Why does the Progressive Lodge exist?
In a nutshell, the Progressive Lodge exists because of a desire by two lodges for greater transparency and democracy for the Buffaloes. As a new banner, we have created a structure that is better suited to serving Buffaloism into the future. We believe Buffaloism has a great future, and continue to recruit new members to our "banner" or organisation of the order. In the past six years, we've greatly increased our philanthropy and ensured that we have a stable financial basis for the future. Our focus remains on adding more members and doing good work in our communities.
The Progressive Lodge Grand Assembly does not own any assets - it doesn't even have a bank account - and does not claim to own the assets of minor lodges. We think that minor lodges own their own property (regalia, bank account deposits etc), and are best placed to manage them. This is a key part of our rules. From our perspective, the assets of minor lodges are rightfully the property of those lodges to decide what to do with, and not the banner. The minor lodge does this under a document called a dispensation. The dispensation is akin to a "license to operate" for minor lodges. We think of minor lodges as an integral unit and a part of the whole banner, not just a subsidiary of the banner. We don't think of the dispensation as some kind of magical piece of paper that gives grand lodge ownership of minor lodges despite what members of those lodges might democratically decide for themselves. The grand assembly exists as essentially a democratic confederation of all the minor lodges. Every member of a PLNZ lodge can speak at our grand assembly, so long as they have obtained the second degree.
We have created our own charitable trust, The Buffs Charitable Trust, to manage the property assets of two lodges that decided to wind up their respective hall societies - Jack Canty no. 211 and Railway no. 196 lodges. These hall societies were always the property of each lodge, as their constitutions both required members of the hall society to be members of each respective lodge. Their objects made it clear that their primary purpose was to provide a place for each lodge to meet. What became clear to both lodges was that incorporated societies are now largely outdated, and the protection against nefarious actors is too weak. While there have been moves by parliament to modernise the legislation, it is still over a hundred years old (fines under the current Act are in pounds!) and does not provide adequate protection for the assets of the hall societies. A charitable trust on the other hand is very transparent, and subject to a high degree of scrutiny from Charity Services. All of the annual returns of the Buffs Charitable Trust are available online for anyone to read. So far, the trust has donated close to $10,000 to worthy recipients - follow our website for more details!
Meanwhile, the Trust has also provided a new home for Railway Lodge no. 196, and upgrades to the Howick Buffalo Hall. This has been made possible by careful management of the trust's assets. All minor lodges of PLNZ are free to ask any questions about the charitable trust, without fear of retribution or retaliation. On that point, PLNZ has always been clear that any brother of another banner may be admitted to a PLNZ lodge, so long as that brother is of good character. We don't exclude fellow Buffs because of the banner(s) they might be a member of, or whether their lodge has a letter from an obscure committee in the UK. Our test is simply whether a brother lives up to their obligation vow, and the values of Buffaloism. As a result, we have many friends across the other Buffalo banners.
PLNZ continues to go from strength to strength. Our website is proving popular and a useful way to communicate with our audience. Our email list continues to grow. Whatever the future of Buffaloism in New Zealand, PLNZ is going to continue to be a strong part."