Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Our stamp club had its second meeting recently and we've had 6 then 4 attendees in our first two meetings.
My question is;
Does anyone have any ideas to get people interested enough to come? How do we spread the word more than we have so far?
So far, we have had an article in our town's newspaper about the club starting; we have put up flyers wherever business owners have allowed; we have put an announcement on our local cable channel which runs daily.
The APS had very few names to provide. The nearest large city to us is Grand Rapids, MI (approx. 40 mins. from here) and they have a large stamp club there. So, our working radius is about 50 miles around us.
Any ideas what we can do beyond what we have done so far?
Any advice/opinions/ideas will be greatly appreciated!
Randy
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My thoughts:
1. Persevere
2. Have more rather than fewer meetings. My club is probably unique, or nearly so, in that we have weekly meetings from September through June. There is a hard core group that rarely misses, and through the year we see nearly all members at least a few times. Monthly meetings don't have much to offer, especially to retirees, which is who the bulk of your members will eventually be.
3. Always make sure that you have stamps for people to buy. Invite dealers, schedule auctions, encourage members to put together stockbooks of priced stamps, boxes of stamps for a dime each, etc.
4. Try for another newspaper article, not about the club per se, but about a particular collector who has an especially interesting collection. Befriend a particular reporter and feed interesting philatelic tidbits to him.
5. Target places where baby boomers congregate. They're the ones with knowledge of stamps collecting, and may even have collected stamps in their youth. They also have time and money.
6. Sponsor a small exhibition in a public place -- a mall, library, community centre, etc. Make sure that you have fliers available for people to take away with them.
7. Publish a web site. This really should be at the top of the list. And make it a good one. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but it should be easy to navigate, attractive, and informative. My club has been getting new members on a regular basis lately, not in big numbers but sufficient to allow us to grow gradually. Nearly all of them find us through our web site.
8. Plan your meetings well in advance, and vary your programs. Have swap & shop meetings, speaker nights, slide shows, auctions, show & tell nights, debates, book nights, bring-a-guest nights, "Remember when" nights (older members love to talk about how stamp collecting used to be), etc. The sky is the limit.
9. Ask philatelic web sites to list your club. APS and RPSC will do this, assuming you are an affiliate; many private philatelic web sites will do the same thing.
10. Publish a newsletter. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but it can serve as a sort of central clearing house. Be sure to include a schedule of upcoming meetings in it.
Good luck! Operating a stamp club is a challenge, and usually depends on the two or three people who are willing to do 99 per cent of the work.
Bob
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Our club has 14 members, 10-11 show up at each monthly meeting. Our monthly newsletter does help to remind people of the meetings.
Phone calls / offers to pick people up for meetings also helps (most of our members are over 65, some well into their 80s).
We also have a display case in the main post office in town - we have an artist / stamp club member who tries to change the display monthly. We post collections, club information, and stamp show announcements as well.
Our local newspaper runs our meeting notices monthly as well as a monthly, full length page listing all local clubs and organizations with contact information. We have gotten 4 out of our last 5 members through this....
We are listed on AskPhil website.
We have our own Facebook page.
We try to keep in close contact with most of the dealers who regularly come to our annual show. We collected another new member from a dealer referral last year.
At our annual show, we have (and advertise as such), an informal appraisal table where the general public can bring stamp related items / accumulations in for an opinion as to value and what to do with it. This has brought people who wouldn't normally come. Our newspaper also listed our show under the "Weekend Buzz" headline which boosted our attendance significantly. I know your question wasn't related to shows, but we have gotten many contacts and some publicity out of the annual show.
We keep the kids club at the local school informed of our meetings and shows.
Even so, we only have two members less than 50 years of age. As soon as we get another new member or two, we lose others. Our club draws from three states, and the average membership stays about 15 members. We know there are several collectors around, they just choose not to come anymore. (They still show up to the show though.)
