The Charlotte Good Fellows Club: simple, joyful community giving

Thank you for joining us this morning.

Today we’re focusing on the spirit of giving, now less than three weeks before Christmas. Some of you may have heard of the Charlotte Good Fellows Club. In fact, some of you may well be members.

The purpose of this piece isn’t to solicit contributions to the organization, but instead to examine the purity and simplicity of its work.

***

The Charlotte Good Fellows Club has been around for more than a century. They’re not flashy. They don’t have a massive, costly fundraising operation. In fact, the vast majority of their funding comes from a single event: the Good Fellows Christmas Luncheon.

At last year’s luncheon, the organization raised more than $2 million. Other funding comes from modest $125 annual dues from the organization’s 1,800+ members.

Where does the money go? This, too, is refreshingly simple. Since 1917, the Good Fellows Club has distributed one-time grants to help families bridge a financial crisis with rent or utility assistance. That’s it. And they’ve stuck to that core mission every year since their founding, including through the Great Depression, war, and COVID.

In 2022, the group distributed more than $1.2 million to 2,000 Mecklenburg County families in need.

What sticks out to us is not just the Good Fellows Club’s philanthropic activity. Plenty of organizations do incredible work, and we list some of those at the bottom. Rather, it’s the combination of simplicity, giving, and fellowship.

Yes, the purpose of the annual luncheon is to raise money for charity. But it’s more than that – it’s a fraternity of civic-minded citizens who gather every holiday season to fellowship, laugh, and return some of their blessings to neighbors who aren’t as fortunate. Nearly 2,000 people don’t come together because they see it as a chore – they do it because they enjoy it, and because they believe in the organization’s mission.

What they’re doing – the simplicity and the joy of it all – is clearly working. Their revenue has roughly tripled in recent years, increasing from about $600,000 in 2015 to $2 million in 2022.

As Chuck Fuller wrote last month, “The takeaway is helping others, anywhere and by any means, is a joyous, soul-nourishing experience.”

If you’re moved to do so this holiday season, here are other organizations in addition to the Good Fellow Club that support those in need:

• United Way of North Carolina | Website
• The Salvation Army | Website
• Samaritan’s Purse | Website
• Triangle Family Services | Website
• Catholic Charities | Raleigh | Charlotte