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Per Capita for Grand Lodge of Texas

How would you vote on the per capita recommendation?

  • Yes

    Votes: 40 54.1%
  • No

    Votes: 27 36.5%
  • Wait I need more time, this is complicated

    Votes: 6 8.1%
  • Never ever

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • could care less, I will go to the restroom when this comes up at GL

    Votes: 1 1.4%

  • Total voters
    74
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Jamesb

Registered User
What if they used the GM's home area as the meeting place? You could pretty much at that point put the office anywhere, but the grand comm could be in his home area.
This would also give brothers a chance to visit areas around the state.
 
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Dave in Waco

Premium Member
I would disagree with the moving of Grand Lodge building and the Grand Communication. The reason for the original selection of Waco was central location. All buildings have maintenance and upkeep issues, new included. Then there is the buying of a new building itself. For example, if we were to move it to Austin. The old Waco High School building that sit next to the GL building finally sold after being on the market for over 15 years. I believe its selling price was under a million. I would think just the act of selling the building would be a problem in itself, since its design and age limits the buyer to start with, so we would not being looking at making much from the sell. Then there is the price of a new building in Austin. Taking into account the difference in land and property value in Waco versus Austin, we would be putting ourselves into a pretty big hole to start with. Add to that, we can't afford to buy parking around the GL now, how would we afford it in Austin? Yes we would be a ble to rent out unused space, but that's still income future possible income that we won't know when it will be in place. Then comes the trouble of being a landlord itself. Plus if we are renting office space to organizations not involved in charity, we would lose the tax exemption on our building.

So then comes to the idea of moving the Grand Communication. Not a bad idea in concept, but there are a few things that we must be aware of. Houston, Dallas, Austin would be good, but what do you think the turn out will be in El Paso? Plus eventually there will be the problem of smaller cities wanting to host it. Do we bar them from having it?

Now, I am all for visiting around to different Lodges. I have averaged visiting at least 1 new Lodge a month since I was raised. I feel it is an important part of Masonry. But, I do feel that we need to sit down with the GL budget, like Bro. Ashton has. There is fat that can be trimmed, and other ideas for the use of the GL building. I know one way the GL could help suppliment the building fund, is fix up part of it that can be used for Lodges to rent out. My Lodge in Waco currently rents space at the Lee Lockwood Scottish Rite building in Waco. We share a Lodge room with 2 other Blue Lodges plus the DeMoley, Rainbow Girls, plus York Rite bodies. Although our rent goes to Scottish Rite, we would rather see that check going back into GL. Plus other Lodges would be able to rent out the Lodge room for special occassions as well.

To me personally, the GL building is one of our symbols. I'd hate to see it wiped out for any reason.
 

davidjones201

Registered User
We are talking about yearly dues? We are talking anywhere to 50 - 100 dollars a year in total dues? We cannot budget an extra $25 a year towards the benefit of our fraternity. Come on now? Sounds silly to me. Even if there were a member who could not afford the extra few dollars; is it not in your ability to extend a helping hand? This is long overdue.
 

Sidewinder

Registered User
I completely agree with you Bro. Ashton. I'm in no way saying that the best idea is to sell the Grand Lodge Building, but that is one possible solution that could have it's benefits. I think that it is up to our leadership to find a solution to this problem other than raising our per capita, that's why we put them there. They have a better picture of our income and expenses. It is our duty to vote on the best solution that they come up with. I for one am anxious to see what the final resoluion looks like at the Grand Communication.
 

owls84

Moderator
Premium Member
I too agree Bro. Ashton. I challenge anyone that is a dues paying member of the Grand Lodge to contact Grand Lodge and request the Budget sheet for this year. The funny thing is this is published each year in the Grand Lodge Preceedings and no one has questioned the spending until now. I read the 2008 preceedings and the finance committee even warned of a budget problem and requested that they raise annual returns to $20 imediatly and every year there after but that was dropped. Why do we have committees issue reports if we don't listen to them? It was droped for almost 2 years and even then the budget spending was never looked at. Now we are saying we want to raise annual returns to that comparable to Massachusettes and California and that is just to break even. If we had results like CA and MA it would be worth it to pay $25 but when we have outdated programs such as the ALL and LIFE and we are dropping Masons left and right with a 25% retention rate and no help in sight then why would we agree to pay this?