Best of luck, this is something that all of us in smaller towns struggle with. We don't have the large concentration of people found in retirement communities in places like Florida or Arizona.
Sally
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i second all the suggestions and add several more: put a flier up at the PO. if there's a philatelic-minded person there, have them spread the word to any customers who buy commemoratives or use them on packages. Donate catalogues or the APS mag to the library and ask the librarian to invite anyone who takes them out. I learned of our club at the recycling center where the director noticed me salvaging covers; she asked if I knew Phil, who she knew as a collector. Word of mouth is invaluable. Work with the PO to sponsor a pictorial cancel on anything the town might like and see who comes in for it (that, too, should be publicized).
David Teisler
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All great suggestions, David and Sally. There may be a caveat, depending on individual post offices or postal administrations. Our Canadian postal outlets and post offices will not post any unofficial announcements, posters, etc.
Many collectors believe that we need to target youth in order to get new club members. While we certainly should encourage young people to get into the hobby, the effort versus return makes it largely a waste of time. While stamp collecting may once have been a popular childhood hobby — and I'm not aware of any evidence that it was as widespread as we think it was — today it's the baby boomers who are the collectors and — May I say the word? -- the philatelists. We need to target them in any way we can. As I said in my previous post, Boomers have the time, the money, and the intellectual curiosity that is required to turn stamp collecting into a avocation.
Bob
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Okay, let me try to reply to some of your suggestions/ideas;
We thought of another newspaper article as Bob mentioned - we're working on that.
Publishing a newsletter this soon would be difficult due to so few attendees at this point. We really don't have "official" members other than myself (vice-president) and the president, so we have no dues and we haven't had anyone volunteer to take on secretary/treasurer duties.
The local post office refused my request to put a flyer up there. I was told it wasn't allowed. You called that one, Bob.... (as a side note; I asked them a while back why they stopped displaying recent stamp releases in they're display window - they said they weren't allowed to anymore! How rediculous is that!!)
The library also refused my request to post a flyer...said it wasn't a "non-profit organization." (sheesh!)
We have also contacted the Boy Scouts Grand Rapids chapter and applied for stamp merit badge sponsorship, but haven't heard from them as yet.
All other suggestions here have been made note of and I'll be using as many as I can....thank you all for your ideas and support!
'We have not yet begun to fight!'
Kudos And Thank-you's,
Randy
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An additional suggestion about a newsletter: Do one yourself! Remember that Stamporama started with an occasional newsletter and about six members, although it actually only had one member when it started -- Jerry Abern. Another example: The American Kitefliers Association had a very small beginning. One middle-aged man in New Mexico, apparently in need of a hobby, decided to build a kite along the lines of kites he had built as a boy growing up in New York State. Soon, he decided that there must have been other adult kitefliers in the country, so he founded the AKA, with himself as the sole member. He wrote a newspaper article about it and put it on the United Press International wire service (he was working as a reporter for a small daily newspaper), and the story was played as front page news in several large newspapers across the country. He soon started getting requests for membership, and by the time he retired he had 5,000 members.
I know the story is true, because the man was my father. The moral, of course, is Don't give up!
Bob
P.S. You will probably have to become your own secretary and treasurer. Even large stamp clubs are having trouble getting volunteers, even if they have a large membership. My club has about 65 members but no secretary.
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The difference in what Post Offices will display and what they won't is amazing to me. I deal with 4 area post offices - this is my experience:
1. The tiny post office in my little town will always post notices about stamp club shows. They have a board where they also post lost/found notices and other community events. They also display the poster of new releases. For a tiny, rural post office, the service is fantastic - the postmaster always orders whatever I ask for and frequently anticipates my needs (I am secretary of the stamp club in a town 20 miles north, but I buy my stamps from my local post office). This may be related to being a little bitty place where everyone knows everyone....
2. The post office in the town 20 miles north (big city) lets our club have our own display case - we have the key. They are also willing to add notices of our shows around their customer service windows, but we don't really ask because we put up stuff in our case.
