If you want to skip directly to Fundraiser Ideas, they are beneath the sub-title: "What Other Visitors Have Said", toward the bottom of this page.
Some lodges choose to donate money from their fundraising activities to worthy causes at the national level, such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Special Olympics, United Way or other well-known charities.
However, the majority of Masonic lodges prefer to provide Masonic charity at the local level.
Why do Masonic lodges actively promote fundraising activities?
Masonic Fundraiser Activities are based upon Masonic Relief:
The tenets (principles) of Freemasonry are Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth. Brotherly love and truth are pretty much self explanatory.
Masonic Relief
Relief is a form of charity. It is a means to help our fellow man, who, no matter how industrious and frugal he may be, through sudden misfortune, or other conditions over which he has no control, may be in temporary need of a helping hand.
Relief for the misfortunate did not begin with Freemasonry. You will find it written in the holy scriptures of holy books of all religious faiths.
It can be found several hundred times in the Christian Bible. It is in the Torah, the Prophets, in the Gospels and in the Epistles.
Luke 6:38 For if you give, you will get!
Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over.
Whatever measure you use to give,...large or small,...will be used to measure what is given back to you."
Charity Fund
Therefore, most Masonic lodges have a Charity Fund. Typically, this fund does not contain a large amount of money.
This money is obtained from small donations given to the lodge, sporadically, throughout the year from some of its members, but the majority of the Charity Fund is obtained from lodge fundraising activities in active partnership within their community.
Fundraisers and donations received by the lodge provide the funding for such charitable acts.
Note: Lodges should always refer to their Grand Lodge's By-Laws before embarking on any fundraiser which includes games of chance such as bingo, raffles, contests and lotteries because these are illegal in many Masonic jurisdictions and in many U.S. states.
One such beneficiary of Masonic fundraisers are Masonic scholarships.
Masonic Scholarships
As an example, each year the lodge forms a committee and contacts the scholarship coordinator from a local school.
The committee and the school determine a scholastically-worthy student who is in need of the scholarship to assist them in achieving higher education.
The scholarship recipient may be male or female and the award is based upon need only. Race, religion and Masonic affiliation is not a factor in the award of such scholarship.
In active partnership, the school, in turn, agrees to assist the lodge in promoting these fundraisers toward obtaining these funds.
Schools are requested to pass out flyers about lodge fundraiser activities such as chili dinners, spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts and other types of lodge fundraisers which directly benefit their chosen recipient.
Dinners and Breakfasts
Does your lodge hold dinners, breakfasts or other food gatherings to raise money for your Charity Fund?
Does your lodge have an innovative or fun way to raise funds or make their charity dinners memorable and special?
Does your lodge have a special Charity Committee designated by the new Worshipful Master which gets together and discusses new, fundraising ideas they would like to promote for the year?
What are your lodge's most successful Masonic fundraisers?
Click on the links, below to see Masonic fundraisers contributions and ideas written by other visitors to this page...
Lodge Fundraiser Ideas: $ 2000. Raised in Charity Golf Tournament
This will be our 9th charity golf tournament in May.
We raise over $2000.00 for the Safe Home of Hanover, PA.
It not only is a fun event, but donations …
Lodge Fundraiser Raffle
A lodge fundraiser raffle can be a great way to boost funds to benefit charity.
Simon: Charity raffles can be a fun way to raise funds, however, …
Lodge Bi-Monthly Breakfast
Our lodge bi-monthly breakfast is regularly scheduled on Saturday morning. By being regularly scheduled, members of our and other lodges can plan to come …
Masonic Fundraiser Idea: Collect Old Cell Phones Not rated yet
There are places that take old cell phones & give you money for them. Leave a box at your Lodge, collect at you school, work.
Turn them in & get the …
Masonic Fundraiser - BBQ Competition Not rated yet
Like many Lodges, we have many Brothers that "say" they can BBQ. They go on and on about how their Ribs, Chicken, Pork, Brisket is unlike any other that …
Vendor Day Fundraiser Not rated yet
I am not a Mason but I am a wife of a mason and in LOSNA. My year to raise funds for ways and means occurred 2 years ago. While I was planning my year, …
Lodge Fundraiser
Wine Tasting and Silent Auction Not rated yet
We wanted to hold an event that will allow us to do the following: raise funds for our lodge building, get community exposure and have a venue where we …
Silent Auction Lodge Fundraiser Not rated yet
Mountain View, MO Lodge #637 recently held a silent auction lodge fundraiser during our town's "Pioneer Days." It was a great success.
In preparation …
Fundraiser Competition Not rated yet
Hello, Brethren,
We've been kicking around a lot of ideas as to different fundraisers. But, the one idea I came up with was not a fundraiser at all. …
NO CHICKEN Chicken Sale Not rated yet
What is a No Chicken Chicken Sale, you may ask?
During the August stated meeting, one of the Brothers made the suggestion that we should hold a fundraiser …
Lodge Calendars Fundraiser Not rated yet
We took photos of select lodge buildings and other Masonic buildings in the area, (i.e. Scottish Rite and Shrine) and then sold the calendars to the area …
Lodge Fundraiser - Hypnotist Show and Dinner Not rated yet
The Masonic Lodge in Warkworth held a lodge fundraiser hypnotist show and dinner to raise funds on April 2010 while Joe Mechetuk was Master of the lodge. …
Gordon Food Service Pie Sale Not rated yet
We recently completed our first Gordon Food Service Pie Sale fundraiser, a non-profit organization food program.
The programs are quite simple and …
Lodge Fish Dinners Not rated yet
Grand Blanc Lodge hosts a monthly fish dinner to help raise funds for our lodge operations.
We raise approximately 5 to 6 thousand per year.
…
Football Mania Masonic Fundraiser Not rated yet
We used Football Mania as our lodge fundraiser this year for the first time. So far we have raised over $2000. (70% of total sales are returned as net …
Chili, Soup and Karaoke Lodge Fundraiser Not rated yet
In past years, our lodge has had a chili and soup dinner in January or February to raise money for our Charity Fund.
Typically, we would raise around …
Raise funds by making Masonic Candy
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