Organisation

In today's world, Charity is big business and professionally managed; also, the competition for funds is intense.

How then can the Province of Nottinghamshire's 2007 Appeal begin to complete when, of necessity, it is run wholly by volunteers?  True, there is a captive audience but, like everyone else, Freemasons respond to a variety of different appeals to their Charity and, in the case of Nottinghamshire, the last Festival culminated in 1991 and much has happened in the meantime.

The answer must lie in the quality of the communications process with the Brethren of the Province and, in turn, this dictates the type of organisational structure required to inform, interest and secure a positive response from the membership.

At the Core of the Team are the individual Lodge Festival Stewards, who may or may not be acting in the formal office of Charity Steward.  They are at the core because it is they who are at the interface with their Lodge Membership and it is they who must present the objects of the New Masonic Samaritan Fund with energy, commitment and confidence, sufficient to elicit a sympathetic response, ideally in a tax efficient manner by way of Covenant  or Gift Aid.

In turn, the Festival Stewards are supported by a 20 strong Top Team, most of whom manage and co ordinate the endeavours of the Stewards of Lodges meeting at any one particular Masonic Hall.  Others interface with the Progressive Orders, a term embracing all of the other degrees and orders meeting within the Province.  Yet others form the Events and Support Group, the role of which is to organise Province wide fundraising activities and to assist the various Masonic Hall groups at the more local level.

Underpinning all of this effort is the 10 strong Executive Committee, the role of which is to develop the strategic direction of the Appeal and to ensure its tactical implementation amongst the Brethren of the Province and in the larger Masonic world, as is manifest by this Web Site.

This may seem to be a large Team but there is a direct audience of over 4,200 Nottinghamshire Freemasons to reach out to.  All of the Team are volunteers, most are in full time work and only a few are retired!

Diagrammatically, the organisation and philosophy of the Appeal Team may be best expressed by an inverted triangle:

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Copyright © 1998 Province of Nottinghamshire 2007 Festival Appeal
Last modified: April 21, 1999