3. The philatelic outlet 20 miles north of that always supports our club and our shows. They show up to every show and will post whatever flyers we want at their window for months beforehand.
4. The post office in the smallish/medium sized town 20 miles south of us will not post or display anything for anyone. Regulations, you know.....
So, don't just try one post office. If you can find other post offices / postmasters that are more cooperative, use them as much as possible. They will spread the word as well.
As far as being nonprofit - our club is and has a tax id number to prove it. Even with that though, the local grocery chain will not let us post any notices....even though they post for other clubs..... Nonprofit status does help us when renting the hall for our show so it might be worth looking into.
Other things I almost forgot: our radio stations will announce meetings and shows. We only submit our show announcements, and it does reach a different set of people. Some of those stations also have websites where you can enter events or meetings.
Also, we list our shows on many local business and school electronic marquee signs. They will run our announcements for 1-2 weeks (depending on the person in charge and how many other organizations are competing for time). Lots of people at the show have commented on seeing the signs on the banks and local schools. I don't know if it would work just for meetings though, it is a lot of hassle.
Sally
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It might be worth taking a look at the website for the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs:
http://www.wfscstamps.org/
Not sexy, but it conveys the information. Best part is, each club can link with their own level of design/information.
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Hi Dan,
When i started our local stamp club, one of things I did was to have public service announcements published in the local papers of all kinds as well as PSA's published in the papers of surrounding towns as far as 40-50 miles from our location. We did get interested persons from that far away. They would make the trip on a monthly basis.
Joel
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I thought I would revisit this thread, as it has been 9 years now
since I originally posted it.
Wow....NINE years!
@Bobstamp -
Your #1 suggestion was one word - "persevere";
WE DID! Thanks for that!
We are still going and still growing, albeit slowly. But growing nonetheless.
We have 12 official members at this moment; 2 visitors are contemplating joining soon;
we average 8 attendees on a fairly regular basis.
Now, on to my main purpose of reposting here;
I am looking to all SOR members for advice/ideas on new activities for our meetings.
Here are some details that may be of help -
--we meet in a room that accommodates only a maximum of 12 people (14 if we SQUEEZE),
therefore space is at a premium;
--we are unable to move to a new location at this time;
--we are an APS chapter and do receive approval books once a month;
--we have 2 Officers: a president(who goes to Florida each winter) and a vice
president/secretary/treasurer (all three are me);
--no one in the group has an interest in being an officer;
--I am the only member of the club who still works a full-time job, therefore my free time
is often very limited;
I realize some of these can come across as complaints, but they are not meant as such -
only fact to consider. Whatever idea(s) we come up with here will most likely have to be implemented and carried out by me, so it can't be too involved and time-consuming.
So far, as a club we have travelled to stamp shows and stamp dealers together, had "Guess the Country of The Stamp Image" quizzes, entered exhibiting shows and had 'Door Prizes'.
Also, someone donated a stack of 30 unused approval booklets with 100-stamp capacity;
I'm thinking of presenting the idea of our members filling them with their own stamps to sell among us members. However, if that should take off, I would need some kind of source to acquire more new approval books. I as yet have not found any and if I do, cost could be an issue as we are still a small club with limited funds.
I know this is a lot of info, but maybe some of you have some ideas here?
I hope to hear from you all soon and thank you in advance for your input!!!
Randy
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Randy,
Our club has had some success with having individual members present short programs about areas of special interest or expertise. We have had presentations on military covers, prexies (on cover, different rate usages), digital microscopes, how to make your own stamp pages, machins, and a couple others I cannot remember.
The presentations are about 15 - 20 minutes and very informal. Doesn't really take that much time to prepare either. Everyone seems to enjoy seeing items that aren't in their own collections.
We always have several people who bring stamps for sale: either in binders or in nickel boxes to pick through.
I usually order from the Fulfillment Center once per year and coordinate with everyone to get whatever is needed. It's a huge order and we all split shipping costs. Everyone really likes it.
