Page 7 - Sojourner Newsletter-Summer 2023 Final

Volume 100, Issue 3 7

NATIONAL TRUSTEES

Schedule of Fee Changes
Bro. Edward W. Nolte, PNP, PNC, Chairman, National Trustees
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Sojourners may have heard the rumor that the Schedule of Fees was updated at the 103 National
Convention. The rumor is true, and I would like to address the individual Fees.
Multiple Membership-in-Perpetuity (MMIP) and In-Memoriam Membership-in-Perpetuity (IMMIP)
Fees: These Fees stayed at $150.00 as a “gift” to the Order. No member is required to join more than one
Chapter, but in doing so, he helps the Order financially.

Chapter and Camp Chartering and Replacement Fees: These Fees, unchanged since 1976, increased by
an amount equivalent to inflation since the last rate increase.

Administrative Fees: These Fee were eliminated. Those were the $5 surcharge on MMIPs and IMMIPs and
the $1 per name on a Chapter Charter. They were a nuisance fee and are now included in the overall cost
of the MIP, MMIP or Charter.
MIP Fee: This Fee increased from $250 to $700. So, you say, “How can you do that? That is unreasonable!
It is going to kill MIPs and my ability to recruit!” Here are the facts:
Bro. Merritt B. Curtis, PNP, NS-T at the time, purchased MIP #1 in June 1953 for $100, so perhaps you
think that $250 is already adjusted for inflation and equivalent to 1953. That $100 in 1953 is
equivalent to $1,150 in June 2023. The new $700 MIP Fee, effective 1 January 2024, is halfway
between $250 and $1,150.
Masonic Bodies generally charge 20 times the Annual Dues for a Life Membership, so $20 for HQ and
$20 for Chapter would have meant an MIP should of $800 at the old Per Capita. We decoupled Per
Capita from the MIP and charged a lesser rate for an MIP.
National Sojourners is an equivalent Masonic Appendant Body to Scottish Rite, York Rite, and Shrine. A
Life Membership in A.A.S.R. is $2,500, in York Rite is $3,360, and in A.A.O.N.M.S. is $1,500. Our
$250 MIP represented 10%, 8%, and. 17% of their Life Memberships, respectively, and now our $700
MIP is still discounted 72%, 79%, and 53%, respectively. National Sojourners is still the “Best Deal in
Masonry.”

The last time $250 equated to the original MIP cost was December 1978, 45 years ago. In the last two and
a half years alone, inflation since January of 2021 resulted in a 17% loss of the Order’s purchasing
power. I like $0.65/gallon gas, too, but the average national price per gallon is $3.60. The Order
cannot operate in 2024 with 1978 thinking.

Per Capita: This Fee increased from $20.00 to $35.00 to align with historic Per Capita rates versus both
inflation and what our predecessors paid. Since the $700.00 MIP will probably lower MIP purchases for a
while, this Per Capita level ensures that 1) prospective members can still join the Order at a comfortable
level, and the Order can still support its operations, salaries, rent, utilities, programs, philanthropy, and
other costs in the future.

BOTTOM LINE: National Sojourners, like Masonry and its Appendant Bodies, is first and foremost a
Fraternity or Brotherhood, and continues to support the principle that our Founders gave to us. National
Sojourners is also a Business and must continue to do what the members want and demand in an
environment of ever-increasing costs. Consider this: The overall 1953-54 Annual Budget, when MIPs
were $100, was $33,800. This year’s 2023-24 Annual Budget is $366,791.07. The ratio of the two Annual
Budgets is 10.85, and when that ratio is applied, the MIP Fee should be $1,085. Fees must increase to
meet the needs of the Order, or the Order will become a hollow shell of its former self.