Who are the Odd Fellows? Why does it say IOOF on the side of the building? And what’s with that cryptic neon “eye” and “#23” and “F-L-T?”
The building the Austin Galano Club occupies is leased from the Capital Lodge #23, Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF). The Odd Fellows are a “secret society” founded in 1730 in England, and 1819 in the United States. The Austin Lodge was founded in 1852.
Learn more about the Odd Fellows.
For over a decade the Capital Lodge Odd Fellows have committed to donating $24,000 to two Austin children’s homes each year: the Helping Hand Home for Children, and the Settlement Home. In 2022 an additional gift of $50,000 helped fund a new educational building at the Helping Hand Home. The mission to “educate the orphan” is fulfilled by funding these programs.
The Odd Fellows’ lease to the Austin Galano Club—which is much-discounted from the market rate—is just one way they “relieve the distressed.” When the Lodge leased the building to the Galano Club in 2012, they were looking for a non-profit tenant that would serve as many people as possible. And because both the Austin Galano Club and the Odd Fellows are a 501(c) non-profits, we are exempt from property taxes—so there is more income to do “good works.”
And this brings us to the “virtuous cycle of charity.” Because the Odd Fellows pay no taxes, they are able to donate all of the money received from the Galano lease back to the community.
At each 12 Step Recovery meeting, the basket is passed. Most of that money goes to Galano to pay the lease to the Odd Fellows. Then the Odd Fellows reinvest it in our local Children’s Homes and other charities. In addition to the annual $24,000 commitment, a raffle is conducted twice a month during the Lodge meeting. The winning Odd Fellow selects a non-profit of their choice to receive a $200 contribution.