Another club member gets current stamp issues from the post office and brings to meetings for us to buy just the quantity wanted.
We used to get programs from APS but haven't done that for over ten years.
This month we will vote as a club for the Linn's stamp popularity poll - i bring copies of the ballot and everyone fills it out. I mail them all in one envelope.
If something fun or special is happening that month, I put it in the newsletter in big print.
If something needs communicated at the last minute, I send out an email blast and only have to call the two members who have no computer or cell phone.
In some ways, you are a victim of your own success. The more members you gather, the more newsletters you have to send out (more work for you). Too bad someone isn't willing to step up and help out.
We had a carload attend ChicagoPex last November and got rear-ended on the highway on the way home. Not sure how much enthusiasm will be present for a repeat journey this November.
Congrats on growing your club. Wish you all the best - if can be hard keeping a club going when you are the only one doing the heavy lifting.
Sally
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The two clubs in my area meet on a week night so it would be difficult for me to consider attending. Both have Facebook pages but they have almost no activity so why did they even bother? I actually posted on one to give away some old Scott catalogs and the post was deleted.
I had asked this elsewhere but do any local stamp clubs have more than informational web site where members can continue to interact such as a discussion forum?
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I am aware of one club that meets in a church basement; you have to go down two sets of steep stairs to get to the meetings, not the best venue for their older members.
With some clubs there seems to be a problem resulting in a lack of focus for the meetings. You wind up with a bunch of older guys telling bad jokes, making sexist and racist comments.
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Angore - your mention of useless Facebook pages is interesting. Our club has an outdated page with a nonexistent phone number for contact information. Several years ago, one member stated that we "needed" a Facebook page. His wife would set it up for us, and she did.
Then a new member said he would take it over (he was 40 years old). He had a heart attack and died. Apparently he had changed whatever password is required and no one can get into the account now.
I don't have a Facebook account and don't know the first thing about it. Our club does have a webpage through APS. The last internet search I did using our club name returned the APS page first, our Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs link, and a couple other listings before the Facebook link (the Facebook one was number 8). So we decided not to worry about it.
We have never had anyone say they found us by Facebook, even when the page was correct. Several new members found us through the APS webpage and our monthly listing in the local newspaper. Not sure how much Facebook matters around here. Most of our members are barely able to use a computer, and some don't have a computer or cell phone.
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Sally, you may want to enlist the widow.
Google has a procedure for bona fide family members to gain access to gMail accounts (don't ask), and FB probably has a similar provision.
If no one wants to maintain it, you could delete it ,,,
... but I get your point: no harm, no foul.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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Facebook is not the end all but it is essentially free way to advertise with minimal effort. Of course, getting the Facebook liked/shared to get it into news feeds is needed too.
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Thanks ikeyPikey but he was single. No family members who know anything about the stamp club. The lady that set it up is the wife of a different club member. Can anyone delete a Facebook page?
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12:44:45pm
"Can anyone delete a Facebook page?"
No, only the person that set it up. Since it is likely that the page was set up as a secondary page to his own account, FB probably won't let you have acccess to the account either. However, you should contact FB, explain the situation, explain that the page is defunct, incorrect and out of date and ask them to delete the page so that you can post a correct page for the club. You may have to prove your authority to make such decisions for the club.
I can't see them declining, since having a "bad" page is also bad for them.
Roy
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Thanks Roy. Will give it a try.
Sally
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Our club is small and aging..but we put on a show last Fall that brought in over 200 folks (mind you they didn`t
join our club but it promoted the hobby) The reason for the interest was a series of short presentation from other clubs from two provinces. One popular presentation was embroidered wartime postcards....the second was a Royal Tour.....It seems if you can encourage folks from away and interesting history they will come....I believe the interest in collecting a stamp doesn`t
tweek the interest...but a story /collection does. We also meet on a Saturday afternoon and invite the public to small presentations...once or twice a year.... When there is no presentation the meetings are very short and hardly worth the drive....
