Dear Dedicated Members for Change,
In 2007, I had been an Odd Fellow for three years. I was a new Noble Grand of my Odd Fellows Lodge in Davis, California, and I was full of enthusiasm about Odd Fellowship. I had just read the acceptance speech of the incoming Sovereign Grand Master in the I.O.O.F. News. In that acceptance speech, the Sovereign Grand Master had asked the following important (indeed, existential) question to the members of the Order: "Why are we losing members and what is causing the folding of the lodges."
I accepted his invitation to answer the question, and so, on October 24, 2007 - some 18 years ago - I wrote a letter to the Sovereign Grand Master, which read, in pertinent part, as follows:
"In my opinion, Odd Fellows will continue to lose members and lodges will continue to fold UNLESS we REVITALIZE our order. Simply put, ODD FELLOWS MUST FIND A WAY TO BE RELEVANT IN THE LIVES OF A NEW GENERATION OF MEMBERS, or face the prospect of a slow decline. Odd Fellows cannot rest on the past. . . . Ancient and anachronistic rituals which may appeal to seventy-year-old long-time members of a lodge, have marginal importance to the thirty-year-old men and women we wish to attract for the future of our lodges. Historical division of "men" and "women" as Odd Fellows and Rebekahs makes little sense in the modern world. particularly with declining memberships in both organizations. In this regard, I propose that you appoint a Special REVITALIZATION COMMITTEE, give it a mandate and a deadline, consider their recommendations and - if appropriate - implement them.
"When I look at the experience of our own Lodge in Davis, I see the ingredients for future success of I.O.O.F. generally. Our Lodge currently has 79 members with 5 pending initiation. We have added about 30 members in the last year, and a significant number in the year before that. Our new members are young (30's and 40's and 50's), ethnically diverse, and about equal men and women. We have added many "husband-wife" teams to our membership. Our lodge has created an active committee structure and we have charged our committees with specific responsibilities. We are actively involved in our community, hosting numerous events in our newly-remodeled lodge hall. We contribute heavily to community and charitable organizations with money, manpower and free use of the hall. We also try to have fun as a group by hosting social hours, evenings just to socialize, and trips together. We have recently started to operate bingo at the lodge as a further way to have fun and raise money for charity. We spend a relatively smaller amount of our time in meetings, and the bulk of our time in community activities. We believe we have achieved the ingredients to be relevant to our members and to be active in our community. Frankly, at this point, we don't need to seek out new members to our order because potential members no seek US out.
"I am happy to discuss this with you in further detail."
EPILOGUE: Neither the Sovereign Grand Master at the time nor anyone from Sovereign Grand Lodge ever contacted me about my letter or followed up with me in any way. Today, in 2025, my Lodge has 373 members, 33 applicants for membership, and close to 70 lodge committees.
F - L - T
Dave Rosenberg
Past Grand Master
Jurisdiction of California
