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The rush to attract new members

Z

Zack

Registered User
Beathard,
I hope you can retain them. Around here we don't have a membership problem, we have a retention problem.
 
Benton

Benton

Premium Member
Beathard said:
I believe that the big reason foe the drop is a culture shift during the Vietnam War. The American culture changed. Men no longer joined "establishment" organizations. With an 800 year history, masonry was seen as part of that establishment. We missed out on a whole generation. We then miss out on the father son draw to the fraternity.

I truly believe that we are at the end of that downturn. I own a Sylvan Learning Center. I have started getting unsolicited requests for information. They are usually triggered by ring. The younger men are looking for something real to grab onto. I believe masonry is poised for a rebirth. We have an 18 yr old master turning in work tomorrow (Goatrider), an 18 yr old fellowcraft, and two 18 yr old applications in hand.

It's happening! Let's just keep it interesting for them. If life expectancy is 73, they have at least 55 years to build us back up.
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As a member of the younger generation (I'm 23) I truly believe we're about to see a new generation enter Masonry. Some of my college friends younger than me by a couple of years are interested, but they'd rather wait till they graduate to petition. Yet they already ask me about it. We're on the verge of an upswing if you ask me.
 
Dave in Waco

Dave in Waco

Premium Member
Beathard said:
I believe that the big reason foe the drop is a culture shift during the Vietnam War. The American culture changed. Men no longer joined "establishment" organizations. With an 800 year history, masonry was seen as part of that establishment. We missed out on a whole generation. We then miss out on the father son draw to the fraternity.

I truly believe that we are at the end of that downturn. I own a Sylvan Learning Center. I have started getting unsolicited requests for information. They are usually triggered by ring. The younger men are looking for something real to grab onto. I believe masonry is poised for a rebirth. We have an 18 yr old master turning in work tomorrow (Goatrider), an 18 yr old fellowcraft, and two 18 yr old applications in hand.

It's happening! Let's just keep it interesting for them. If life expectancy is 73, they have at least 55 years to build us back up.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more. I see it in my own lodge. Week after week I look at the brethren in my lodge and I see the gap. We have a lot of member 40 and under and a lot 60+, but few in the 40-60 range.

I think that article from California is right on the pulse as well. We are attracting more men that want to be part of something bigger then themselves.

I do always find it funny how the generation gap we have in Masonry didn't join because of us being the "establishment", ironic. When you look at our history, the whole reason we kept meeting in secret was because we were so far out on the hairy edge, that a lot of what we discussed back in the early days of Masonry in the American Colonies bordered on treason against the establishment. I mean we were the original rebels in America.
 
fairbanks1363pm

fairbanks1363pm

Registered User
i agree with what your saying but, if i am going to spend a night away from my house(with work i get very few) the last thing i want to do is here a bunch of bunk about what time we eat or what color we will paint the lodge. when masonry started in the US it was progressive. people did things and ideas came off of other ideas on things to do. i sit back and look at lodge activities that go on and there is not much. its easy to see why people get tired of going to lodge. with that said i am very proud of my lodge. we are getting young good men in. while we have our problems activity is going on and people are coming having a great time.
Beathard said:
There was a time in the US when people would gather to help each other build a neighbors barn. The would gather to enjoy each others company. The would enjoy helping each other. In today's society everyone wants to be entertained. It's sad we have come to this...
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tom268

tom268

Registered User
Dave in Waco said:
I do always find it funny how the generation gap we have in Masonry didn't join because of us being the "establishment", ironic. When you look at our history, the whole reason we kept meeting in secret was because we were so far out on the hairy edge, that a lot of what we discussed back in the early days of Masonry in the American Colonies bordered on treason against the establishment. I mean we were the original rebels in America.
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Basically right, but, ob the other hand, every time gets the masonry it needs. In a time, when social development stucks with the nobility, we were the rebels, in a time, when churches claim education, we were the driving force of enlightenment, and in times, where the social development lead us into the communication age, with all its reality shows, all its breaks of privacy, of "broadcast yourself" youtubes, twitters and blogs, we are the establishment.

I think, that is all natural. Men can find in masonry what they need most.
 
cacarter

cacarter

Premium Member
If anyone wants to get a better understanding of the gap in membership, and the loss of the baby boomer generation, I suggest reading "Bowling Alone" by Robert Putnam.
 
Benton

Benton

Premium Member
Tony Siciliano said:
I did some quick math in Excel... at the rate shown in the MSANA chart, there will be no Freemasons left in the U.S. by 2028. :eek:hmy:
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I think the main problem with that is, we have an unusually high mortality rate right now as the WWII generation is slowly dying off, and we simply don't have many people from the baby boomer generation to mediate the death rate. Once the WWII generation is gone (not trying to sound cold, simply analytical) I imagine that things will level off, or membership might even start picking up, for most jurisdictions.
 
JohnnyFlotsam

JohnnyFlotsam

Premium Member
Tony Siciliano said:
I did some quick math in Excel... at the rate shown in the MSANA chart, there will be no Freemasons left in the U.S. by 2028. :eek:hmy:
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Fortunately, such phenomena are seldom linear. Unfortunately, those few of us left on the right side of the curve will still be suffering from the failure to plan/adjust for this decline.
 
Tony Siciliano

Tony Siciliano

Premium Member
Benton said:
Once the WWII generation is gone (not trying to sound cold, simply analytical) I imagine that things will level off, or membership might even start picking up, for most jurisdictions.
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I think you're correct here. It's my experience that military towns are showing a significant upswing in petitions from Service members.

JohnnyFlotsam said:
Fortunately, such phenomena are seldom linear. Unfortunately, those few of us left on the right side of the curve will still be suffering from the failure to plan/adjust for this decline.
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You're correct also. It is funny though how statistics can be manipulated to show that the sky is falling.

So many factors play into this. The impending mortality of the 'greatest generation', the apathy of the 'baby boomer' generation, etc. They all play into the membership game. I believe that things will level off at a number (probably just under 1M), then slowly climb up and level off.
 
cacarter

cacarter

Premium Member
From what I've read there are a couple of things that might play to our advantage. According to "Bowling Alone" the highest levels of involvement by age group comes from retirees. As the Baby Boom Generation retires, there is a small chance that Baby Boomers will start to get involved in areas they weren't previously. According to some sociologists my generation, the Millennials, could be the next Great Generation, and the Greatest Generation does make up our mass of numbers right now, who are sadly dying off. Does this mean, that my generation will join in great numbers there isn't anything positive, but the signs are there.
 
jwhoff

jwhoff

Premium Member
cacarter said:
From what I've read there are a couple of things that might play to our advantage. According to "Bowling Alone" the highest levels of involvement by age group comes from retirees. As the Baby Boom Generation retires, there is a small chance that Baby Boomers will start to get involved in areas they weren't previously. According to some sociologists my generation, the Millennials, could be the next Great Generation, and the Greatest Generation does make up our mass of numbers right now, who are sadly dying off. Does this mean, that my generation will join in great numbers there isn't anything positive, but the signs are there.
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I'm glad you came back on this brother. I've got a pretty high stack of masonic literature to read over the next several months and wasn't relishing the thought of pouring over another volume to read what you just gave me.

Yes, you may be right. I'm a baby-boomer who joined four-plus years ago. But I don't see my generation banging on the front door. Lots of members of the "beat" generation around but not large numbers of boomers.
 
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