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Facebook is not free, their income last year was $41 BILLION. They sell ‘you’ and your data. Even if you post nothing in your page they sell you and your data. They can now predict with 94% accuracy your religion, how you vote, etc. just by who you friend on FB. Folks mistakenly think that because they do not get spam emails their personal data is not being sold but this could not be more incorrect.
Don
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.
NYTimes piece on the location data industry
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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It has been some time since I have posted anything on this forum or really been active in the philatelic community. I found a stamp club in my neck of the woods that I don't have to drive over an hour one way to attend. It's a shame I didn't find it sooner. Anyway it is the Baraboo Wi. Stamp club and meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month. They are done for the year because it's the silly season.
The first scheduled meeting 2025 will be held on Thursday, January 30 at 6 pm in the Baraboo public library.
I thought that I'd share this information for those Wisconsinites who live within reasonable distance from the meetings location and would like to attend. I plan on being there in attendance.
Jeremy
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Good job, Jeremy! Our stamp club will have a lunch together on our regular meeting day in December. I would still like to have a December meeting of some sort, maybe a buy/sell/trade. We'll see in others would too.
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I sent comments to my closest stamp club to have some daytime event but they never responded.
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I will see how things go after all this will be the first meeting that I attend with this stamp club. I did some research and was able to make contact with the presumptive club president via email and he informed me that the club is in a transitional period because the club president passed away a couple of years ago and 2 other regular members passed earlier this year. He also said that the attendance is usually between 2 to 6 club members and there isn't any real structure of planned topics of discussion which I am hoping that I can help change. But I will be careful to not let this become work especially a hobby that I really like. My youngest son who is 9 years old and I will be regular members.
Aside from the low attendance by members one thing that I found disturbing is that 2 of the regular attendees are dealers from out of town and the presumptive president doesn't know if they actively collect or as he put it just there to buy up collections and sell what they can. I didn't say anything in response to his statement because it would be foolish of me to presume anything. So I'll be able to gauge what is happening when finally meet the other members. He also said that there are a few members that don't attend for health and transportation reasons. Again I don't want to presume anything but its seems to me that he is really asking for help without asking by informing me of the club business after all I just made contact with him to find out the 5w's and make my virtual introduction.
I hope that you guys don't mind if I take some of ideas that have been posted here and run with them.
Jeremy
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I've found the best way to promote a stamp club is don't let them get away. There are three reasons why people come to meetings: to socialize and for the free cookies and coffee, to learn something new and to buy and sell stamps. You need to satisfy all these needs at every meeting.
When you see an new face get right over and introduce yourself, make him/her feel welcome and explain what will happen that night. We have all walked into a room, turned around and left because we didn't feel we belonged.
Align with a local Charity. Members are more engaged when they feel they are part of a greater good. We all get calls from the public wanting to dispose of an old collection. Many will donate if they know money generated will fund a worthy cause. My first goal in meeting with a former collector is to rekindle their interest in the hobby. I write this because such a person came out to their second meeting last night. He was an avid collector and will be again. (and he's under 70!)
We recently combined two local clubs and expanded the meeting schedule to try to satisfy everyone. That has morphed into three meetings a month, two afternoons and one evening. You'd think more meetings would dilute attendance but we have experienced the opposite effect. We get strong attendance at all meetings with times and days that appeal to a wide audience.
Other observations: Our website is kept current and relevant, same with our facebook page (800 and growing). We partner with other regional clubs to run on line auctions and have over 50 active participants from coast to coast. We actively promote SoR and have run seminars on how it works.
Biggest challenges: keeping up the momentum and finding hard working volunteers to pass the torch to.
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@comet66,
That's got to be the most practical, common sense take on stamp clubs I've heard yet. I bet you guys have a fun club.
