Local Stamp Clubs

The nearest stamp club is about 45 miles away. So no, I don't belong to it. How difficult is it to start a local club, what's the best way to go about it? Most importantly, how to find out about other collectors in the area and spread the word? My local library will provide a room and will post a notice. What's the best way to attract the young or should it be a separate club? I started to do this several years ago and got nowhere so I think it may be time to try again.

If you have any local stamp shows you can advertise there I would think. If you can get local dealers to advertise for you too it would be good. Word of advice, make the meeting time after the average work day. My local club which I'm not a member meets at 3pm on a weekday when I would normally be working as well as many other people would too.

I would make it open to everyone regardless of age. You might be able to put an announcement in the local paper, community boards physical & online, chamber of commerce, at the post office, schools, churches, senior centers, and VFW halls. Also contact the APS, Linn's, and other reputable philatelic sources.

BTW, don't forget the scouts.

Try checking on Meetup.com, there might be a closer group. Otherwise, use them to advertise your new group, you'd be surprised how many people are looking for others with similar interests there.

I'm glad you brought this up. The stamp club in my area hasn't met in almost a year.
I need to try to get things happening.

My stamp club meets in the local senior center. Don't forget to advertise there!

Thanks to all for you input. Great suggestions and I appreciate them. I'll see what I can do about getting a stamp club started and let you know how things go.

Hi Art,

It's great to hear that you are interested in starting a stamp club.

In my town, we have a club that has been meeting for many years. When my, then, 5 year old son got interested in stamps, we joined, hoping there would be other kids. This was not the case. All the members were very helpful, but the meetings were rather boring for him. I mentioned starting a kid's club, and was told I would be welcome to start one if I wanted to. After doing a little research online to see how other children's clubs were run, I made up posters and put them on bulletin boards all over town. I also sent notices to the local papers and they included the info on their free calendar pages.

The first two months, no one showed up, except my own kids! It was VERY discouraging. The third month, two brothers joined. The next month they brought their cousin. Meanwhile, I was still advertising every where. I also did a boy scout merit badge workshop hoping to get members that way. Strangely enough, all the boys that signed up for the class were from out of town. Then, I did a presentation for my son's cub scout troop. That got us two more members. So, we are now at 7. It's a good number, and I am still advertising, but not as much as before.

As soon as we had 4 members, I contacted the APS and joined their All Star Stamp Club. This has been very helpful. They send the kids a membership certificate, pin, card, and stamps on their birthdays. They also have sent me several packages of goodies to share with the kids.

I would reccomend having the kids' meetings separate from the adults. The adults tend to have more "business" to discuss and kids would get very bored with this. Also, there is so much that can be taught to kids that the adults already know. For example, we spend one whole hour just on soaking stamps, another time, we just practiced hinging stamps and using tongs.

Once you get started, I would be happy to share meeting ideas with you. I have been keeping track of what we do each month and what seems to work best. I have had so much fun doing this and really look forward to our meetings every month. It is definitely worth all the hard work. The best part is, I have learned so much doing this. I am still very new to this hobby and thought I would never be able to run a stamp club!

Best wishes to you!