron and the Associate Patron and other Masons of the chapter are active in their lodge and approachable, then the order is more approachable to the family members of their lodge. Though we are not the principal focus or direct leaders of the Order we are the life line by which a Chapter keeps afloat.
 
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