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Montana Freemason May 2015 Volume 91 Number 2
Grand Lodge of Illinois regarding its transition Recommendations
from owning and operating two physical Masonic The Special Committee makes the following
Homes into implementing an Outreach Program. recommendations for the future of the Masonic Home
Many Grand Lodges across the country have closed of Montana:
their physical Masonic Homes and transitioned into • The agricultural land should be sold and the
outreach programs. For example, the Grand Lodge proceeds invested to produce higher returns on
of Illinois, which was losing millions of dollars each investment.
year operating its two Masonic Homes, decided to sell • Big Sky Storage should be retained.
them. With an endowment of at least $100,000,000.00 • If the Craft decides to sell the Home, then it is
and a statewide Masonic membership of 60,000 +, the recommended the Home be sold to a company which
Grand Lodge of Illinois’ outreach program provides purchases and operates assisted living facilities, with
financial assistance to approximately 150-200 Masons an agreement that the purchaser retain the current
and affiliates each year. residents and in the future give those with Masonic
If the Craft were to elect to close the Masonic Home and affiliation priority for residency.
create an outreach program, another committee tasked • If the Craft decides to implement an Outreach
with addressing the foregoing matters and more would Program, then it should be similar to the programs
need at least a year to conduct such a study before any administered successfully by many other jurisdictions
implementation of an outreach program could occur. including Grand Lodge of Illinois. If the Montana
Further information regarding Grand Lodge of Illinois Masonic Home is sold to a private company, any
outreachprogram maybe found at:http://www.ilmason. Masons who want to stay in the Home can be assisted
org/site/GrandLodgeIllinois/MemberResources/ via the new Outreach Program. Remaining funds
IMOS.aspx. may be used to assist other poor distressed Masons
Conclusions as determined by the Outreach Program
Based upon the Property Valuation submitted by • In the event that the Montana Masonic Home
Realty 406, the agricultural land produces a very is sold, the Foundation should be dissolved. Any
low return on investment based upon the value of Outreach Program could be administered by the
the property. However, Big Sky Storage Units yield Masonic Home Corp, as it has administered the
a reasonable return on the investment which meets operation of the Masonic Home for over 100 years or
industry standards. other entity as determined as appropriate.
The Property Valuation produced by Green and Green • Reevaluate the definition of Masonic affiliation and
reveals that the operation of the Masonic Home based eligibility for assistance.
upon its financial performance through September
2013 has failed to maintain an average operating profit References
of 7.4% of sales as based upon industry standards Supporting documentation for the Special Committee
for assisted living facilities. It further reveals that Report obtained by the Special Committee from the
the return on investment is actually a negative figure various sources is retained on file with the Special
through September 2013, which would severely impact Committee and the Grand Lodge Secretary’s Office.
negatively the sales price of the Home. The market
sales value of the Masonic Home per Green and Green
is at the low end of the sale price continuum and will
be adversely impacted if the home were not operational
on the date of any sale.
The property valuations performed by Realty 406 and
by Green and Green place an aggregate real estate sale
value of the agricultural land and the Masonic Home,
good for the next 90 days, ranging from $4,400,000 to
$4,850,000.
Big Sky Storage is valued at $550,000 - $600,000 and
is currently producing about $46,000 annually in net
revenues.
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