A donation of $60, the entire salary of the Grand Lecturer in 1900, was the start of the Grand Lodge Benevolent Fund.
Later during his tenure as head of the fund, the administration cost averaged Jess than $300 per year. And upon his death this man contributed $1000 to the fund provided that the Grand Lodge did likewise. Naturally, the Grand Lodge did.
The man was Ernest LeNeve Foster, secretary of Washington, No. 12 at Georgetown for many years and Grand Master in 1890. He officiated at the constituting of Temple Lodge No. 84 and later became a member of it.
The Colorado Masons Benevolent Fund was incorporated in 1912 to administer the charitable and benevolent funds of the Grand Lodge. It is managed by five trustees who serve without salary.
Each of its five funds constitutes a trust which can be administered only in accordance with the purpose for which it was created. Some may be used for charitable purposes only. Others are limited to educational purposes. Some allow the use of income only, others of both principal and income.
The Colorado Masons Benevolent Fund with book assets of $1,338,204.72 had income of $55,320.13 the last fiscal year. It is an endowment fund to aid needy Masons or their families. Last year seventy-one beneficiaries rcceived assistance, sixteen of whom were children. Of the fifty-five adults, thirty-three were younger than sixty-five, victims of illness or accident before retirement age. Payments are generally made through Lodges. Last year forty-seven Lodges were concerned, thirty-seven of which were out-state.
The Robert Russell Foundation Fund bas assets of $937,603.04. This fund supplements the Benevolent Fund under Grand Lodge authority.
The Colorado Soldiers War Relief Fund, of World War I origin, is for benefit of maimed, wounded, or disabled Brethren, their widows and orphans. Its book value is $42,495.43.
The Jacobson Memorial Education Fund, in honor of Past Grand Secretary Jacobson, is to assist sons and daughters of Masons by loans during their junior and senior years of college. Its assets are $9,891.26, obtained principally through the sale of Jacobson’s speeches.
The Charles L. Young Memorial Scholarship Fund, originated by the widow and daughters of our late Grand Lecturer, annually helps a student of Durango High School with a $200 scholarship. Its balance is now reduced to $619.
