Director General Donald Ross certainly has no natural preference for creating chaos over order. But, to revamp the Moose into an organization ready to operate efficiently and effectively in this new century, he is determined to shake up the status quo on many fronts at once. However, for most members, the changes will only have a positive impact. Here’s a snapshot of. . .

The Changes at Moose Headquarters...
and how they
affect YOU

By KURT WEHRMEISTER

> If you’re a Moose member who frequents your Moose Center often enough to be on a first-name basis with the Lodge Administrator or Chapter Recorder, over the last several months you’ve probably heard that officer sigh as he or she furrowed their forehead and talked about “all the changes coming down from Moose headquarters.”

If you’re a committee chair in your Lodge, Chapter or Association, who has occasion to be on the telephone with a member of the full-time Moose International headquarters or field staff, it’s probably even more likely that you’ve heard such a sighing reference.

To be sure, changes are indeed underway at Moose International headquarters that are profoundly affecting the workdays of every Moose International employee and every Lodge Administrator, and the volunteer hours of every Chapter Recorder and every Moose Legion Secretary, and to a degree, every Lodge Governor, every Chapter Senior Regent and many committee chairs as well. And, to the extent that changes of any sort can cause anxiety to most people, the impression you may be getting may be more unsettling than positive.

Director General Donald Ross noted as much in his keynote address to the International Convention in Charlotte last June, when he said he was “willing to create chaos in order to make some dreams come true.”

But, as you listen to the sometimes frazzled reactions of those within Moose leadership dealing with these changes, there are two things you should know.

First: The changes now being made in the way the Moose organization conducts its business--the business of fraternalism; of running a nonprofit membership organization that cares for children and seniors in need, and that serves needs in its communities unmet by public funds--is simply an essential response, perhaps overdue, to the way the rest of North America conducts business. That is, electronically, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

Second: For the 99% of our members who do not hold office in the Supreme Lodge or International office in the Women of the Moose, or serve as an officer in their Lodge, Chapter, Moose Legion or Association, the only substantive changes YOU will see in all this, are a different dues invoice and the new membership card you see on this page.

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Moose International’s New
Management Structure

The detailed process of realigning the management structure of Moose International to place it in line with the fraternity’s realigned business processes began slightly more than a year ago with the addition of Vice President/Business Operations Tom Conway and Vice President/Fraternal Operations Kurt Wiebe in March 2004. The realignment process is essentially in place as spring 2005 begins, with all personnel and functions physically relocated, both within the fraternity’s headquarters building at Mooseheart, IL, and with a re-formulated Member Relations Department in the field. These three charts offer an overview of management structure following completion of the realignment.

(click on image for larger view)

Business Operations

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Centralized Dues

• Beginning with members whose dues are payable at the end of the first quarter of the 2005-2006 Moose fiscal year--i.e., due on Sept. 30, 2005--you will be mailed your next dues notice, roughly in mid-August, directly from Moose International, not from your Lodge or Chapter.

• You will also notice that if you are a member of any degree beyond basic Moose membership, those appropriate-amount dues (if any) will appear on the same dues notice. (For example, this writer’s own invoice, payable Sept. 30, will include both my $50 dues to Batavia, IL Lodge 682, and $15 to Mecca Moose Legion 9.)

• The preprinted dues-payment envelope will be addressed to a dues-processing center designated by Moose International. This is the same process used many companies that currently bill you for their services or products. Per instructions you’ll receive in the invoice envelope, you will also now, for the first time, be able to pay your dues by credit or debit card. (You will also be able to write a check as you likely did in the past.)

As a last resort, for those members who maintain neither a checking account nor any credit card, your Lodge office will be able to accept cash payments--but using this method will delay the process of getting your membership card to you.

• Once payment is received and processed, the member will receive his or her new card--thicker and coated, like a credit card, looking like the samples on page 31--within just 7-10 days--on a weekly basis, not quarterly as at present.

Even more promptly, once the member’s payment is received, the appropriate Lodge/Chapter/Moose Legion unit(s) will have the appropriate amount credited to their account for that member, within one week. (Again in my own example, it is at this point that Batavia, IL Lodge 682 will have its account credited in the amount of $36--my $50 dues payment minus Moose International’s $14 “ABCD” amount. Once credited, such funds will be immediately available to Lodges, Chapters and Moose Legion units.)

Lodge Administrators, Chapter Recorders and Moose Legion Secretaries have already received volumes of information explaining these changes--which have multiple pluses for them: No more work or costs for mailing and postage at the local level; no more need to absorb the cost of unused cards for members who don’t renew; no more dealing with “status cards,” proof lists, or any other paper exchange; no more administrative burden of sending out second and third notices (these will be automatically mailed by Moose International at 30 and 45 days after dues expiration.)

As Director of Membership Retention Deborah Meyer told the International Convention in Charlotte last June, the move to Centralized Dues this year will give Lodge Administrators, Chapter Recorders and Moose Legion Secretaries a huge gift: TIME. She noted that “fully one-third” of these administrative officers’ work time has historically been spent on handling dues-related tasks. “Just think of what you will now be able to do with the many hours that have been given back to you each week,” said Meyer, “. . . promotion of membership-growth and retention programs . . .more community service programs to strengthen our image in the community . . . more time to plan and hold fundraising events . . . Administrators will have more time to devote . . . to increase the stability and financial strength of our Moose homes.”

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