Grand lodge reporting

A local lodge is a subordinate body of a grand lodge, state association or national organization, and that relationship carries obligations that a fundraising committee will not think to ask about.

What to establish before fundraising

• Whether fundraising in the organization's name needs approval, and from whom
• Use of the name, emblem and regalia in promotional material and on merchandise, which is generally governed and sometimes licensed
• Whether funds raised must be reported to the grand lodge, and in what form
• Whether an associated charitable foundation exists and whether it should receive the money
• What may be spent on what, which the constitution or code frequently specifies more tightly than officers remember
• Whether a percentage is remitted upward, which some organizations require
• Insurance, which may be arranged at jurisdiction level and may or may not cover a public event

None of this is difficult. All of it is easier before the campaign than after.

The emblem is not the lodge's to use freely

Fraternal names, emblems and symbols are generally protected and their use governed by the parent organization — and in some cases by statute. Merchandise, signage, a logo on a poster and a printed programme all need checking.

Ask before production. Authorisation afterwards is not always available, and a box of unusable shirts is an expensive lesson.

Reporting is also an opportunity

The obligation cuts both ways. A lodge that reports its charitable giving upward is contributing to figures the national organization publishes — which are frequently impressive and which the local lodge can then use.

• Ask the grand lodge what the organization gives nationally each year
• Ask for the state figure, which is more persuasive locally than a national one
• Use both alongside your own local numbers

A lodge that can say what its organization gives every day nationally, and what this lodge gave locally last year, has answered the two questions a donor has.

Grants run the other way too

Many jurisdictions and national foundations make grants to subordinate lodges for community projects, disaster relief and specific programmes. A lodge fundraising for something that could be grant-funded should apply as well.

It is also frequently a matching opportunity: money the lodge raises locally can unlock a jurisdictional contribution, which is a genuinely strong thing to tell donors.

Officers rotate, so write it down

Most fraternal organizations rotate officers annually. Everything on this page — the approvals, the classification, the foundation, the reporting, the emblem rules — disappears with the officer who learned it.

A one-page record in the lodge's own files, dated, is the difference between compounding knowledge and relearning it every year.

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.