Registered Charity: Masonic Charitable Services - Essay Example

I. Registered Charity: Masonic Charitable Services background and When it comes to charity works, the Shrinerswill be inevitably cross one’s mind because it is the largest philanthropic organization in the world. But since there is no Shriner Charity organization registered in the UK, the closest organization similar to it is the “Masonic Charitable Services”. It performs the same charitable work just like the Shriners in the USA only that it comes with another name which is “Masonic Charitable Services. Masonic Charitable Services has a headquarters at 60 Great Queen Street, London (Charitychoice 2011). II. Macro and micro environments  The best way to describe an organisation’s macro and micro environment is through the framework of PESTEL. PESTEL stands for political, economic, environment, social, technological and legal which best assess an institution’s macro and micro environments. Political – Although Masonic charitable services has been vilified by its critics as a group of conspirators, it being composed of masons, that it intends to have a political agenda of world domination, it still has a strong political clout because many of its members are considered politically powerful. It has also existed since 1700s and been through the most tumultuous political circumstances yet it still survived (Tolson 2005). . Being so, the political environment does not affect Masonic Charitable Services because it has already proven to insulate itself from any political circumstances. Economic – Masonic Charitable Services is economically viable because its members, who are mostly its donors, belong to the middle and upper class that has the economic capacity to donate to the organization to fund its charitable services. This is evident with the directory of charitable organization visited (www.Charitychoice.co.uk) that the organization does not provide an avenue for outside donations because it can sustain its own charitable works. This can also be its set back because non-acceptance of outside donors meant limited means of funding. To be able to expand its charitable works, Masonic Charitable Services should also expand its means of fund sourcing which means it should also encourage and accept donations from the public. Social – Masonic Charitable Services has a mix reaction from the community. Many do not like the organization because of its affiliation to the organization freemasonry while many also laud its philosophical teachings and charitable works. The social environment in the UK is not very conducive to Masonic Charitable Services, perhaps due to its own making, because the organization is viewed with skepticism. This skepticism translates to lack of public support ultimately redounding to lesser donation from the public. Despite of its many criticisms, it cannot be denied however that the group has a social impact especially in its charity works. Technological – the group, while belonging to old organization freemasonry, utilizes modern technology such as the World Wide Web to express what it does to the community. Legal – the group has a legal entity it being duly registered charitable organization under the charity commission (Charity Commission 2012) and is authorized to accept donations and dispense charity works. III. SWOT analysis  Strength – Masonic Charitable Services is affiliated with the freemasons who had existed since 1700 and is known to have done a lot of charity works here and abroad. Although many dislike the group, it cannot be denied that it is the largest charitable organization in the world. Its long history and the success of its charitable counterpart abroad, the Shriners, lends credibility to the group which could make convincing of the public to donate easier if it will exert effort to open itself to the public. Weakness – the secrecy of its mother organization which is Freemasonry is being criticized by many as being secretive, with a hidden agenda and even worships the devil. Thus, their charitable works, although the largest in the world are also viewed with suspicion that they may also have a secret agenda. This skepticism prevents many people from donating Masonic Charitable Services which could have increased its funding. Opportunity – if Masonic Charitable Services can only dispel the skepticism of the public about its organization, there is a big tendency that its funding will increase as the general public will donate resources to the organization. Thus, expanding its charitable works to affect more people. Its image provides a large area of opportunity to improve because many distrust the organization and withhold their donation because of this skepticism. Threat – the biggest threat to the Masonic Charitable Services is the declining number of its memberships, which are Masons, where it largely gets its fund. When membership declines, lesser number of people will donate to its charity works thus crippling its charity works. The public criticism of conspiracy theorists against the organization that ranges from accusation of freemasonry as being devil worshippers to conspirators have existed since time immemorial but has not destroyed the organization. It has however resulted to a decline in membership which majority of its funds is derived from. IV. Key areas of competitive advantage  Despite of the public’s skepticism of Masonic Charitable Services, it cannot be denied that it has done major charitable works here and abroad and has helped a lot of people. It has also done charitable works since time immemorial and perhaps the oldest charitable in addition to the largest charitable organization in the world. Throughout history, and despite of the public’s skepticism of its real intention, it has never been accused of dishonesty in dispensing its fund for charity works. Such, Masonic Charitable Services, being affiliated with the Masons, enjoys a veritable credibility as a charitable organization which not many charitable organizations enjoy. Its members are also composed of respected members in the community that can easily gain trust for anybody to donate. It has also a wider reach because Masonic lodges, which can serve as an avenue to receive donations if it chose to be, virtually exists in almost every city in UK albeit not openly. V. Gap analysis  Gap analysis is strategic planning implement that makes us understand where we are right now and where we would like to and also provides an idea on how to reach our objective (Randall 2012). This can be best illustrated in the chart below where the red line demonstrates is