New Stamp Club

I am trying to get a Stamp Club started in our area. It will be after the first of the year before we can start if there is enough interest. Anybody have any ideas? Do and Don'ts. It's going to be open to seniors, Teenagers both collectors and anyone interested in starting to collect. There has never been a club in our little town. One question I guess I can think of right off is, should we organize? President, Treasure, PR, Publicity person?

A few random thoughts:

* Ask your local library if you can use a meeting room and book it early.
* Make flyers announcing the meeting -- the first one goes to the library.
* Put flyers in your local grocery stores or anywhere people see a bulletin board.
* Take flyers to the high school for the history & geography teachers; if you have a local college, go there too.
* Sometimes small-town newspapers will give you an "announcement" for free so you don't have to buy advertising. OR, write up the formation of a stamp club as a news item. Anything you can do to avoid buying advertising.

I'm sure there are others here with better ideas and more experience. Let's see what they can tell us...

KirkS

I belong to two clubs locally in Kent, England.
The one thing we do have is a nucleus of older collectors who have been collecting for some years and have different sources of new material. They don't all collect the same countries or have the same interests. So there is a varying knowledge base.

Membership in the two clubs is about 80 and 140, with some, like myself in both, but others are also in other clubs in nearby local towns. The overall population in the two local towns near me is about 50,000 people.

Some use the internet but many do not.

Both clubs are run by committees of older men that have come up through the 'ranks'.
We do pay an annual fee that covers all the outgoings for hired rooms, a calender of forthcoming events, postage etc. Both clubs meet once a month but individual members meet socially more often.

There are rules / guidelines on how the club is to be run, and as it does not make a profit (as a business) it is classed as a charity and therefore is not liable for tax etc. I do not know if you would have any similar concerns.
If you want to know more please ask.

Thanks Kirk and Bayman for your input. I'm going to keep watching this post for more ideas. I do have a free add going in our next newspaper which is only published every other week. We are in a village of 1,000 people. The Library referred me to our Senior Center where the sign up sheet is. The Newspaper will have my Home Phone number in it so I will at least find out if there are any other collectors in our area. Thanks again. I'm all ears.

I am happy to report our first club meeting is scheduled for the 27th of February at Fred's Restaurant and Bowling Center in Roscommon,Mi at 7:00 P.M. It will be a monthly event the fourth Monday of every month. I have sent out over 38 letters of invitation and advertising, Newspapers and Radio and have put out over 140 flyers. I am hoping for a Lg turnout. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

P.S. I reached out to about a 40 mile radius.

Did you get posters, etc. out to area museums? Don't forget them! If the library doesn't work for meeting space, try a museum. They may even put a notice on their own calendar or in a newsletter.

Something else to try: Write a Press Release and email it out to area radio stations (FM and AM). You never know, they may pick it up. Also, most NPR stations have a community calendar online that you submit to and they will read things on air as they go along. Surely you've also sent out flyers/ posters to all area hobby type shops too. Well beyond the 40 mile radius, since someone inside your area may go well travel a ways to visit a shop-- like me, the closest coin/ stamp shop is 2 hours drive away. If it's still open. We have a local "hobby" shop, but it's all craft supplies, needlework, and model trains-- but you never know, even something like my local shop, you may find an RPO collector in with the model train guys.

I can sympathize. I live in a town of 5,000 (Sidney, Montana), with only about 50,000 in a 500 mile radius around us. Pretty sparse. My grandparents live a bit north of Reed City, MI, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with your area.

As far as organizing/ getting non-profit (501c3) status, etc., I'd hold off and just see what you get. Even give it a year to see how it forms, what the nucleus is, what the energy is. Give it a chance to solidify.

Keep us posted on the turnout. We are all curiouse to see how it developes!

benjclark Read my last post... UP... We live in a village of 1,000 Very Remote Northern Michigan. There is not even one city in our entire county. They are all villages and Townships. I will post and let everyone know how the first turnout goes. Right now I'm keeping my fingers crossed.I really don't know of any local NPR stations. I suppose the closest is about 80 miles away. The closest Hobby shop is also about 80 miles away or two hours.

UP? My mistake. Wikipedia has a village of just over 1000 people called Roscommon in Roscommon county in the lower peninsula. My grandparents live in Lake County, just a couple to the east. The UP is remote.

I lived in Gwynn, MI when I got out of the AF for about year in the mid 80's. Love that area but the lack of work drove me back east.

Good luck with the club - hope you get a big turnout

benjclark That's where we are. Roscommon MI in Roscommon County. In fact we are the county seat, here in our village. Population 1,000. Lake county is next county over. It's about 50 miles west of us. I live about five miles east of North Higgins Lake State Park.

Well I have to share what happened at our first Stamp Club Meeting last night as I promised I would. We had 8 people present for the meeting. I had three people call me that planned on coming but wound up sick with the Flu. I also had one person call me that wanted to come and are moving up here from down state but they had to go back down state for Doctors appointments and so they plan to come to the next meeting. So I feel that we had a successful turnout for our very first meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for March the 26th at 7:00 P.M. Thanks everybody for your input and sharing your ideas.

P.S. I'll bounce another Idea off you maybe tomorrow or soon.

Chuck

Congratulations, and I mean that. You've done great. I will be anxious to hear of your progress.