No offense to anyone in the Jacksonville Stamp Collectors club, I've met the players there several times over the years (theyre great people), but to be perfectly honest, it's a snoozefest. I always found it challenging to work all day come home, eat something and then drive across town for a boring stamp club meeting.
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12:08:44pm
@comet66,
Great write-up John, but I think you should have shared the website, so here it is:
https://londonmiddlesexstampclub.ca/
Roy
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@musicman
After all the good ideas how is the club doing now.
Which ideas worked the best?
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I sent one more email to the club president before the up and coming meeting at the end of this month. I will be bringing some philatelic freebies to hand out to members. All things that I don't want. You all know the types of things stamps, old catalogs, old albums etc... from the large lots and collections that have accrued and taken apart over the past 45 years to fill my favorite albums. Its time to thin the herd and do something with my spare time in retirement.
If this turns out to be a bust. I'll just start a stamp club here in Reedsburg Wi. There's a public library here too. It cant be that difficult. Hell I'll just do it.
Any more ideas other than the ones that have been mentioned will be welcomed.
Jeremy
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I was interested for an update from musicman from 2019 posting if any progress?
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There has been many excellent ideas mentioned in this thread and the Baraboo Stamp club president has reached out to me again and said in the email that he was really intrigued by the SOR forum. I hope he becomes a member. I'll be borrowing many of the ideas mentioned. I hope that you all don't mind.
I am putting together my 25 pound box of philatelic freebies to hand out at the meeting next Friday. It will be a way of paying it forward.
Jeremy
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This is my main "stamp club", of the 6 Groups (not Pages), that I administer on Facebook.
I promote them online in various ways, mainly by mentioning their existence in philatelic forums.
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Hi All,
This is in response to David "1899" Thompson's query above regarding his interest in our local stamp club's progress and current standing - thanks for the inquiry, David.
Its been 6 years - almost to the day - since my last post about our local club, the Greenville Stamp Club in Greenville, MICH.
Here are a few updates;
--We are now meeting in our local library - the Flat River Library - in the Michigan History room, which can accommodate up to 14 people comfortably.
-- There is no charge for the use of the room, but we do make a yearly donation to the library as a thank-you.
--I am now semi-retired (2&1/2 days a week) so I am able to donate a little more time to club happenings.
--We have lost a couple members thru the years and then gained a couple as well. Our official membership still stands at 12, with regular attendees numbering 6-8. (We have one member who is 98 and still drives and works out at a gym 3 days a week!!)
--We continue to have APS approval books for the club once a month...we meet twice a month.
--We have been enjoying Youtube videos on stamp collecting, projected on a large screen provided by the library. One particular YouTuber - Graham Beck - has done a long-running series of short videos called "Exploring Stamps". I highly recommend his videos - VERY entertaining and well done!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a recap of where we are today as a local club. I suspect this is probably the norm for many if not most local clubs. Membership in the same range and regular attendees also....at least in small towns such as where we live.
Thank you all for jumping in previously with your comments and ideas to help us along our way!
Feel free to ask any followup questions if you like -happy to answer them!
Randall/
Musicman
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I just looked at this thread in its entirety and realize that I have made a mistake in my last post. The Baraboo stamp club meeting isn't this Friday it is this Thursday at 6pm and the location is at the Baraboo public library. My apologies for the mix up. I hope to see some of you there too.
Jeremy
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Here is an update for the local stamp club I attended for the first time with my youngest son. The turn out of members was better than I thought it would be 8 of us in total with my son now the youngest member. How cool is that? I think that it is pretty awesome. We didn't get to discuss too much in any great detail a whole lot of club business. The president was forth coming with all of the details fir instance the finances are in the black to the high for digit tune. Not bad for just a hand full of members struggling to keep it afloat primarily with donations. I did pass out the stamporama business cards and donated the 25 pound box of philatelic give aways to the club. The members of the club didn't take all that much. Two of them were more interested in liquidating their own collections than anything else. One guy is a dealer out of Sauk Prairie who is a specialist like I am and pretty interested in the US classics and EFO's. So I have found a kindred spirit that I can relate to.
