“I’m often busy at the Lodge, and people come up to me all the time with their donations,” Cramer explains. “I want to be sure they get donation credit, so when I accept cash, I write their name and amount down with it. Sometimes the nearest paper scrap is a bar napkin, so it’s become a joke with the members.” Of course, he then writes a check from the Lodge and copies the donor information from those napkins onto an ENF remittance.

Cramer uses different ENF supply items to promote the Foundation at his Lodge, including the donor recognition and scholarship brochures. But the most popular items are the ENF donor stickers. When donors reach a new giving benchmark, Cramer supplies a corresponding sticker for their membership card.

“The members compare stickers, and it inspires some friendly competition,” Cramer says. He looks forward to ordering the new ENF donor level stickers, which depict the recognition pin associated with each cumulative giving level.

Cramer makes a point to keep everyone’s membership cards full of stickers by reminding them to contribute to the Foundation. Throughout the year, he makes phone calls and writes handwritten notes to lapsed donors and prospective donors reminding them to make a gift. But his favorite way to communicate about ENF is to talk to members at the Lodge about the good deeds of the Foundation.

“Find each donor’s connection to the ENF,” Cramer recommends, “and use it to get them interested. If you know a member has children, tell her about the Hoop Shoot and youth programs. If you notice someone wearing a Navy hat, tell him what the ENF does for veterans.”

In addition to working as Lodge ENF Chair, Cramer is also the State ENF Chair for Kentucky. He enjoys watching his hard work pay off as Lodges in his state reach the GER’s per-capita goal. We hope he’ll see every Lodge succeed this year!