Sorry, but we do not offer life memberships. Here’s our philosophy on that.
The problem with Life Memberships is that most organizations that offer them do not actually have a working program to invest the life membership proceeds and draw them on an annual basis over the lifetime of the member. Most organizations we are familiar with that do not operate at a “grand” level simply dump the money into the general fund or (in better cases) into CDs or other interest-bearing accounts. The best way that we know of to handle life membership monies is to place them into an annuity that pays out on an annual basis — but in order to create an annuity that is large enough to be of any use, a critical mass of life memberships is required, and in a Society that is only the size of a really big 1950’s-size lodge, that critical mass simply does not exist.
Moreover, we calculate that a life membership for a 30 year old member in the US would have to cost around $1,200 (the equivalent of about 30 years of dues), which is quite a bit more than what many Masonic organizations will charge you for a life membership. We feel that this is prohibitively expensive and that few would be able to afford it. We are also wary of the current economic climate and are unwilling to expose the Society to the liability that life memberships would represent should our costs escalate rapidly.
Therefore we do not offer life memberships and quite frankly do not anticipate ever being able to do so. Please do not ask us to make exceptions.