TIPS TO INCREASE MEMBERSHIP
by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
"A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry"
"If the community doesn't know about you, they can't say anything about you,
and ignorance breeds misconceptions."
- Bryce's Law
Within Freemasonry we have an interesting paradox, whereas most of its members admit
membership is a significant and growing problem, nobody seems to be interested
in doing anything about it, particularly Grand Lodges who offer little in terms of
direction. Basically, the responsibility is relegated to the Craft Lodges who are
not necessarily trained or equipped to effectively promote membership. Soliciting
the general public is generally frowned upon in most Masonic circles, yet there are
some Grand jurisdictions where you can approach a person if you believe him to be a
worthy candidate.
If we were truly serious about membership, we would do such things as advertising
or offer a bounty to our current members to bring in candidates. Then again, this
might not produce the type of people we want. Instead, we need to develop a program
of disseminating information to the public to encourage qualified candidates to take
the initiative to contact us.
Since we really cannot wait for the Grand Lodge to lead us in membership, what can
the Craft Lodge do on their own? Plenty. The following are ten suggestions for
your Lodge to try:
- Appoint a Membership Committee, complete with chairman, members, funding,
and direction. Do not assemble another frivolous Lodge committee that
doesn't do anything. Appoint a committee that will actually chart a
course of action and guide the Lodge accordingly.
- Improve Freemasonry's image in your community - this is needed to leave a positive
impression about the Masons and your Lodge. This can be done by doing a variety
of simple things: clean up your Lodge building, participate in community parades,
civic groups, schools, little league, youth soccer, etc. IMPORTANT - It is simply
not sufficient to give money to these organizations, you must get people to
volunteer their time in some capacity. And by all means wear a Masonic symbol
(e.g., shirt, hat, etc.) to indicate you are members of your Lodge.
You may also want to post a Masonic sign regarding your Lodge at the city limits
to denote when your Lodge meets. But if the community doesn't know about you,
they can't say anything about you, and ignorance breeds misconceptions.
- Improve relations with the allied and appendant bodies of Freemasonry, after all,
they are in the same boat as the Craft Lodge is in terms of membership. Try
cooperating on membership projects. If you scratch their back, I am sure
they will scratch yours.
- Improve your Lodge's presence on the Internet. All of your young candidates
know how to surf the web, so you want to capitalize on this rather inexpensive
media. If you haven't got a web page, get one. If you've got a web page,
update it (nobody trusts an outdated web page). Post your latest news and
announcements, and maintain a positive and progressive image. Also be sure
to include a section on Membership. Finally, make sure your meta-tag words
for your web site are updated and that your web page is properly registered
with the various search engines.
- Host Public Events to show Freemasonry in action. Perhaps an open house to
discuss what Freemasonry is (and isn't), or to recognize local community
leaders (e.g., teacher of the year, fireman/policeman of the year, etc.).
You may also want to host a sporting event, such as a softball game or
golf/tennis tournament for charity. By allowing the public to hobnob
with you, they may be more inclined to join you.
- Prepare and distribute a flyer to describe what Freemasonry is and how to
join. A comparable version of the flyer should be made available on the
Lodge's web site. I'm not necessarily advocating mass mailings of the flyer,
but I would make it available to anyone who would like to pick one up. If
your Lodge is participating in a local community event, you may want to
distribute the flyer at a table or booth. Most libraries also allow such
flyers to be distributed as well.
- Circulate your Lodge newsletter to "germ carriers" around the community,
such as civic leaders and educators to make them cognizant of your
plans and activities (which they may want to join in). Such people will
inevitably talk about your Lodge. Also, perhaps it is time to upgrade
the looks and content of your newsletter. Make it look more progressive
and add meaningful material, not the same, dry, inconsequential articles
each time.
- Post key Lodge dates on community calendars, either on the Internet or
in the local newspaper. Candidates and Brothers visiting your area
cannot visit your Lodge if they do not know when it meets.
- Write and post newsworthy Masonic articles either in local newspapers
or on the Internet. There are some free PR posting facilities available
to you, such as PR Leap (https://secure.prleap.com/) among others.
- Approach college fraternities, military bases, and DeMolay Chapters
to discuss what Freemasonry is all about and perhaps hold joint projects
with them. I discussed this some time ago under,
"Masonic Farm Clubs."
Your biggest challenge in terms of membership is repairing your broken lines
of communications with the community, other Masonic bodies, and your candidates.
If they are informed and impressed, they will come.
This list is not all inclusive. I'm sure there are many other activities you
can perform at the Craft Lodge level. I just wanted to demonstrate there are
many simple things you can do to improve membership. In the end, your membership
is based on your willingness to address the problem. Pretending a problem
doesn't exist will not help, nor will ignoring it. But I guess some people
have to wait until the doors finally close for the last time before they
recognize that a problem exists which, of course, is too late.
Keep the Faith.
NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not
necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction
or any other Masonic related body. As with all of my Masonic articles herein,
please feel free to reuse them in Masonic publications or re-post them on Masonic
web sites (except Florida). When doing so, please add the following:
Article reprinted with permission of the author and www.FreemasonInformation.com
Please forward me a copy of the publication when it is produced.
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Copyright © 2007 by Tim Bryce. All rights reserved
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