February 2025:
An Easier Way to Do Accounting
Since it was released in 2020, iMember 2.0 has made it easier than ever for California lodges to manage their roster, communicate with members, and interact with Grand Lodge. Now, Grand Lodge has activated a new—and potentially transformative—feature on the platform: accounting services. Previously, most California lodges used a system called Intacct, which required a basic understanding of accounting, says Maribel Pasamic, vice president of finance and controller for the Grand Lodge. The new system should be simple enough for anyone to operate.
First, log into iMember 2.0 through freemason.org. Next, navigate to the accounting dashboard by clicking the “$” icon.
That will take you to the accounting dashboard. From this overview page, you can see tabs along the left-hand column including “Dues Owed” and “Payments Received. From this page, you can see your operating bank account and its balance. If your lodge has more than one account, you can see them both displayed from this page.
One of the ways this tab so useful is its ability to create subaccounts. Subaccounts are effectively buckets of money within your checking account from which you are able to earmark money for special projects.
So, let’s say you’re having a fish fry fundraiser. Instead of having to create special codes for various projects and trying to maintain a balance by comparing the incoming and outgoing numbers, iMember’s accounting platform subaccounts to easily receive, disburse, and track such funds. And once that fish fry fundraiser is over? Simply delete the subaccount and move on to your next project.
This is just one way that the new accounting functionality of iMember 2.0 will make managing your lodge’s finances easier than ever before. Right now, this feature is only available for lodges, but hall associations should be able to use this feature sometime in 2026 or 2027.
There are many more features within this software system that lodge secretaries and treasurers should familiarize themselves with. Free, online iMember accounting training sessions will be held later in February, so watch your email for details on those sessions. And all lodge officers should make a point of attending the 2025 Leadership Retreats this spring, which will offer special training sessions to help you get the most out of this system.
And if at any point you have questions, just reach out to Grand Lodge’s financial services team by phone at 415-292-9170 or via email at financialservices@freemason.org.
I write this from the heart, for those who are feeling swept away by day-to-day uncertainty. It’s easy to get lost in the cacophony of voices and pressures in the world, from technology and politics to global unrest. But there exists a timeless sanctuary within each of us. It’s a luminous spark that transcends time.
Are we not all considered vessels? Maybe this uncertainty stems from not feeling anchored, and just floating around and being carried by external forces. What if you could control the narrative? What if you had access to the light you seek, 24 hours a day?
This light is not some distant deity, and it doesn’t reside in a certain edifice or place. It’s the very essence of your being. It is the quiet voice of intuition, the spark of compassion, the unwavering compass guiding you toward truth. Yet we often abandon this inner sanctuary, feeling it’s not legitimate unless it’s being validated by a higher force—a religious group or some other congregation of thought.
But consider a single ray of sunlight. It carries the same essence as the sun itself. Would you agree? Scripture teaches us that we are made in God’s image. So shouldn’t it stand to reason that you carry the essence of the divine within you?
Hence, light is not something to seek outside of yourself, but rather to awaken within. It’s like defining the difference between learning something new and remembering something you forgot. Which is it? How do you know you didn’t already know it? Maybe you’re just remembering it again.
Life, after all, may be simply a labyrinth of remembering all over again, rather than a voyage of learning new and previously unknown things. Life is an awakening, recalling all that is within us. In other words, that which already exists.
This is not about abandoning your faith or challenging your deity. This is about deepening it. I invite you to take a moment today to quiet your mind and listen to the whispers of your soul. You might be surprised by what you discover. Then, ask yourself where those whispers came from and who gave you those thoughts. And so the journey begins within.
Carlos M. Diaz, Grand Orator
Open enrollment for the Hall’s Insurance Program with Alliant is around the corner. If your hall association is already participating in the Grand Lodge-sponsored insurance program provided by Alliant Insurance Services, your hall has two options:
- Opt-in the program (i.e. renew with Alliant) or
- Opt-out of the program
Even if your hall is not making any changes to the policy, you must reply in writing (via email or regular mail) by completing the insurance information questionnaire sent to you by Alliant by the requested deadline.
This is your hall’s yearly opportunity to validate and edit the data on file with Alliant including hall’s primary contact information for insurance purposes, building values, contents’ values, rental income (i.e. business interruption income), and any recent renovations or upgrades made to the building including roof replacement, ADA upgrades, and any relevant life and safety upgrades. Again, please be sure to respond to Alliant’s correspondence in a timely manner to ensure coverage will be bound for the April 1, 2025 policy cycle.
If you have any insurance-related questions, please contact the Grand Lodge Real Estate team at realestate@freemason.org or call 415-292-9186.
Use this content to spread the word about resources provided by the California Masonic Foundation, the Masonic Homes of California, and more.
Masonic Health Services:
Services at MCYAF Across the Lifespan
The Pavilion at the Masonic Homes
Masonic Homes of California Resources
Masonic Philanthropy:
Stay on track of lodge business and prepare for important deadlines. Here’s your February checklist.
Executive Committee
- Schedule inspector’s official visit and examination of the books, due by end of March.
- Share the date and topic for the International Conference on Freemasonry at UCLA March 22.
- Prepare to attend 2025 Leadership Retreats.
Senior Warden
- Review all candidates’ progress toward advancement.
- Begin preparing 2026 program plan.
- Begin preparing 2026 budget.
- Begin preparing 2026 officer appointments.
- Begin preparing 2026 installation of officers.
- Prepare to attend 2025 Leadership Retreats.
Secretary
- Present secretary’s annual report to the lodge at stated meeting.
- Continue to collect delinquent dues from members (were due on January 1).
- Send list of members with late dues to the master for the Retention Committee.
- Send any suspension notices.
- Charity Committee considers remissions.
- Review the list of suspended members sent to you by Grand Lodge and determine if your lodge wants to participate in the 2025 Restoration Campaign.
- Budget for and prepare to attend 2025 Leadership Retreats.
Treasurer
- Present treasurer’s annual report to the lodge at stated meeting.
- Prepare financial reports for Grand Lodge, to be filed by end of March (unless your lodge uses Intacct, in which case you do not need to submit anything).
- If you haven’t yet, enroll your lodge in the Dues Invoicing Service. Lodges enrolled in this program saw more members pay their dues compared to lodges that did not participate. All lodges that participated last year will be enrolled again this year. Lodges enrolled in the program will be emailed about dues through December. To opt into or out of the program, contact Member Services.
- Prepare to attend 2025 Leadership Retreats.
Hall Association
- Submit annual report to the lodge at stated meeting.
- Prepare to attend 2025 Leadership Retreats.
Audit Committee
- Begin auditing lodge books, to be completed by end of April.
Questions? Contact Member Services at memberservices@freemason.org or (415) 776-7000.
Last month, we asked what types of resources your lodge could use more of. Of those who replied,
- 50% - Help with prospecting
- 25% - Help with media
- 17% - Help with budgeting
- 25% - Help with the ritual
- 12% - Help with degree calendaring
- 21% - Other, community awareness, onboarding new candidates, member engagement, hall association matters, lodge renovations (structural), oversight and guidance, help for the secretary and treasurer with iMember and the new accounting software
