Wish There Was APS Sponsored Memberships

It would help new generations to get interested in collecting

Hardly.

APS sponsored memberships for what? And how does that connect to the images?

How would an APS -sponsored membership - this site is free - tie in to new generations? Didn't you post in a deleted thread that you are from the 1980s?

APS has extensive and valuable youth support programs.

https://stamps.org/learn/youth-in-philately

The annual membership fee for most local stamp clubs in North America typically is quite low, less than $30.

I was just saying if they did some kind of sponsorship maybe they could get more people interested in it and yes I did say I was born in the '80s and I don't know very many people from the '80s that collect stamps.

An error that is made very frequently on this forum (I note the one doing this the most has not posted for almost a month) is that people confuse their own garden with the world. The hobby appears to be in decline, as are many hobbies. - I support a hockey team. The national hockey association has noticed a decline in youth membership of clubs. They think it is because young people have so much activities they do not want to have (, or have the time) to train with a team on set times. - The world is changing, as it has done for thousands of years. The hobby is changing as well, as it has done for 183 years, and longer if you include postal history.

It has been discussed many times that younger stamp collectors are less likely to be members of stamp clubs. That does not imply they do not exist. It makes them less visible and people who are focused on organised philately tend to confuse that with their absence. You see many younger people post their 'collections' on social media. We can have a long discussion about whether ten stamps found in a drawer is a collection. However calling it 'not a collection' is the best way to chase young people away from the hobby.

The question is, will APS sponsorship attract new generations? The APS represents a tiny part of the world's population. Traditionally, philately has been the domain of Europeans and North-Americans. Some 90% of the world's population lives outside those geographies. And they are becoming wealthier. There are new generations of stamp collectors in those parts of the world.

Also, as cjpalermo1964 has posted: the APS, already, has youth support programmes. (I, however, have my doubts people aged over 35 are considered 'youth.')

NSK:




I consider anyone under 60 as 'youth'
Mike

My original APS membership was "sponsored" by my parents. It's called a gift. So, feel free to sponsor as many memberships as you want. Or are you actually saying, "APS membership should be paid for by someone else"?