See the Our Charity page for details on our continued support of the Arthritis Society.
Charitable Foundation
An donation may be made directly via an e-transfer may be made directly to grandconclavecanada@gmail.com – no password required as this is an auto-deposit
A Guide for Planned Giving
for Members of the Conclave
and Friends
THE GIFT YOU MAKE WILL KEEP ON GIVING
Just by helping others with your donations to our Charitable Foundation, you are eligible for tax savings as well as fulfilling Masonic and Knightly acts of charity. You may donate in a variety of ways.
OUTRIGHT GIFT
Gifting $250.00 either by lump sum or accumulated installments by a Knight Companion the Caritas Jewel will be awarded. Gifts may also be made by a Conclave or an individual in memory of a deceased Knight Companion, a friend, or a member of the family. A beautiful memorial card will be sent to the family of the deceased, in the name of the giver, acknowledging that a donation has been made to the Foundation in memory of their departed loved one.
A BEQUEST
Gifts can be set aside in your will designating our Charitable Foundation as beneficiary. This can be an RRSP, RRIF, an insurance policy or cash. Gifts of securities and properties may also be considered. A tax receipt issued to the estate can offset taxes on other income including capital gains.
IN THE BEGINNING
Realizing that Charity, Benevolence and Christian Virtues are pre-eminent in the heart of every true and faithful Masonic Knight of Constantinian tradition, a resolution was proposed at the Grand Executive Committee meeting held on September 19, 1994, that The Masonic and Military Order of the Knights of the Red Cross of Constantine and Appendant Orders through the Grand Imperial Conclave of Canada establish a Charitable Foundation. At the Annual Assembly of the Grand Imperial Conclave held the following day, the proposed resolution was unanimously and enthusiastically adopted.
The foundation is named
“THE GRAND IMPERIAL CONCLAVE OF CANADA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION”
and was legally incorporated under the Canada Corporations Act and presented with Letters Patent on October 11,1995. On the same day, Revenue Canada granted to the new Charitable Foundation tax-exempt status under the Income Tax Act, so that every contributing donor will be entitled to an income tax receipt with applicable tax benefits.
OUR GOAL
The chief purpose of our particular branch of Masonic Charity is to gift funds to medical researchers and other registered organizations dedicated to finding cures for illnesses such as Arthritis and other debilitating diseases affecting the aged of our society.
“Arthritis in one form or another has been around for a long time. Some Egyptian mummies show unmistakable symptoms of osteo-arthritis, as do the frozen remains of a Copper Age man discovered in 1991 in the Tyrolean Alps.”
“The Medical Adviser”
Today, arthritis is the number one cause of long-term disability in North America. Over 55 million people suffer from arthritis and two hundred thousand of those are children. Arthritis costs the Canadian taxpayer about 17.8 billion dollars in missed work days, and today we find that this disease affects 60 percent of the population under 60 years of age. It is no longer strictly an infirmity of the elderly.
THE CARITAS JEWEL
To commemorate the establishment of the Grand Imperial Conclave’s Charitable Foundation and to recognize those who dispense charity in the giving spirit of true Christian Knighthood, a unique and handsome Charity Jewel has been created. This emblem is known as the “CARITAS JEWEL” and by Statute may be worn at all Conclave functions.
The latin word “Caritas” reflects the motto of our Charitable Foundation:
“CARITAS NUMQUAM EXCIDIT”
(Charity Never Faileth)
The Caritas Jewel is presented to a Knight Companion donating $250.00 to the Charitable Foundation, either by lump sum, or by installments.
“True Charity which like Mercy brings its own recompense
which droppeth,
like a gentle rain from Heaven,
upon a place beneath;
it is twice blessed.
It blesses him who gives
and him who takes.”
Members will receive a Caritas Jewel after a $250.00 donation, lump sum or accumulated installments. Regular contributions are essential, a Gold Star will be issued to be attached to the ribbon of the jewel for each additional $250.00 donation.