Towards the end of the meeting there was some discussion of hosting a show. It surprised me that they had no idea of where to have the venue. So I suggested the local VFW or the American Legion. That would keep the cost for rental of the space down and leave quite a bit of wiggle room for some advertising. More importantly avoid dropping unnecessary coin to rent a hotel conference room though that would be ideal given the fact that we are so close to the Wisconsin Dells. I suggested radio and passing out some flyers. I even suggested to set up some tables at the next gun show. The last one I attended I did get a smoking deal one some Federal Duck Stamps. I'm still hunting for the elusive Federal Firearms Transfer stamps. It was a good night.
Jeremy
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Jeremy!
I'm very glad to hear another kid is in the hobby!
That makes my day!
-Ari 
P.S. Maybe also a library would be good for a show? Just make sure they permit the exchange of money for goods. Mine doesn't, so our club holds it at the church where we meet!
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The closest stamp club to me is over 30 minute drive and their meetings are in the evenings so always dark. I tried to contact them to see if they would consider meetings during daylight hours but emails and other methods go unanswered. I am sure many are older and most of us older types do not like driving in the dark.
The county I live in is big on senior llving and there are two senior centers in the county that have focus on senior activities. One could start an interest group and use the facility for free. They have groups for crafting, cameras, language, etc. and many a free.
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Al,
I know what you mean.
When I joined JPSCC it was late at 7 PM but I talked with the president, and we made meetings start at 6 PM.
I think it is possible, and maybe it would help if you call them and let them know other clubs have done this succsessfully.
What do you think?
-Ari 
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Our local club meets in the evening at the senior living community activities room (one of our members lives there). The site is fantastic- no steps, good lighting, plenty of chairs and tables. And free!
We have “always” met at 7 pm. Discussed several years ago changing to an earlier time but several members said that they couldn’t be there any earlier because of work. May be worth another discussion though
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Here is the meeting notice from my club "Mount Nittany Stamp Club." We meet once a month at The American Philatelic Research Library in Bellefonte. Usually it is one of the meeting rooms but occasionally we meet in the Library. We host SCOPEX every year in the summer. The show was held at the end of "Summer Seminar" but that is not being held this year but the show will go on. WE have about 50 members and twenty are active. We don't have dealers selling at our meetings but there is a dealer member that sometimes brings items if they were requested by members. We have an auction once a year in the fall and a pot luck dinner in December.
"Greetings to Everyone,
February Meeting: One week to go before our February meeting at the APC. Thursday, February 20th starting at 7PM. We will be watching the weather and will make any necessary changes put safety first and adjust the date if Mother Nature does not cooperate. Standby for any updates.
Our February program after the short business portion will consist of a couple of member activities. First a Stamp Poll and second a Philatelic Quiz. We will also have a show and tell, so bring in you neat and interesting items to show and discuss. Also, if you have unidentified stamps or covers, bring them along and we will see if "light" can be shed on them.
After this meeting we will be able to provide a 2025 Program Schedule. We had some challenges getting later programs set for the year.
We also have a new Director of Education at the APS, Tomalei Vess. She is planning to join MNPS and attend our meeting when she can. She admitted that she is new to philately, so we can help her learn about this great hobby.
SCOPEX is not that far away, and planning will begin in earnest soon. Don can get us up to speed on his activities for the show and we can begin to explore ideas on getting the word out to the public. Be sure to mark June 21st and 22nd on your calendars for the show and June 20th for set-up.
January Meeting Summary: We had a great turnout in January in spite of the iffy weather. We met in the library and identified 24 "difficult" foreign stamps. The members present divided up into several teams. We used the APRL stamp catalogs and other references to aid in the stamp identifications. Once the activity was completed, the teams were able to select small awards for their efforts. From the comments of the members, it was a much-enjoyed activity and we all learned something new about some of the foreign stamps.
