Fellowship – With the holidays approaching, arrange a party near the date of one, and focus on children.

Community Service – Mount a drive to collect coats for kids. Arrange to have them cleaned. 

Fellowship – Hold family events such as a family day-long field trip, father-child dinner or cookout, and father-child softball or basketball.

Community Service – Volunteer time for events or occasions identified by a school, such as keeping the library open for adult reading or literacy, beautify the school grounds, refinish the gym floor, raise funds for a significant school event.

Membership – Invite prospective members and their wives to a “Who Are the Masons?” meeting. Serve a dinner and present a program about Freemasonry, its history, tenets and your lodge’s activities. Present them a petition and ask them to fill it out before they leave for the evening.

Communication – Mention upcoming activities every time members meet. Regularly review your lodge’s schedule at meetings and degrees, but don’t forget ritual practice or even when passing on the street. Hand out the lodge schedule at the installation of officers when you may have the highest attendance of the year, post it in your lodge and put it on your agenda at every meeting.  

Lodge Meetings - Men want to attend meetings when there is a special program that interests them. Consider the following steps when preparing for a meeting:

Plan for every meeting in detail. A pre-planned meeting forces you to consider the needs of members.

Make something special happen at least six times a year during meetings. Involve your members in the program and its planning.

Call on people in your community who can provide excellent programs for your lodge, whether they are related to Masonry or not.

Ritual Work – Set a ritual practice schedule for the officers who will serve during the year you are Master. Also, allow time later in the year for the incoming officers to prepare for proficiency examinations conducted by your Deputy Grand Custodian.

Fellowship – Appoint a Bring a Brother to Lodge Committee to re-involve inactive Brethren and to promote lodge attendance. Committee members call inactive brethren and offer to take them to lodge. During the contact, the Committee member should try to discover if the inactive Brother has any special needs that are not being met.

Community Service – Recognize teaching or instructional excellence by granting annual awards or scholarships to teachers who met or exceeded expectations in working with children. (A cash award could be used to further the winning teacher’s education or involvement in the school.)

Membership – Find ways to cause people to ask you about Freemasonry, such as the following:  wear a Masonic ring; discuss famous Masons; place the square and compass emblem on your car; bring up Freemasonry in any way that you can without asking others to join; point out Masonic influence on history; and invite prospects to non-Masonic social gatherings with Masons.

Communication – Tips on how to write an effective news release are contained in the Lodge Leadership Manual, which can be found on the Grand Lodge Web site. (See the opening paragraph to this article.)

Ritual Work – For the ongoing health of your Lodge, more than one brother should be able to perform each part of our work. Provide for additional brothers to perform the work so there is a backup for each part. No one should “own” a part and be the only one to deliver it. Brothers who learn new parts should be scheduled to alternate the performance of the work so they maintain what they’ve learned.

Grand Lodge Programs – The Masonic All-Star Marching Band Clinic starts Tuesday, July 15, and boasts the involvement of more than 200 high school students from across the state in performances at the Shrine Bowl Parade and during halftime of the Shrine Bowl Game. Consider sponsoring one or more local students to the camp, and serve as a chaperone for the camp.

Fellowship – Appoint a committee to identify and contact widows of Lodge brethren. Maintain a list of widows, their addresses and telephone numbers, and call them on a regular basis to make sure their needs are being met, if they need handiwork done around the house and inform them of special lodge activities. Serve as helpers to the widows we have obligated ourselves to aid and protect.

Community Service – Volunteer a few hours a month to work with teachers to read to children, listen to them in small groups and work with them on special assignments.

Membership – Teach members what to say when a prospective member gives a reason why he can’t join your lodge. For good explanations to frequently used excuses, go to page 11 of Section 7 - Membership of the Lodge Leadership Manual. Download it from the Grand Lodge Web site at the Downloads tab under the Publications category:  http://www.glne.org/  

Communication – A lodge newsletter can be as simple as a typed letter or a full-fledged publication. Either one can effectively communicate information to your members. For tips on how to produce a newsletter, refer to page 7 in Section 8 – Communication of the Lodge Leadership Manual. Download it from the Grand Lodge Web site at the Downloads tab under the Publications category: http://www.glne.org/

Finances – Include in your lodge budget a line item for maintenance of your building. Many lodge buildings have become unsightly, both inside and out, due primarily to neglect. Each Lodge should establish a long-range preventive maintenance program to steadily improve the usability and appearance of their building. Much preventive maintenance could be performed simply by cleaning, caulking and painting.

Meetings – Save time in monthly meetings by summarizing minutes, correspondence and communications. Post the minutes and the report of the treasurer instead of reading them, or make copies to hand out.

Ritual Work – It is wise to not only ensure your officers are proficient, but to also build a backup of brothers proficient in the parts who can perform the work for your Lodge. Rotate presentation of the parts so all have the opportunity to reinforce what they’ve memorized.

Grand Lodge Programs – Provide a valued community service and increase awareness of your Lodge by holding a CHild Identification Program (CHIP) in your community.

Fellowship – Charge officers to welcome all members and visitors before and after every meeting.

Community Service – Hold an event with a local school to raise funds for a specific need, such as computers.

Membership – Target men who would make good Masons. Ask members to list men who are relatives, neighbors, work associates, professionals, coaches, business owners, teachers, service providers, community leaders, and members of civic groups and your church. See chapter 7 in the manual for a form to use.

Communication – Refer to the form news releases in the manual or your secretary’s binder to help promote your lodge’s activities.

Finances – Prepare a budget for your lodge by referring to previous expenditures and income.