Using an Outcome Oriented Philanthropy Model

BY PETER BRUSOE, MASTER OF THE EAGLE LODGE AND TREASURER OF WILLIAM R. SINGLETON-HOPE-LEBANON LODGE NO. 7

Volunteerism and philanthropic-based work is a core part of our The lodge knew we could do better and we looked at what organiAmerican society and American identity. In fact, one-third of zations like the Gates Foundation were doing. They used a model American adults actively volunteer in some way. In 2018, those called “Outcome Oriented Philanthropy.” Simply put, you look at volunteer efforts contributed work worth $167B into the American problems that need to be solved and determine how you can be economy. 1 And it’s not just the time, but also financial support. One helpful. It is like that old adage if you give a person a fish, he eats for out of two Americans contribute to worthy charitable causes every a day, you teach him how to fish you feed him for life. year. When the cathedral of Notre Dame caught on fire and money the way we thought of our philanthropic work. Traditionally in needed to be raised to repair it, 90% of the donations came from A lot of charitable giving is based on donor intent and not necesAmericans, many in small amounts ranging from $25 to $50. 2 sarily need. A donor decides what they think is important and they provide funding. The charity, eager for the money or not wantSocial scientists know ing to insult the donor, from the social capital says “yes” and impleliterature of sociologists ments it regardless of like Robert Putnam that mission alignment. This people who belong to is how schools wind up fraternal organizations with scholarships for are even more likely to red haired young men be engaged volunteers from Herkimer County and charitably minded who can play tuba and than their non-fraterwant to study 17th nal counterparts. 3 So, Century Baroque Literwhen we survey our ature. Alexander Justice Grand Jurisdiction, it Moore writing in The is no surprise that we Food Fighters suggests see philanthropy here that in some cases the very much engaged and charitable work being active. done is about the donor Some lodges volunand that for this to work teer monthly at a soup people need to be in kitchen, some go out relationship with one and support their local another. 4 D.C. public school, and still others host an The Singleton Lodge snocone booth at the 17th Street Festival How can your Lodge or annual fundraiser to support a charity of their choice. A few years other organization implement problem based philanthropy? The ago, William R. Singleton-Hope-Lebanon Lodge No. 7 shifted following are ten key steps to think about. and not the recipient, September, the Lodge would go through and allocate $32,000 in 1. Figure out what area of volunteerism your donations. (Literally it would be this organization would get $1,000, membership is passionate about. this would get $500, this organization would get $1,500 and so on and so forth.) I remember one of our brothers stood up and asked, “What does this charity do?” and the response was “We always give them money.” There is no doubt we did good and we helped several causes. Yet, this was not really a great experience for us or for the organizations we were supporting. Their only contact with us was the check, which they were grateful for, and a nice thank you note. We would repeat this process each year. We all have different areas of concern that we care about. For some of us it is education, the arts, animals, sports, housing, food insecurity, or any number of things. We have seen in some organizations where the presiding officer really cares about libraries and tries to make his members care about libraries, only to have the guy next year say we are working on diabetes, and the guy after that says arts. It may be that there are two areas that you really care about and your lodge may be looking at helping with literacy and animal shelters.

1 https://www.nationalservice.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/volunteering-us-hits-record-high-worth-167-billion 2 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-14/us-donors-not-french-tycoons-foot-notre-dame-works-bills 3 See Bowling Alone http://bowlingalone.com/ 4 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0792JZ76P/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

2. Talk to the experts and ask questions.

Expertise is an interesting thing. Most of us would not perform open heart surgery or fly a plane unless we were either a surgeon or a pilot. Yet, in other parts of our lives we tend not to ask experts and just rely on what we think we know. People who work in the various fields know the problems, know the issues, and in many cases have a solution in mind. We should also ask questions, and if something does not feel right or make sense, follow up. Another surprise for us was around our food drives. We used to have a bucket out before our meetings for people to bring canned food to the meeting. In talking with several foodbanks we learned they have bulk purchasing power. So, while I could go to the store and spend $50 to buy canned goods to feed one person for a week, if I had given the money directly to the foodbank, they could have feed 5 people for a week with their superior purchasing power.