If you had a friend that came to you and asked for your last dollar so he could play the Lottery you wouldn't do it so why would you continue to fund this? They need to show us they are doing everything in their power to control spending and this is the last step or that this will allow us to fund programs that will help membership not to continue the same path we are on. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results and that is basically what has happend the last few years. I want "Change I can Believe In".
 

fairbanks1363pm

Registered User
my issue with this whole thing is you have lodges struggling to survive. The cup is empty. I see lodges having fundraisers 4-12 times a year. I feel that the grand line up needs to become less a celeb stautus and instead of at the end of the year posting your resume of how many places you have visited, post what you have done to make this grand lodge better and more stable for the future. I could care less how many days our Grand master is out traveling. Spend less time traveling and come up with ways to produce. Im not asking them to do anything i would not. Our grand lodge has the resources to do whatever they want. We could pull off any fundraiser and it would be a success. My shrine unit that has close to 50 members just brought in $40,000 at a fishing tournament. I cant imagine what the GLOT could do.
Have any of you looked at the financial report the grand lodge sends out? It is worth looking into and comparing our funds over the last few years. I know the market has taking a beating. But to leave our money in it and to let it continue to have taken the beating like it has makes me feel that it has been neglected. I know that this is not politicly what I should be saying but it needs to be said. I have seen my lodge go from financially having nothing to having something at the end of the year. Many of my close friends and brothers have spent time away from home and families and helped raise this money. Before the GLOT takes more from my lodge I want to be assured that they are doing more to help the cause. Not just holding a hand out.
I agree that we need an increase. One like this can hurt more than help. We have paid a cheap price for Masonry through the years. We still should not kick our struggling lodges to the side. These lodges are made up of our brothers hard work past and present that can use help. This should have realy gone up through the years. With all this said we need to pray for Masonry in Texas and the GLOT. There is an inexaustable source above that can help.
 

DavidFernandez

Premium Member
I don’t mind paying a few more bucks, even if it means that lodges will have to raise their dues to pay the GL per capita increase. I believe Freemasonry is too cheap anyway.
I went to Doric Lodge No. 420 stated meeting last week, and the guest speaker was R.W. Thomas W. Jackson, Past Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. His talk was about the different styles of Freemasonry around the world, and the decline of Freemasonry in North America. He said that Freemasonry has been on the decline in North America because the prominent members of society do not see any value in it anymore. He went on to say that in countries around the world, where freemasonry is thriving and growing, dues are up in the range of $1,000 to $3,000 per year. Those society’s see a perceived value, therefore they attract the prominent members of society according to his research.
I thought his speech was very interesting, and he added that we may not agree with him but says that people are starting to listen to him, as he has traveled to all four corners of the world and has research to prove it.
You can see his credentials here:

http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/1299/honor.html

And Here:

http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/1299/retire.html

Brethren, these are his views and not mine. I found them interesting as did the entire lodge that night. He was giving two standing ovations for expressing his views and opinions.
 
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owls84

Moderator
Premium Member
my issue with this whole thing is you have lodges struggling to survive. The cup is empty. I see lodges having fundraisers 4-12 times a year. I feel that the grand line up needs to become less a celeb stautus and instead of at the end of the year posting your resume of how many places you have visited, post what you have done to make this grand lodge better and more stable for the future. I could care less how many days our Grand master is out traveling. Spend less time traveling and come up with ways to produce. Im not asking them to do anything i would not. Our grand lodge has the resources to do whatever they want. We could pull off any fundraiser and it would be a success. My shrine unit that has close to 50 members just brought in $40,000 at a fishing tournament. I cant imagine what the GLOT could do.
Have any of you looked at the financial report the grand lodge sends out? It is worth looking into and comparing our funds over the last few years. I know the market has taking a beating. But to leave our money in it and to let it continue to have taken the beating like it has makes me feel that it has been neglected. I know that this is not politicly what I should be saying but it needs to be said. I have seen my lodge go from financially having nothing to having something at the end of the year. Many of my close friends and brothers have spent time away from home and families and helped raise this money. Before the GLOT takes more from my lodge I want to be assured that they are doing more to help the cause. Not just holding a hand out.
I agree that we need an increase. One like this can hurt more than help. We have paid a cheap price for Masonry through the years. We still should not kick our struggling lodges to the side. These lodges are made up of our brothers hard work past and present that can use help. This should have realy gone up through the years. With all this said we need to pray for Masonry in Texas and the GLOT. There is an inexaustable source above that can help.

Could not agree more. I have seen the finacial report and for over 11% of our budget to go to produce so fine of a newsletter as the Texas Mason is a travesty. Not when the people they are comparing our per capita to produces this...http://www.cafreemason-digital.com/cafreemason/201001#pg1

We aren't arguing that it Masonry is cheap but when you nick an artery you can't just put a band aid on the wound you have to stop the bleeding first. All I ask is to stop the bleeding and reevaluate the situation after that. From their word we are at a -$300,000 budget and the Texas Mason is almost half of that. Why is it still being funded? How many people look at it and its one article and bolo ties? This just gets my blood going that we are even having to discuss this right now when 3 years ago it was brought up at Grand Lodge that we were over spending our budget and we should look at alternatives and NOTHING was done. It was more of the same SOP of going out and waving an hand when someone should have been swinging it.
 

