and their families. During the opening ceremonies, Smith shared specific lessons he had learned from Elks around the country who had been successful at attracting and retaining members for their lodges. At one lodge, members of the membership committee combed through the delinquent membership lists for the past five years, called each delinquent member, and invited him or her to return to the lodge. At another lodge, the established members made a point of warmly greeting any new member who visits the lodge. As an aid to memory for the established members, the lodge gave each new member a red badge with his or her name on it. First on the agenda for the business meeting on Monday was outgoing GER Smith’s formal report, which focused on the good news that Elks’ giving to the Elks National Foundation contin- ued to set new records. Per capita donations for 2010–2011 were $6.618, nearly 30 cents higher than the previous year’s record, and total giving by the foundation for the year was $8,514,486, which for the second year in a row represented a $1 million increase on the previous year. Next, PGER Robert Sabin, the chairman of the ENF Board of Trust-
value. The grants will be worth $2,000 each in 2011–2012, which is up from $500 in the 2009–2010 year and $1,000 in the 2010–2011 year. He also reported that the number of Promise Grants awarded would increase from 300 to 500.
Tuesday’s session, during which the various Grand Lodge Committees reported on their work, departed
New Lodges C
HARTERS and/or dispensations were granted to four new lodges in 2010–2011:
Mandarin/St. Johns, Florida, Lodge No. 2866 Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Lodge No. 2867 Anchorage, Alaska, Lodge No. 2868 Marshall County, Alabama, Lodge No. 2869
ees, reported that the foundation’s charitable giving would also continue to grow. For the 2011–2012 year, the foundation will distribute $21.7 million, which is an increase of $2.5 million over the previous year’s record amount. For the second year in a row, PGER Sabin announced that Grati- tude Grants, which are given to every lodge that meets the GER’s per capita goal, and Promise Grants, which are awarded to lodges to help them put on community events, would double in
50
significantly from its usual format. In past years, the chairman of each committee delivered a detailed summary of the previous year’s work that included all relevant facts and figures and then presented awards to individuals, lodges, and state associa- tions for outstanding work in the committee’s area of service. These reports typically took twenty to thirty minutes each. This year, in order to allow suffi- cient time to discuss the Report on the
Future of Elkdom, each chairman took less than five minutes to present a much briefer report. Each chairman referred the delegates to written reports, which contained detailed numerical breakdowns of each committee’s activities, that were published ahead of time on the Grand Lodge website, and the committees presented their awards after the business session to award winners in the exhibit hall.
The business session started with the report of the chairman of the National Memorial and Publication Commission, which was given by PGER James McQuillan. In his report on The Elks Magazine, PGER McQuillan noted that the commission had not requested an increase in the $3.50 annual assessment for The Elks Magazine in more than two decades, which has left the magazine in a tenuous financial position that required the commission to take action to ensure its future financial stability. McQuillan asked for, and received, the approval of the assembled delegates for the commission to be granted the authority to reduce the magazine’s publication frequency to no fewer than six issues a year, should it find such a step to be necessary.
PGER McQuillan then reported on the Veterans Memorial Restoration
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