The Knights of Columbus is a global Catholic fraternal service order founded by Blessed Michael J. McGivney. Membership is limited to practicing Catholic men. It is led by Patrick E. Kelly, the order's 14th Supreme Knight.
The Independent Order of Foresters, operating as Foresters Financial, is a fraternal benefit society headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that provides life insurance and other financial solutions in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. As of 2022, Louis Gagnon has served as the company's president and CEO.
The Independent Order of Vikings is a Swedish-American fraternal organization promoting Swedish and culture and language. It was founded in Chicago the 1890s and has members throughout the United States.
The Polish Roman Catholic Union of America (PRCUA) is the oldest Polish American organization in the United States. Currently licensed to sell its products in 27 states, it is a fraternal benefit society providing financial security to its members through competitive life insurance and annuities, and offering opportunities for cultural, educational and spiritual growth.
The Independent Order of Rechabites (IOR), also known as the Sons and Daughters of Rechab, is a fraternal organisation and friendly society founded in England in 1835 as part of the wider temperance movement to promote total abstinence from alcoholic beverages. The Order has been active in Australia from 1843, promoting temperance and as a benefit society. A branch was established in the United States in 1842, and also flourished for a time. In the United Kingdom, the Order trades under the name of Healthy Investment, being well connected in upper society and involved in financial matters; there it gradually transformed into a financial institution which promotes teetotalism.
A mutual insurance company is an insurance company owned entirely by its policyholders. It is a form of consumers' co-operative. Any profits earned by a mutual insurance company are either retained within the company or rebated to policyholders in the form of dividend distributions or reduced future premiums. In contrast, a stock insurance company is owned by investors who have purchased company stock; any profits generated by a stock insurance company are distributed to the investors without necessarily benefiting the policyholders.
A fraternal order is a voluntary membership group organised as an order, with an initiation ritual and traits alluding to religious, chivalric or pseudo-chivalric orders, guilds, or secret societies. Fraternal orders typically have secular purposes, serving as social clubs, cultural organizations and providing a form of social welfare through reciprocal aid or charitable work. Many friendly societies, benefit societies and mutual organisations take the form of a fraternal order.
The Order of United American Mechanics was an anti-Catholic American Nativist organization of the mid-19th century. It was founded in Philadelphia amid the anti-alien riots of 1844-45. It originally was called the Union of Workers. Members were required to undertake efforts to publicize and campaign against the hiring of cheap foreign labor and to patronize only "American" businesses.
The Order of Scottish Clans was a fraternal and benevolent society The dual purpose of the Order was to provide life and disability insurance to Scottish immigrants and their descendants, and also to preserve the culture and traditions of Scotland among Americans of Scottish ancestry.
The Foresters Friendly Society is a British friendly society which was formed in 1834 as the Ancient Order of Foresters. As of 31 December 2016, the society had approximately 75,000 members. Its head office is located in Southampton, England.
Modern Woodmen of America (MWA) is an American fraternal benefit society in the United States, which sells various investments and insurance products, with membership over 750,000 as of 2017. Total assets reached US$17.5 Billion billion in 2022, making it one of the largest such organization by assets. Though it shares the same founder, it is not affiliated financially in any way with another, similarly-styled fraternal benefit society, WoodmenLife, and despite the name "Modern" is actually older than its counterpart.
The Canadian Fraternal Association / L’Association Fraternelle Canadienne (CFA-AFC) was a trade association based in Waterloo, Ontario, for fraternal benefit societies in Canada which engaged in advocacy on their behalf as well as provided services. It was dissolved in July 11, 2016.
The Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) was a fraternal organization in the United States and Canada, providing mutual social and financial support after the American Civil War. It was the first of the "fraternal benefit societies", organizations that would offer insurance as well as sickness, accident, death and burial policies. It dissolved in 1952.
The American Fraternal Alliance (AFA) is an umbrella group of fraternal orders in the United States. It was founded as the National Fraternal Congress of America in 1913, in Chicago, Illinois. It adopted its current name in 2011.
The National Fraternal Society of the Deaf was an organization of deaf people in the United States and Canada modeled on ethnic fraternal orders that were popular at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Elizabeth Flynn Rodgers was an Irish-born American labor leader. One of the first women to hold an office in the Knights of Labor, Rodgers fought for women's rights in the workplace while raising her ten children. She led a small group of women to organize the Working Women's Union in the 1870s, the first labor union for women in Chicago. In her later years, she helped found a fraternal life insurance organization, the Women's Catholic Order of Foresters, leading the organization for over fifteen years.
