Treasury/Reports/2007 Annual Meeting
From Sekhet-Maat Lodge
Saturday, April 21, 2007 ev
Soror Aletheia Mnemonicas, Treasurer
In preparation of presenting to you the Treasury report for the year, I spent a good amount of time just reflecting all of the changes that we have seen since I took office last July. When I became your Treasurer, dues payments were sporadic, many members were anywhere from 3-12 months behind on dues, and we had quite a few members who were active initiates who had never even been approached about becoming members of the lodge. We had no operations budget and budgeting and proposals for events were fairly random and had very little data to work with to keep them realistic and economical.
As of today, I am incredibly happy to say that all active members of the O.T.O. living in the valley of Portland, who are active at the Lodge are currently members of the Lodge. We have very few members behind on dues, and those who are behind, are in continuous voluntary communication with me about the process of getting caught up. We have an operations budget for 2007, all other budgets are current for events through the end of the year and the proposal process has been simplified through a joint project of the Treasury and Special events. As you will see when I show you the numbers in a few minutes, these small but important changes have made a huge transformation in the financial stability of the Lodge.
How huge? For the very first time in the history of Sekhet-Maat, we are on the verge of being able to finally really move forward into self sufficiency for as of now, we are able to celebrate our first months ever of not being in an emergency state of existence. Also, our lodge is not supported by a generous few anymore, but by each and every single one of you contributing as much as you can to our financial stability and growth. If we lost any one or more of our larger contributors, while it would be difficult, we would indeed, be able to continue to stay in our space and continue our mission. This alone is a monumental step in the growth of O.T.O. bodies who have dedicated spaces nationwide. I would like to personally thank you all for allowing such growth within the Lodge this year.
Going forward, I sincerely urge you to continue to pay your dues on time and continue to devote your time and energy to the lodge. Set aside time every day to practice magick, to grow and to work on your degree related studies. Your labor will be well repaid continually in terms of personal spiritual growth and stability and it is our duty as Brothers and Sisters, to be as balanced and magickally potent as we can be, not only for our own process of doing our will, but also so that we may accomplish the Great Work. To do this, the lodge needs to share in your success. It is my hope and I in fact urge you all as you are able to increase your financial contributions to the lodge by a minimum of 1% of your income this year, or if you like tangible amounts, a minimum of $5.00. For those of you already giving way above and beyond, consider donating to our various projects or donating money to our Rainy Day fund instead of increasing your financial contribution toward our operations expenses. Our continued financial stability and growth depend on continual, growing contribution from all of you. Our Lodge has become an entity in and of itself, a talisman of great things to be and an egregore of our community and it needs care and feeding on a regular basis for it to grow and thrive.
In other Treasury related news, as many of you already know, I will be stepping down as your Treasurer as of May 27th. Your Assistant Treasurer, Brother Clay will be replacing me and I have every confidence that he will continue to provide you with the open communication and financial good sense that you have all grown accustomed to in the last year. Clay has excellent accounting skills, experience and the devotion necessary to be the Treasurer. He has already spent a significant amount of time with me this year in setting up our new Quick Books database.
In addition, I would like to thank Joseph and the executive committee as well as all of you, once again for the opportunity to serve this community. The more I travel and see other local bodies, the more I realize that what we have here in our valley is a glorious gem. A community driven by magick, intention, love, will and above all, fraternity. I am continually humbled by the opportunities I have been given to serve this Lodge and I thank you all for continuing to indulge my “Just So” mentality and vision.
You see, as we spend more and more of our years within the bonds of fraternity within the O.T.O., it becomes more and more important for us to know exactly what it is that feeds and nourishes our aspirations as initiates and members of our local bodies.
I know that, my continued happiness within our Order depends greatly on my ability to make my Visions manifest in that Just So way, and I am grateful and moved that I am able to have the ability to do this here, with you all, surrounded by the love of our Order that truly inspires us all.