Dave in Waco

Premium Member
I don’t mind paying a few more bucks, even if it means that lodges will have to raise their dues to pay the GL per capita increase. I believe Freemasonry is too cheap anyway.
I went to Doric Lodge No. 420 stated meeting last week, and the guest speaker was R.W. Thomas W. Jackson, Past Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. His talk was about the different styles of Freemasonry around the world, and the decline of Freemasonry in North America. He said that Freemasonry has been on the decline in North America because the prominent members of society do not see any value in it anymore. He went on to say that in countries around the world, where freemasonry is thriving and growing, dues are up in the range of $1,000 to $3,000 per year. Those society’s see a perceived value, therefore they attract the prominent members of society according to his research.
I thought his speech was very interesting, and he added that we may not agree with him but says that people are starting to listen to him, as he has traveled to all four corners of the world and has research to prove it.
You can see his credentials here:

http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/1299/honor.html

And Here:

http://www.pagrandlodge.org/freemason/1299/retire.html

Brethren, these are his views and not mine. I found them interesting as did the entire lodge that night. He was giving two standing ovations for expressing his views and opinions.

I don't mind the extra dollars to GL either, but it seems just a symptom of a larger issue. It seems the issue really becomes how do we change the perception of people to show the value of Masonry? What are our Europeon Brothers doing that we are not?
 

Blake Bowden

Administrator
Staff Member
$140,000.00 for the Texas Masons magazine!!!That's ridiculous! Like Owls said, it's nothing more than a few advertisements and an article at best. Unfortunately they have not, or are unwilling to allow individuals to submit articles for publication. I've submitted two and none of them ever saw the light of day.
 

DavidFernandez

Premium Member
I don't mind the extra dollars to GL either, but it seems just a symptom of a larger issue. It seems the issue really becomes how do we change the perception of people to show the value of Masonry? What are our Europeon Brothers doing that we are not?

Bro. Dave,

You may not like his answer, but what he told us was that in the lodges that are thriving and growing, dues are high, and it is very hard to become a mason. In some countries it takes up to seven years from the day you get initiated until the day you become a Master Mason, and that's after they have been on a waiting list in some countries for years. He says that the perceived value has declined because we have made it too easy for someone to become a Freemason in North America. All this comes as Pennsylvania is now allowing one day classes for all three degrees, which Bro. Thomas says is a big mistake from his own GL.

I am trying to get his email, so I can ask him for a copy of his paper. He is quite a speaker, and even though these are his views and opinions, it stimulates your mind and gets you to think about it.
 
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Dave in Waco

Premium Member
Bro. Dave,

You may not like his answer, but what he told us was that in the lodges that are thriving and growing, dues are high, and it is very hard to become a mason. In some countries it takes up to seven years from the day you get initiated until the day you become a Master Mason, and that's after they have been on a waiting list in some countries for years. He says that the perceived value has declined because we have made it too easy for someone to become a Freemason in North America. All this comes as Pennslyvania is now allowing one day classes for all three degrees, which Bro. Thomas says is a big mistake from his own GL.

I am trying to get his email, so I can ask him for a copy of his paper. He is quite a speaker, and even though these are his views and opinions, it stimulates your mind and gets you to think about it.

That kind of goes along with my Country Club Theory as I call it. If you make some exclusive and hard to obtain, people will do just about do anything to earn that status.

I have heard of many of the Europeon Lodges that it takes 7 years from EA to MM. My best friend's father-in-law lives in England and was telling us things like that. I've also heard interesting things they do in their rituals as well. I do agree with Bro. Thomas that one day classes are a huge mistake. If you don't earn something, how much is it really worth to you?
 

macjames53

Registered User
I agree, in principle. If we were to sell the property we currently have & build or buy an office building, we could rent out the space we were not using & make the building pay for itself. Why should that building in Waco? Austin is much more accessible & the seat of our state government. There is also a greater demand for office space in Austin, which would make our excess space easier to lease.

As to the Grand Communication, why not move it around to different areas of the state every year, such as other bodies do? This year- Dallas. Next year- Houston. The following year- Lubbock, and so on. This way we could have various hotels & meeting centers compete for our business, rather than be a sitting target for the Waco hotels as we have been for years. This would also let the Lodges in the area in which the Grand Communication is being held that year act as hosts & give them a chance to shine.

I don't claim that this is the best idea, but I believe it's worthy of consideration.

I am also in the Knights Templars. And their yearly communication is moved around and I don't think anyone is burdened by that. Just because we have done it that way doesn't mean we must do it that way. I just think we need to take small bites of a big problem one at a time.
 

