Provincial meetings story collection: MCF CEO talks about the Festival

Les Hutchinson, CEO of the Freemasons’ charity the MCF, was the guest of honour at our Provincial Grand Lodged meeting. He has this to say:

“Provincial Grand Master, and Brethren; it is my pleasure to join you today to say a few words about the latest developments at the MCF and your progress towards the 2025 Festival Appeal.

I am Les Hutchinson, the Chief Executive as the PGM has mentioned I have been with the Masonic Charities for over 35 years during which time we have seen unprecedented change and I hope improvement.

I am particularly pleased to be here in Lincolnshire as I have fond memories of working closely with the team and attending your 2014 Festival Celebration at this very venue in support of the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, the charity for which I was also Chief Executive before it was merged with the other central charities to form the MCF.

It was a fantastic appeal with great support shown by Lodges, individuals and through fundraising events and raised a remarkable amount of money.

For this I must say a huge thank you!  The funds that you raised during your last Festival are still being used to support children and young people enabling them to have a better start in life; whether they are the children or grandchildren of Freemasons, or children supported by one of the hundreds of charities we support each year.

In 2014, as you celebrated your considerable achievements, the RMTGB and the other Central Masonic Charities, as they were known at the time, were preparing to merge together. As far as we know the first time four large charities had ever accomplished such a feat and the merger was finally concluded in 2016.

The aim of bringing together these long-established and well respected charities was to create a single charity that would be more efficient and effective; where every pound given would be used to maximum effect.

Seven years later, the positive impact of this decision is clear:

Within this province alone, the MCF has awarded almost 690 grants to Freemasons and their families, amounting to around £1.7M.

Through our support, we’ve been able to alleviate the burden of increasing daily living costs for struggling masonic families, provide essential health and care services, and empower the children and grandchildren of Freemasons to reach their full potential.

In addition, over the same period, 106 Lincolnshire charities have received grants from the MCF amounting to over £375,000.

This includes support for five Hospices across the Province too, including St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice in Lincoln that recently received £34,910 to help them transition their palliative care model out into the local community. This means that in total, the support that the MCF has provided in this province since 2016 amounts to almost £2.1 million.

We often say that the MCF is your charity; I hope that the support we have provided to your Province over the years demonstrates that this is an accurate description and shows that the money you raise here in Lincolnshire comes back to the Province to help your fellow brethren, their families and your local communities.

When we look at the national grant making expenditure of MCF since it became active, our total support is around £120M comprising 32,000 grants to freemasons and their families, as well as 3,000 grants to charities.

This works out at around £50,000 of grant making expenditure each and every day.

And we have recently been creating a new long-term strategy which will guide our work and enable us to have an even greater impact on the people and causes who most need our help.

The charitable work I have highlighted, and our future plans, are only possible because of your generosity.  That is why I am so pleased that you are so enthusiastically supporting our work.

Brethren, in January 2020 you embarked upon your current challenge, to raise £2,250,000 for the new MCF. If achieved this would equate to a per capita result of £740 for each member of this Province.

No one could have predicted that you would launch your appeal two months before a world wide pandemic that would rock the world. However, your resilience as a Province is evidenced by the fact that you remain on target and I have every confidence that your final Festival result will be worthy of this high performing Province.

For what you have achieved thus far I would like to extend my thanks to your Festival team, led by Jez Hyland and supported by Pete Tong, as well as all the Lodge Charity Stewards and fundraisers who are already working so hard to support the MCF and this Festival.

Having worked at the central charities for over 35 years I have been involved with many Festivals and I know how challenging and time consuming it can be during a festival; but I also know how rewarding it can be to set a personal challenge and know that you are making such `a difference.

Nothing could be easier than signing up for a regular payment promise. At the present time 604 brethren have qualified as Stewards and 427 have gone on to achieve a higher honorific and to them all we are immensely grateful. But Brethren if you have not yet made your commitment, it is not too late!! You can still make a huge difference over the remaining months of your appeal.

We also are incredibly grateful to your MCF members, your Provincial Grand Almoner, Lodge Almoners and team of Visiting Volunteers who do so much every day to help us support the many vulnerable people within our fraternity.

Much like the building blocks that we use in our ceremonies and rituals, the MCF seeks to use the funds generously donated by Freemasons to Build Better Lives within the membership and across wider society.

I have given you some detail on the scale and scope of the support we have and will continue to provide here in Lincolnshire.

But behind these facts and figures there are real people with real stories:

People like John – a Freemason – and his wife Barbara; a retired couple who were already struggling with the cost of living before John suffered a stroke which caused mobility problems which made life more complicated and expensive. With your support we have been able to make it easier for John to move around his house and his local neighbourhood so that he and Barbara could stay in the home they had built together.

And people like those supported by YMCA Lincolnshire, which was awarded a grant of £39,000 by the MCF last year.  The charity works with young people who are growing up in areas of Lincolnshire which are home to some of the country’s top 10% most deprived families. The project funded by freemasonry through the MCF provides an opportunity to support young people through structured 1-to-1 and small group sessions, as well as group-based youth club activities.  The project is based around a qualified and experienced team versed in working with challenging behaviours and, through behavioural interventions, the charity is already contributing to a safer local society and turning lives around for hundreds of young people here in Lincolnshire.

Brethren, there are thousands more stories like these and all of them only exist because of your generosity.

The Festival system provides an opportunity for every Province, once in every 11 years, to engage in a fundraising Appeal and make a significant donation to the Masonic Charitable Foundation. Based on current activities during the 11 year festival cycle this Province is likely to receive in excess of £3.5M from the MCF. I hope you agree that this represents a good return on your investment.

Festival appeals are vitally important for us because just over half our income comes from donations from Freemasons.

If we had to rely on our investment income alone, we simply would not be able to deliver the level of support required by Freemasons and local communities here in Lincolnshire.

And let me assure you that we use these donations wisely; 87 pence in every pound donated is spent on providing our life-changing charitable activities, the cost of raising funds accounts for 7p with only 6 pence in every pound spent on the administration that is necessary to deliver it. There are not many charities that can boast such tight overheads and this is only possible because of the tremendous pro-bono support that we receive from the entire Craft.

This means that every pound you raise can be well spent in helping people here in Lincolnshire and beyond.

And as the demand for our support continues to grow, every donation, no matter how small, becomes even more critical in making a tangible difference in the lives of those who need it most.

Provincial Grand Master, successful Festival appeals always have strong support from the top, your enthusiasm and support for this appeal, right from our initial discussions, have been inspiring. Thank you for your friendship and thank you for inviting me to join you today;

Brethren, by contributing to the MCF, you can take pride in knowing that you are part of a compassionate organisation  – Freemasonry – that is working tirelessly to support those in need.

And you are not only making an immediate difference but also helping to create a lasting, positive change in the lives of individuals and communities for years to come.

Brethren, thank you for your ongoing support and good luck with the Festival.