3. Look for areas that others may not be working in or off-seasons.

There are some issues that everyone cares about and they crowd out other areas of concern. Backpacks with school supplies have quickly become the latest trend for organizations So while that’s an undoubtably important need, you may want to find a different area to focus on as it has so much attention already.

We also need to be thinking about the off seasons for charitable activities. In August, everyone buys school supplies. But, by January all those once-new crayons are worn down and the paper is exhausted. You may want to do a mid-year school supply drive. Or the hardest month for most foodbanks is in July, because school is out for the summer and the families have a greater need for food. Again, if you want to know where the opportunities are and when the off-seasons are, ask an expert.

4. Work to have a clearly defined solvable problem and a solution.

Too often we set about to do something and we have no idea how to measure if we achieved our goal. For example, if the goal is “reduce hunger in D.C.,” you have no idea on how to quantify if that is actually done. Yet, it could be something like, “100 families receiving services from a charity do not have Thanksgiving meals.” Your lodge goal could be to provide 30 families Thanksgiving baskets. (Or if you are Samuel Gompers Lodge, feed every family that needs one! Seriously, go check them out.)

5. Find a reliable partner and do due diligence.

For most of the work that we engage in, we need to Master of Singleton Lodge Jason Lebowitz and Peter Brusoe, Treasurer, cannot make a philanthropic project for our lodge meet with DC Central Kitchen be our day job. In doing your due diligence you want Singleton Lodge knew it wanted to do something major in the to make sure that your partner has a good track record, good intercommunity around education. Our thought at first was to endow a nal controls, and that they are safe stewards of resources. scholarship at a college. However, when we started to doing some research and talking to people, we found one of the greatest areas of need was not for undergraduate education, but for vocational education and training skills. Each non-profit has a 990 IRS tax document which gives you an idea of where they are spending their money and resources. In recent years, a lot of focus and concerns have been on salaries for organizations. While this should be an area of discussion, we need

rely on outside partners. We all have day jobs and

Members of Gompers-Franklin No. 45 unload Thanksgiving baskets for their big yearly charity project

The Grand Lodge Scottish Rite and MESH presenting a check for new computers at HD Cooke Elementary

to be comfortable with paying people to do the work. Volunteer programs run by volunteer staffs often suffer from a lack of prioritization, because it will come second or third to the person’s main work and family.

6. Be comfortable with the amount of money you want to spend.

There are problems out there for any size budget. One of the easiest things that Singleton Lodge did was to be the cupcake provider for the Macomb Recreation Center Halloween Party. The Department of Parks and Recreation did not have money for cupcakes, and they were going to have 75 hungry 4 to 10-year-olds coming for their Halloween Party. Only $135 later, we solved that problem. On the larger end, we also recently committed to a $75,000 pledge for D.C. Central Kitchen over three years, which required us to adjust other budget priorities.

7. Be comfortable with the amount of time you want to spend.

Masons are some of the busiest people in the world, and at times our cable tows are not long enough. We need to be pretty cognizant of how much time something may take. It is one thing to volunteer once a year, it’s another to volunteer once a week. You need to make sure that the time commitment is doable. A few years ago, Janney Elementary School needed help building garden beds. They needed some strong backs for about three hours on a Saturday. It was an easy one-time, short commitment. We went, we built, we had mimosas after. This is generally the desirable outcome!

8. Celebrate Success.

When you achieve your goal, or reach milestones, make sure you celebrate the success that you are achieving. It’s important to recognize when that happens and who made it happen. (See the mimosas from our successful planter build.)

9. Be Accepting of Failure.

A lot of charitable work is based on social and human conditions. Failure may happen. A project might not work out, the program participants might have a relapse. Just because one thing does not work, does not mean you should not try again. Though if you keep doing the same thing time and time again, maybe you need to revisit the problem.

10. Find the next thing.

Your lodge changes over time as do the members’ interests. Many lodges have annual projects, keep those, but also look at adding something new to the mix and looking for new problems. Variety can be the spice of life, and it can keep your volunteers/members engaged and active, as well.

Have an idea on the next great philanthropy project? Want help in doing a focus for your lodge? Feel free to drop me a note at PWBrusoe@gmail.com. 