Sidewinder

Registered User
Brethren, we all seem to have very good ideas...Let's just hope someone from Grand Lodge reads this and takes them under consideration.
 

owls84

Moderator
Premium Member
Well as promised I have a copy of the 2010 Grand Lodge Budget and expense report that I would like to share. The message our DDGM shared is there is no more fat to cut but I think after looking at this there is plenty of fat to trim on this pork filled budget. I would like to hear everyone's issues or praises they have with this budget and expense report.

View attachment document2010-07-28-072640.pdf
 

Frater Cliff Porter

Premium Member
Many grand lodges and their staff membership or paid members swelled during the glory days. One of the sacred cows nobody wants to talk about are 20 district lecturers getting paid or overly plump grand lodge staffing in the building itself. Let's be honest, we often find 4 or 5 people doing what one or two could accomplish with a nice computer and a color printer....

Oh cradoodle he said computer....!!!
 

HKTidwell

Premium Member
I don't see the advertising revenue for the magazine, did I miss it? If we are breaking even on the advertising vs. cost I don't care. Don't get me wrong I think we could have a much better magazine but cost vs revenue is what should matter if we are advertising in it.

The way I read the budget vs current, annual dues have not been calculated yet. If that is calculated in then you have a revenue of 857K which is 157K higher then projected for the budget. Both of the fund raising totals are dismal at best and ironic at best. With how many ever masons we have on the rolls we should be able to do some awesome fund raising for grand lodge. We are paying the Grand Secretary 40K a year but also have office salaries of 177K. Curious how many individuals this is for and the job descriptions. If we have 5-6 full time employees then we should be putting out some kick butt stuff.

Curious what the "Reimb Use of Facilities" line item is for. Could we not be renovate the building for concerts and other events to be held there? I know Waco has other locations that people can use but as it grows we could capitalize on that.

We have a excellent price on the property insurance, or so it seems.

Not sure how much reserve cash we have or the financial status of Grand Lodge. If we do not have huge cash reserves we need to raise the dues. We need to increase the budgeted item Ent. Dist. Guest and start bringing in speakers once a month to Waco. Invigorate the membership and show a path to greatness. We need to buy equipment needed to digitize all records, put togather a store for the membership so we can buy the items sent out via visa or other credit card methods. I'm the worlds worst about getting mail outs from the Grand lodge and thinking I need to send a check in to them and it ends up being file 13 because time has passed. If I had the ability to login via website and buy/spend conveniently, sales would be even higher.

I still contend that a 1.1 million budget for a 60-80K membership is not that much. At $18.52 x 60,000= $1,111,200. However we are projecting a 525000 in dues and fees. I thought our dues to the GLoTX is $14.50, if that is the case we only have 36206.90 members. I thought this number was higher in Texas.
 

Bill Lins

Moderating Staff
Staff Member
Curious what the "Reimb Use of Facilities" line item is for. Could we not be renovate the building for concerts and other events to be held there? I know Waco has other locations that people can use but as it grows we could capitalize on that.

They were trying to cut a deal for the Waco Symphony to perform in the auditorium but it fell through due to no A/C.

At $18.52 x 60,000= $1,111,200. However we are projecting a 525000 in dues and fees. I thought our dues to the GLoTX is $14.50, if that is the case we only have 36206.90 members. I thought this number was higher in Texas.

The current per capita is $14.25. Remember- 50 or more year members, residents of the Retirement Center, and those judged incompetent are exempt from the per capita- thus you can't go by it to figure membership. We've got a boatload of 50 year members, etc.

"Art. 316. Exemptions: Members in Texas Masonic Retirement Center and 50 Year Service Awardees.

Every member admitted to the Texas Masonic Retirement Center maintained by the Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Texas, so long as he is a beneficiary of said Home, and every member entitled to a Fifty Year Masonic Service Award under Art. 14 shall be exempt from Lodge dues. Should the Brother be a member of more than one Lodge in this Grand Jurisdiction, he shall be exempt in all Lodges. The Lodge or Lodges shall deduct all Grand Lodge Per Capita contributions on account of such members from its Annual Returns, using a certificate furnished by the Grand Secretary to show the current status of each such member."

"Art. 322. (357). Mental Incompetence.

When a member becomes mentally incompetent, and upon proper documentation of his incompetence being submitted by a qualified physician, he is not liable to either Masonic discipline or suspension for nonpayment of Lodge dues while in such state of mental incompetency. The Lodge must report him as a member but shall pay no dues for him to this Grand Lodge. The Lodge shall deduct Grand Lodge dues from the Annual Returns, using certificate furnished by the Grand Secretary, to show current status of each such member."
 
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owls84

Moderator
Premium Member
But I don't think they count all of the $14.25 since $7.00 goes to charity. They have a budget amount for $525,000.00 which they can tell by a click so I still don't understand how we can't figure membership based on this. At least for an estimate
 
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