The North Carolina Mason

July/August 2018 The North Carolina Mason Page 3 Hiram's Whisper is a vocabulary app for the Freemasons of North Carolina. You must be a member in Good Standing of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of North Carolina in order to access this app. You will be required to submit your name and membership number to verify your affiliation. You may then access up to 10 words within a 24-hour period. taking a closer look at per capita What would a $5 increase actually pay for? A $5 per capita increase would generate enough to cover the following items – not in order of importance or size – and assist in replenishing the depleted savings fund the Grand Lodge has used to make up for past budget deficits: #Philanthropies (Masonic Home for Children and WhiteStone). #Salaries and related costs mandated by law. #All Grand Lodge building operations, including utilities, maintenance of building and grounds, repairs. #Committee funding, which pays for programs, educational events, special committee projects. #Covers Grand Line dues owed to conferences we attend. #Funds Annual Communication, including all related expenses, credentials, event rooms, report books and food. #Funds creation, printing and distribution of The North Carolina Mason to 37,000 NC Freemasons. #Production of candidate supplies, books, etc. #Pays for service and Grand Master's pins, 50- and 60-year certificates, etc. #Covers costs of filing the tax forms for lodges that allows them to maintain tax-exempt status. #Funds archiving of treasured historic items and papers on site at the Grand Lodge. #Makes archives, papers and Grand Lodge personnel available to help brothers and others doing genealogical studies. #Funds the cost of negotiating surety bonds for lodges. #Provides lodge access to a lawyer on some questions of law. 37,000+ 4,963 882 Number of Masons on the rolls of North Carolina lodges Number of 50-year or more Masons exempted from per capita Number of non-payment of dues by members in 2017 Masons Can! Remember to bring 10 cans of food or $10 to this years' Annual Communication in Winston- Salem! When delegates gather for Annual Communication in September, they will consider a request to raise the per capita by $5 per brother. Current per capita is $20 per year per Mason and was last raised in 2013. e Finance Committee is considering a substitute amend- ment; details will be announced as they are available. e per capita is the sole significant source of revenue for the Grand Lodge, which bases its entire budget on the revenue and funds all services, programs, honors and events. Under the proposal, the per capita would increase by $5 per Mason per year. While there are more than more than 37,000 Masons in North Carolina, not all pay per capita. For example, brothers who have been Masons for 50 years or more are not required to pay per capita. About 1,000 more Masons join those ranks every year; at press time, some 4,963 brothers were exempted. For 2018, that represents a loss of nearly $100,000. e last major surge in Masonic membership came after World War II. ose good brothers are now meeting the 50-year mark, which increases the deficit for the Grand Lodge each year, and will continue to do so for some years to come. Another loss comes from non-payment of dues. Some 882 brothers were excluded for non- payment of dues in the last year, accounting for almost $18,000. e Grand Lodge also has for a few years, including last year, had to make up for budget deficits approved by the membership at Grand Lodge. To make up for those deficits, spending has tightened consider- ably at Grand Lodge over the years. Programs have been cut back or delayed; maintenance of the Grand Lodge has been slowed or put on hold. Salary increases have been limited to cost of living, and no major purchases have been approved.

• Cover