WHAT IS A FRATERNAL BENEFIT SOCIETY?
A Force for Good in the Community for More Than a Century
Fraternal benefit societies got their start in the 1800’s. With no sick benefits, no unemployment compensation, and no death benefits for their families, and with the immigrants being maimed and killed by the thousands in the ever-recurring industrial accidents, they had no other recourse but to turn to each other for help.
Fraternals are not-for-profit; mutual aid organizations that help members secure their families’ financial security through a variety of life insurance and retirement products.
Fraternals unite members who share a common ethnic, religious, philosophical or professional bond. Operating through local networks, referred to as a chapter or lodge system, fraternals enable their members to carry out charitable, educational, social and other volunteer community initiatives.
Each year through this unique structure, members of fraternal benefit societies invest more than 92.5 million hours in community works and contribute more than $414 million to charitable programs supporting community service projects making it one of the largest volunteer networks of community and social service providers in existence.