Grand Lodge & the Elks National Foundation
The Wyoming Elks Association is tied closely to the Elks Grand Lodge through the Elks National Foundation and Community Investments Program.
The Elks National Foundation started in 1928, supported through contributions from Elks, their families and friends that are all deposited into a permanent endowment fund. ENF only spends the income earned by this fund.
The mission of the Elks National Foundation is to help Elks build stronger communities. ENF fulfills this pledge by investing in communities where Elks live and work. All of this is made possible by the generosity of everyone who has volunteered or donated to the Great Heart of Elkdom: the Elks National Foundation. Every penny ever donated to the Foundation is still there, generating revenues that provide funding for each state’s major project, scholarships, veterans, children’s programs and the drug awareness programs.
For the last several years our state has met the Grand Exalted Ruler’s goal for total donations to the National Foundation, which earns our state more scholarships, more money to help our needy youth with clothing and school supplies, more money to help get the message out about the dangers of drug use, more money to support our veterans and more money to encourage our youth in the Soccer Shoot and Hoop Shoot programs.
When John F. Malley founded the Elks National Foundation, he envisioned that it would “unite the forces of the Order into a mighty army for the service of mankind.” Today, in many ways, the Community Investments Program is that army. Launched in 2005, this program has experienced remarkable growth, thanks to the work of hundreds of thousands of Elks volunteers.
Since the Community Investments Program began, Elks National Foundation approved more than 16,000 grants to lodges. Elks use grants to provide food to the hungry and clothes for the homeless, to serve veterans in need and support community members in crisis, to teach the value of service and be role models for youth, and to spread the goodwill of the Elks.
The Community Investments Program Grants are Beacon, Gratitude, Promise, Impact, Lodge Assistance, Freedom and, for 2018, the Anniversary Grant (celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks).
For more information about the Elks National Foundation, contact your local chairman or contact Elks National Foundation, 2750 N. Lakeview Ave., Chicago, IL 60614, enf@elks.org.