Fundraising for the Festival

It is our hope that you are all keen to support this Festival in whichever way you are able. The Appeal Committee can advise on specific fund raising Initiatives and would like feedback on your successes (and failures) so good practice can be shared across the Province. Your first port of call for advice and guidance should be your Lodge or Chapter Festival Representative. He it turn can seek guidance from the District Festival Respresentative. Our Fundraising Manager is WBro Terry Kakoullis who will be pleased to offer additional support and advice if required, particularly in relation to fund raising events and functions.

The following offers some initial direction on what methods are available for donating and may include options you or your Lodge / Chapter / Committee haven't yet considered.

Redirect and Refocus Your Giving

Within the Lodge

Worshipful Masters, Chapter Principals and Lodge / Chapter Committees may consider suggesting that 'end of year' donations are either wholly or partly given to the Festival. We recognise that as a Private Lodge you can choose where to give your charitable funds and that there are many calls on your generosity (the ELMC, local good causes, your masonic Hall etc). Please consider the Festival when you are making your deliberations.
Collective Lodge Donations wil eventually summate in order for your Lodge to attain one of the honorific statuses which can then be proudly displayed on your summons. It can be quite amazing how developing a pattern of fundraising initiatives (Festive Board penny collections, extra social nights, Old English Nights etc) can soon raise a tidy sum.
Raising money at social events puts fundraising and fun in the same bracket and what better way to give money when one is enjoying it.

Regular Payment Promise

Please speak to your Lodge or Chapter Festival Representative about these. Carrying out a regular payment promise over a period of time is probably one of the most painless ways of giving and, as far as we are concerned, one of the best. There is a form to complete (including a box to tick if you are a UK Tax Payer so the payments are Gift Aided so we can reclaim tax paid) and that's all there is to it. Whether you can afford £2 per month or £20 per month will be dictated by your own personal circumstances. However, the more who donate in this way boosts the coffers, decreases administration and very soon respectable figures are raised for the Festival. The extra 25p we can currenly reclaim per pound makes a huge difference. If you are already paying a regular promise for the ELMC or another Charity and you can't safely afford another, you may consider reducing the donation you are already giving to start some payments for the RMBI 2015 Festival.

Personal Donations

Any single sum from a tax-payer also qualifies for Gift Aid under which the Appeal Fund can claim tax back immediately. A donation of £100 will result in the Festival receiving £125. to qualify as a Steward (enabling you to then purchase a Festival Jewel) is only £75. You can also make such donations direct to the RMBI on-line - click below. Be sure to specify that you are from East Lancashire and are making your donation to support the RMBI 2015 Festival:

Fund Raising Events

It is hoped that all Areas will organise one large fund raising event per year. There are plenty of venues in the Province which can cater for 200 people or more. Let's make sure we involve our Ladies and families at all of such events - it is important that they are part of our fundraising, that they understand what the Festival is about and that we all support the Festival together. you may consider Cabaret Evenings and Sportsman’s Dinners - where the money is made through ticket sales, program advertising, and raffle or auction prizes.

GIFT AID envelopes are ideal for collecting donations at such events (BE CAREFUL THOUGH - THEY SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR RAFFLES).

Smaller events such as Quiz Nights, Race Nights, Sunday Lunches, White Table Festive Boards and Ladies to dine can be held at our Halls to give them the support they need too.

Outside fund-raising -BBQs, Hog Roasts coffee morning’s cheese and wine parties, sponsored runs, swims and walks, etc can be easily arranged and organised.

Don't forget - you can make your own online donations page with Just Giving:

Sponsorship forms

There will be some individuals who do not have computer access to set this up, or who, despite the advantages of using the web, would prefer to use sponsorship forms. If this is the case then please consider using the Freemasons' Grand Charity's own forms for your event. This again will enable tax reclaim; your monies and completed paperwork should be sent to the Freemasons' Grand Charity who will look after the tax reclaim on our behalf and allocate the money to our Festival Chest. You can download the form and personlise it for your event HERE.

Please note - this sponsorship form asks that cheques are to be made payable to the "Freemasons' Grand Charity" and payments and forms sent direct to them. We will forward these on your behalf and, in any case, should have sight of them first so that we are aware. This is the only time that cheques should be made payable to the Freemasons' Grand Charity. All other Festival payments should come to the Festival Office at Bridge Street and be made out to "EL 2015 Festival".

Other

Ladies you can provide a vital part of our fund-raising effort so we will do all we can to keep you well informed about the Festival. Brethren - make use of your District Notice Boards, Newsletters and this website to promote the Festival and report on your Festival news.

Please speak to your Lodge or Chapter Festival Representative and try to understand what we are achieving by supporting the Festival; be clear as to why we need to support the RMBI during this Festival: Why the money is needed, where and how it is used and who benefits from it.

Remember, although the East Lancashire 2015 Festival is primarily being run to provide the extra cash without which the RMBI could not support all its beneficiaries, our own East Lancashire Province has beneficiaries needing that extra support all the time. So every year, one Province or another is running a Festival to provide the extra support (and cash) which is needed, in part, to support East Lancashire RMBI beneficiaries. And who’s to say which of us, at some time in the future, might not be obliged to become one of those beneficiaries.

Why should we support the Festival?

The aim of the RMBI 2015 Festival Appeal is to raise funds in support of the RMBI for the year 2015. The Provincial Grand Master has set no targets … and no pressure-to-give will be placed on anyone. We are all aware of the promises we made, at the time when we were Initiated, to help those less fortunate than ourselves. We will undoubtedly give as our circumstances allow. Why? “Because we’re Freemasons and we care”!

Let us remember the Three Grand Principals on which Freemasonry is founded … Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth … and the pledge that we gave, when we were Initiated, to embrace the virtue of Charity. Philanthropy should be in the heart and mind of every Freemason.

There is another question that we might rightly ask … ‘Why should we direct some of our charitable giving, or additional charitable giving, to the 2015 Festival in support of the RMBI’? Please be aware that some £500,000 comes back into our Province every year from the four central Masonic Charities, by way of grants, relief and other support. The RMBI is one of these and the one which it is now our turn to support. Therefore not only should we want to support it, but in order to play our part in helping to maintain the balance of what the beneficiaries in our Province receive from the central Charities we need to make our own contributions to support them.

The last time East Lancashire held a Festival for the RMBI was 1960. Prior to that it was just after the turn into the 20th Century! Please give generously Brethren.