Silent auctions for fraternal lodges, set up in minutes

You are not a 501(c)(3), and it matters here more than anywhere

Fraternal organizations are generally exempt under 501(c)(8) as fraternal beneficiary societies or 501(c)(10) as domestic fraternal societies. Neither is a charitable organization under 501(c)(3), and the difference is not academic.

Contributions are generally deductible only where they are used exclusively for charitable, religious, scientific, literary or educational purposes — and the analysis differs between the two classifications. A lodge fundraising for its own building, its own social activities or its own member benefits is generally not in that territory at all.

• Establish your own classification before saying anything to a donor
• Separate charitable fundraising from lodge fundraising, in accounts and in language
• Many jurisdictions operate a separate charitable foundation for exactly this reason — find out whether yours does
• Do not copy deductibility language from a charity's auction page, which is the specific error this silo exists to prevent

The full distinction and what to write on the page: deductibility and your classification.

The building is the asset and the trap

Many lodges own a hall built when the membership was three times its current size — with a roof, a boiler, a kitchen, insurance and a tax bill that do not scale down.

The fundraising instinct is to raise for the building, and the building is precisely the purpose least likely to support a deductible contribution. It is also the purpose the public is least motivated by.

• Raise charitably for the charitable work, accurately described
• Fund the building through hall rental, member assessment and lodge social events, described as what they are
• Where the hall genuinely serves the community — a food pantry, a scout troop, a polling place, a blood drive — that is a different and stronger argument
• And consider honestly whether the hall is an asset the lodge should still be carrying, which is a board conversation many lodges avoid for a decade too long

The practical questions a hall brings: the building, gaming and the bar.

Nobody knows what you do

Ritual and members-only practice mean a lodge presents the community with a closed door, a car park and a sign. The charitable work behind it — the scholarships, the disaster relief, the children's hospitals, the food, the quiet emergency help — is real, in aggregate very substantial, and essentially unknown locally.

An auction is a reason to open the door and say what the lodge funds. Publish the figures, name the local programmes, and treat the campaign as the first public statement the lodge has made in years: charity night formats.

The membership is ageing and doing everything

The constraint shared with service clubs and sharper here. Scope the auction to the members who actually turn out, run it online where the hall would need staffing, and consider whether the auxiliary — which in many lodges is the more active body — should run it.

Working it out from an ageing membership and a building

Size against the members who actually turn out, not the roster — and against the community already inside the hall.

• Members who attend, times the businesses each has known for decades
• The auxiliary, which in many lodges is the more active body
• Groups that use the hall — scouts, recovery meetings, pantries, blood drives

The full method: how much can a lodge raise?

When an auction is the wrong instrument

Before the classification question is answered, because everything a donor is told depends on it. If the purpose is the building, do not run a charitable-looking campaign for it. And if the grand lodge requires approval or reporting for fundraising in the organization's name, that comes first.

Reaching past the membership

Channel order: members and the auxiliary; past and lapsed members, who are numerous and remember the lodge fondly; the families of members, who are frequently more reachable than the members; groups that use the hall — scouts, recovery meetings, blood drives, pantries — and their networks; businesses members have used for decades; other lodges and service clubs; and local media.

One move worth building in: the groups that use the hall. A lodge whose building hosts a scout troop, a recovery meeting and a food pantry has an entire set of communities passing through its doors weekly who have no idea the lodge funds anything.

General mechanics: how to promote a silent auction and marketing templates.

Ritual, privacy and what may be shown

Lodges have practices, spaces and objects that are not public, and the boundaries differ by organization and by jurisdiction.

• Ask the lodge's own leadership what may be photographed, shown or described
• Regalia, ritual objects and certain spaces are generally not auction items and frequently not photographable
• Historic material may be jurisdictional property rather than the lodge's
• Where a tour or an open evening is offered, agree in advance exactly what visitors see
• And brief solicitors, because a proud member will offer more access than the lodge intends

Recipient privacy

Lodges quietly help members, widows, families and neighbours, frequently in small towns. None of it appears in fundraising material — no names, no descriptions, no counts small enough to identify, and no thanking a family publicly.

For a members-only organization with a hall, an auxiliary and a service mission whose constraints overlap substantially, see veterans organizations. For a service club with a national parent and a similar small-membership problem, see Lions clubs.

General information, not legal or tax advice for your lodge. Whether contributions are deductible depends on your exemption classification and on the purpose the funds are used for — this is exactly the situation to put in front of your own adviser and your grand lodge before telling anybody anything.

Twelve weeks, and the first four are questions

• Week 12 — establish the exemption classification and what may accurately be said about deductibility; find out whether an associated foundation exists
• Week 12 — grand lodge approval, emblem and name rules, and any reporting obligation confirmed
• Week 11 — where the hall will be used: occupancy, accessibility, insurance, licence and food service answered
• Week 10 — members asked at a meeting for skills and relationships; assignments made and written down
• Week 8 — the auxiliary; members work their assignments
• Week 6 — hall user groups, past and lapsed members, other lodges
• Week 4 — wider community
• Week 2 — catalogue closed; nothing involving regalia, ritual space or membership
• Charity night — bidding closes; the building open and what the lodge funds on display

Three jobs, and one has no template

• Classification and language — one person gets the accountant's answer and writes the sentence for the page. Everything a donor is told depends on it
• The building — occupancy, accessibility, licence, insurance and food service, all answered before an evening is planned
• The relationship list — assigned, recorded, and kept beyond an officer year, because officers rotate annually and the knowledge leaves with them

Where lodge auctions go wrong

• "Tax deductible" copied from a charity template onto a 501(c)(8) or (c)(10) page
• A charitable-looking campaign for the roof, which is the purpose least likely to support a deductible contribution
• Mixing charitable and lodge funds in one account and one appeal
• Adding a raffle or a gun raffle because it is traditional, without checking gaming licensing
• Serving the public on a members' licence
• Offering access to ritual space or regalia, which a proud member will volunteer
• Turning a charity night into a recruitment pitch, which makes the charity look like a pretext

What it costs, and the two things to face

Almost nothing in cash — the hall is free and the members can cook.

Two things worth putting to a board honestly. First: the community sees a closed door and has never been told what the lodge funds, and an auction is a reason to publish figures that are frequently impressive. Second: a hall built for a membership three times the current one carries a roof, a boiler and a tax bill that do not scale down — and hall rental, not a charity auction, is the honest answer to that.

After it closes

• Publish what was raised and what the lodge gave in total last year — locally, on the sign, in the paper
• Write the classification, foundation and grand lodge answers into the lodge's permanent records; officers rotate annually
• Add the hall's user groups to a standing contact list
• Keep the relationship list beyond this year's officers
• Ask the grand lodge for the state and national giving figures, and use them next time