What 13 Financial Secretaries told us about the job
From 13 councils in 10 states. A small room of peers, counted honestly — never a percentage — and updated as more officers answer.
People. Knowledge. Time.
The three arcs of the DuesSync ring, and the three things a council loses when a term ends — who's active, who's drifting, who could take a chair; the minutes, the budget, why a thing was decided; the filings, the deadlines, what's due next. The survey measures all three.
A 15-minute call with the FS who built it. No demo account — your council's own numbers.
The three things a council loses
Find yourself in the room
Where do you sit?
Pick your own answers and the matching bar lights up in every chart below. Nothing is sent or stored — this runs in your browser.
Time
What the job costs in hours
4 of 13 spend 10–20 hours a month; nobody said “under 3”. The hours go to the same places for almost everyone — and most of them are the January-to-spring dues stretch.
| 3–5 hours a month | 6 of 13 |
|---|---|
| 5–10 hours a month | 3 of 13 |
| 10–20 hours a month | 4 of 13 |
| Second Notice / Knight Alert follow-up | 9 of 13 |
|---|---|
| Printing, stuffing, and mailing physical notices | 8 of 13 |
| Chasing payments at meetings or by phone | 5 of 13 |
| Voucher / expense approval routing | 5 of 13 |
| Maintaining roster accuracy (transfers, duplicates, deceased) | 4 of 13 |
| Re-entering data between Supreme, Excel, and email | 4 of 13 |
| Year-end audit preparation | 4 of 13 |
| Filling out Supreme forms (#185, #365, #1295, #1728) | 3 of 13 |
| 1 — simple | 2 of 13 |
|---|---|
| 2 | 1 of 13 |
| 3 | 4 of 13 |
| 4 | 4 of 13 |
| 5 — a grind | 2 of 13 |
What DuesSync does here
- 1st and 2nd Notices send themselves on a schedule you set — nothing to print, stuff or stamp.
- Members pay online from the notice in about two minutes; checks and cash are still recorded in seconds.
- The deadline calendar knows every Supreme form and when it's due, and nags the right officer.
People
Who pays, how, and who drifts
Of the 10 who answered, 2 have any online portal — the rest are meeting-door checks and cash. The single most-named time sink, 9 of 13, is chasing the men who go quiet; 4 of 13 name keeping the roster straight.
| Cash at a meeting | 9 of 10 |
|---|---|
| Paper check handed to me at a meeting | 9 of 10 |
| Paper check mailed to me | 9 of 10 |
| Venmo / Zelle / Cash App / PayPal | 7 of 10 |
| Online card payments via a council portal | 2 of 10 |
| Other | 2 of 10 |
| 0% — all manual | 1 of 10 |
|---|---|
| 1–25% | 4 of 10 |
| 25–50% | 2 of 10 |
| 50–75% | 0 of 10 |
| 75%+ | 2 of 10 |
| Doesn't track it | 1 of 10 |
What DuesSync does here
- Supreme's roster file imports in one click — transfers, deaths and duplicates reconciled, not re-keyed.
- Every member's dues status is on one screen: current, 1st Notice, 2nd Notice, Knight Alert, Intent to Retain.
- Broadcasts, birthdays and anniversaries reach members from the council's own address — with opt-outs honoured.
Knowledge
Where the records live
Everybody uses Supreme's portal; exactly one of 10 uses a dedicated dues platform. Everything else — the budget, the minutes, why a thing was decided — lives in email, a spreadsheet, or one man's head. 4 of 13 said any purchase needs a council vote; the gate is the vote, not the price.
| Supreme's online portal (Member Management / Officers Online) | 10 of 10 |
|---|---|
| Email (Outlook, Gmail) for member communication | 8 of 10 |
| Microsoft Word or Google Docs for forms and templates | 6 of 10 |
| Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets | 3 of 10 |
| Paper ledger / file folders | 2 of 10 |
| A dedicated dues / membership platform | 1 of 10 |
| Free only | 3 of 13 |
|---|---|
| Under $10/mo | 3 of 13 |
| $10–$25/mo | 2 of 13 |
| $25–$50/mo | 1 of 13 |
| $50+/mo | 0 of 13 |
| Needs a council vote regardless | 4 of 13 |
What DuesSync does here
- Minutes, motions and the monthly bulletin in one book the next Recorder inherits.
- A budget that fills itself from vouchers and bank imports, so the GK sees spend per activity.
- Form 1295A audit worksheets built from the ledger — the Trustees sign what the books already say.
The Founding Council offer has no price attached until July 2027 — so a Financial Secretary can run a whole dues season before a council ever has to vote on anything. How Founding Councils work →
What they'd eliminate first
Paraphrased from the free-text answers. No quotes — the survey is confidential.
- The second-notice chase
- Printing, stuffing and mailing notices
- Printing membership cards
- Entering receipts and reconciling vouchers
- Being the only person who can bring a new or transferring member in
- Re-keying the roster into the state's website by hand
Two more reports, still locked
Grand Knights and Treasurers have their own surveys. Each report unlocks at 10 responses — below that, a chart would identify people. Every answer moves the meter.
Ready when you are
Run one dues season on it before anyone has to vote.
A Founding seat is the full platform, free through June 30, 2027, turned on by the FS alone — or start with fifteen minutes on a call with the Financial Secretary who built it.
Add your council to the room
Fifteen questions, about eight minutes, confidential. Leave an email and you get the benchmark back, with your own answers beside the room's.
Your whole council benefits
Share the right page with the right person
Grand Knight
Real-time visibility into council health. One-click voucher approval from email. Columbian Award tracker.
See the Grand Knightpage →
Treasurer
Digital payment queue. Bank reconciliation in minutes. Audit-ready records.
See the Treasurerpage →
Trustees
View-only access to every transaction and audit trail. Oversight without risk.
See the Trusteespage →
Recorder
The minute book online. Attendance auto-fills, motions become a searchable record, and a monthly bulletin writes itself.
See the Recorderpage →