skewed high on the chart indicating how the Masonic Charitable Services should perform just like its Shriners counterpart in the US who has 22 hospitals and funds research for crippled children (Shriners.org 2012). The blue line indicates where the Masonic Charitable Services is. It illustrates a mediocre performance compared to its counterpart in the US which builds hospitals and funds research. To narrow if not remove the gap, Masonic Charitable Services must have a wider acceptance from the greater public to increase. As of now, it is viewed with skepticism which explains the gap on where it should be compared to where it is now. Most likely, its funding comes from its membership who are from the middle class and upper class that is why it still survives as a philanthropic organization despite the lack of public support. But no matter how self-sustaining a charitable organization is, it still involves the support of the public. The Shriners in the United States were not able to put up their hospitals and conducted researches solely from their own funds. A large part of it comes from the public who trusts that the Shriners will do well on their donations. The same should be done with the Masonic Charitable Services in the UK for it to increase its donations and achieve the same feat which its counterpart in the US was able to achieve. GAP Analysis Chart VI. Strategic recommendations that are in line with the objectives of the charity  The disparity between what Masonic Charitable Services should be and where it is now is clearly illustrated in the above chart. The bench mark of where it should be is its counterpart in the US which the Gap Analysis Chart shows, UK based Masonic Charitable Services lags behind. To close the gap and attain its objective of charity, Masonic Charitable Services should implement corrective actions to have public support and increase its funding. As of now, Masonic Charitable Services does not have much public support because of the public’s skepticism about its real intention. Such, Masonic Charitable Services should work to address that skepticism to gain public support which would ultimately translate to greater funding. Its counterpart in the US was not able to achieve its feat of putting large hospitals and conducting cutting edge research through the donation of its members alone. A significant part of it comes from public donation. Masonic Charitable Services should endeavor to achieve the same. To increase public reception and remove skepticism, Masonic Charitable Services mother organization, Freemasonry has to improve its image. It should be perceived by the public positively. To achieve wider acceptance and understanding from the public, it should be more transparent with what it does and remove the cloak of secrecy so that the public may understand the organization and charitable institution better and later support it. While the organization intends to do good and really does good to the community, its lack of openness and transparency is doing it harm because it is being misunderstood and worst, even vilified. There may be effort from the organization to make it more open, still it is not enough to be understood by the public. What it should do is to make an information campaign about the organization so that the skepticism about the organization will be removed and increase the donation of the public to widen its already large charitable work. VII. Analyse likely competitor reactions  The closest competitor of Masonic Charitable Services competitors are the Rotarians, Kiwanis and Lions who also need the same funding to finance its charitable works. If Masonic Charitable Services will make an aggressive information drive about the organization to achieve greater acceptance and understanding from the public, its competitors will likely be threatened because it is not likely that the organization keeps itself open. Knowing the potency of Masonic Charitable Services as an organization, its competitors will most likely do an intensified campaign to promote their own organization if Masonic Charitable Services will make an aggressive information drive so that their share of donations will not be eaten up by Masonic Charitable Services. VIII. Provide your assumptions about the future of the marketplace  The marketplace of possible donors for the charitable works of a philanthropic organization such as Masonic Charitable Services will be tough because of the lingering economic crisis that the UK and the world are experiencing. Donations come from the extra money of people and if the economy is hard, most people will become thrifty and will not donate money to charity. Given that situation, donations will most likely come from the members of the organization to finance its charitable works. Also, the number of charitable organizations remain the same if not increasing but the amount of extra money that people has, diminishes due to the economic crisis. As a result, more charitable organizations will be running after a diminishing amount of money and this will make running a charitable organization harder. In addition, charitable organizations cannot consolidate like business where weak businesses are being bought by larger business. If a charitable organization becomes weak due to lack of funding, it cannot seek help from bigger organization through buy out but instead will eventually die due to lack of funding to finance its charitable works. Such, in order to survive as a charitable organization today and in the future, a charitable organization must have a solid credibility for the donating public to give money and an aggressive campaign to increase its funding. The marketplace of donations in the future will be more difficult than today because people will become less likely to donate if life is difficult. Bibliography: Charity Choice (2011). Masonic Charitable Services. Online http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/masonic-charitable-services-47896 [accessed February 23, 2012). Charity Commission (2012). Masonic Charitable Services. Online. http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/CharityWithoutPartB.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=1117049&SubsidiaryNumber=0 [accessed February 23, 2012). Randall, Marjorie J. (2012). Gap Analysis: Transition of Health Care From Department of Defense to Department of Veterans Affairs. Military Medicine, 177(1): 11-16. Shriners Headquarters (2012). Home page. Online. http://www.shrinershq.org/ [accessed February 23, 2012). Tolson, Jay (2005). Inside the Masons, U.S. News & World Report, 139 (8). Read More