Herschel Lodge 1894
November 2015
Brethren,
The Charity Stewards Report for Installation meeting:
I am pleased to report that our relief chest currently has health balance.
During the year donations of £808 was made to the following charities (from the Benevolent Fund).
I am reminded by the new Provincial Grand Charity Steward W Bro Ron King that the next Festival is not far off.
The Festival will start officially in Oct 2016.
Brethren, in the New Year you will be able to donate directly to the New Festival Relief Chest and I would hope the majority of Brethren would want to be part of this. Details will be made available in the first quarter of 2016.
Brethren you will now hopefully all be aware of the launch of the new Masonic Charitable Foundation, this is amalgamating all the work carried out by the four Main masonic Charities. Buckinghamshire is proud to announce that it will be the first Province in the country to launch a Festival for the new Masonic Charity, so in short no pressure on us at all.
http://mcf.org.uk/
The last Cheque Presentation Evening in the Province saw over £100,000 donated by Lodges to charities, the next Cheque Night will be in Slough in February 2016. At that cheque night it is hoped that a number of Lodges might like to be some of the first to present a donation to the New Festival and allow the Province to kick start at the official launch.
Brethren, Charity is one of cornerstones of our Institution, but it is fully understood by every one that charitable donations should be given within an individual’s means. “Without detriment to ourselves or connections”.
Once again thank you all for your donations during the year.
RELIEF CHEST DONATIONS
As a Lodge our Relief Chest has always been there when we need to draw down money to support Festivals and appeals. The only way this is possible is by Brethren giving regular monthly donations, which, in the past, could be a lengthy process. I am therefore delighted to say that the Grand Charity is pleased to announce the launch of a new Paperless Direct Debit system.
Donors are now able to submit a simple Direct Debit Instruction through a safe and secure section of the Charity’s website. The setup process is completely paperless and only takes a few minutes to complete. This facility is available to all Relief Chest holders and it does not require any forms to be completed or posted by the donor.
Link to the: Grand Charity Direct Debit
Please Note: from early next year you will be able to set a direct debit directly to the Festival Relief Chest, the money you donate to our Relief Chest goes towards the Festival so it maybe easier to donate directly to the Festival Relief Chest.
I am happy to talk through the Relief Chest Scheme and how it works if anyone needs clarification. It is the most tax efficient way to donate to Charity .
If you consider doing this then I suggest you make the following calculation, take the usual amount you donate each meeting and multiply it by 6, then divided it by 12. That will give you a monthly amount to pay, I have included an example below using £5 as the usual amount.
£5 x 6 meetings = £30
£30 divided by 12 months = £2.50 per month
If you decided to use this method, PLEASE ENSURE THAT YOU INFORM ME (so that I can add it to our records)
THE BMCF
The Buckinghamshire Masonic Centenary Fund was established in 1991 to donate to charities and good causes within Buckinghamshire in the name of Buckinghamshire Freemasons. Since its inception, the BMCF has given away over £1 million pounds in donations to local causes. It is funded via interest on its investments and by members of Lodges donating every year. The figure requested is based on a per capita amount and has always been £2 per member since it was started in 1991, but was raised, for the first time last year to £3 per member. I wanted to mention this because every Brother should be aware of this Buckinghamshire Masonic Charity as you may belong to an organisation which may benefit from a donation from the BMCF. For further information, visit our Provincial Website at www.buckspgl.org
Please note that we are currently update with our donations
Brethren I hope you found this charity briefing helpful.
W.Bro Damian Waite
Charity Steward