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Benevolence and Charity are the first principles of Freemasonry that new members are
reminded to embrace.
Individual Lodges collect money for charity each year from their members, through individual
donations and various fund raising activities. The Master of the Lodge for the year determines,
when he first takes charge, where the money donated to his "Master's List" will be applied.
He may nominate a Masonic Charity or any other charitable cause at his discretion.
Quite often, the charity donations from Cyprus Lodges are shared with local charities as well as
the major Masonic Institutions.
The amount raised by Masons for the "Grand Charity" of the United Grand Lodge of England
amounts to several million pounds a year. Contrary to generally held views, the accounts show
that almost half of this is donated to non Masonic Charities.
In addition, as mentioned earlier, Lodges also contribute directly to charities of their choice
but central records are not kept of their non Masonic donations. It can, however, be safely
assumed that the total amount contributed to private charities exceeds donations to
Masonic Institutions.
The District Grand Lodge of Cyprus has undertaken many charitable projects, especially
since the Millennium when the Millennium Charitable project of 2000 - 2001 began a cycle
of increasingly ambitious projects which carry on to this day.
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