Enough for now. Questions and comments are always welcomed.
Enjoy the hobby, tolerate the nasty weather, and have fun.
Hope to see you on Thursday, February 20th.
Cheers,
Gerry Robbins, President MNPS"
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Seems to me to attract new collectors it would be better to advisterize where these people get their information from, like internet, youtube, church, etc., & etc.!
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Vinman, I would like to hear your impression of the education director given the short history of the last two.
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Hi Al,
I will have to wait on my opinion until I get to meet her. I have heard good things from those who have spoken with her and her plans. I, along with many others, would like to see Summer Seminar return, maybe she can pursue that. She was invited to or club meeting on Thursday but was out of town, hopefully we will get to meet her next month with some questions.
Vince
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The meeting last Thursday went well however just 6 of us were there in attendance. I arrived a few minutes late because I had to make sure that the little man was fed. We discussed the idea of hosting a show in further detail. Some suggestions were made to where the venue will be held. I arrived to the table with 3 and quickly ruled out 2 because they weren't suitable for a number of reasons: parking, size of the venue, handicap accessibility, lighting etc... We ultimately narrowed it down to 3 distinct possibilities one that was suggested is the Lions club located in Mauston, another is the Vikings inn located here in Reedsburg where the first show sponsored and hosted by the club was held in 2018, the last one that is being considered is the Reedsburg Country Club which is one of the venues I suggested and meets all of the requirements. It also has lots of history dating back to the Prohibition era. That's right mobsters and speak easy's haunted this town.
One of the members of our club is non other than the president of the EFO Club/forum. That is correct ladies and gentlemen. I also found out that there is going to be a Philatelic Flea Market held in September in Saint Francis Wi. a suburb of Milwaukee and I plan on attending as a seller and buyer. Probably more of the later so I'll have to bring a fat wallet. So far I have passed out a little more than a dozen SOR businesses cards.
Jeremy
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A club can be as small as one wants and operate in any manner without trying to imitate a classic club: officers, regular schedule, auctions, shows, etc.
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We had a great stamp club meeting yesterday. 14 members and one visitor came. Almost everything in the auction sold.
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To All,
Our stamp club had its second meeting recently and we've had 6 then 4 attendees in our first two meetings.
My question is;
Does anyone have any ideas to get people interested enough to come? How do we spread the word more than we have so far?
So far, we have had an article in our town's newspaper about the club starting; we have put up flyers wherever business owners have allowed; we have put an announcement on our local cable channel which runs daily.
The APS had very few names to provide. The nearest large city to us is Grand Rapids, MI (approx. 40 mins. from here) and they have a large stamp club there. So, our working radius is about 50 miles around us.
Any ideas what we can do beyond what we have done so far?
Any advice/opinions/ideas will be greatly appreciated!
Randy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
My thoughts:
1. Persevere
2. Have more rather than fewer meetings. My club is probably unique, or nearly so, in that we have weekly meetings from September through June. There is a hard core group that rarely misses, and through the year we see nearly all members at least a few times. Monthly meetings don't have much to offer, especially to retirees, which is who the bulk of your members will eventually be.
3. Always make sure that you have stamps for people to buy. Invite dealers, schedule auctions, encourage members to put together stockbooks of priced stamps, boxes of stamps for a dime each, etc.
4. Try for another newspaper article, not about the club per se, but about a particular collector who has an especially interesting collection. Befriend a particular reporter and feed interesting philatelic tidbits to him.
5. Target places where baby boomers congregate. They're the ones with knowledge of stamps collecting, and may even have collected stamps in their youth. They also have time and money.
6. Sponsor a small exhibition in a public place -- a mall, library, community centre, etc. Make sure that you have fliers available for people to take away with them.
7. Publish a web site. This really should be at the top of the list. And make it a good one. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but it should be easy to navigate, attractive, and informative. My club has been getting new members on a regular basis lately, not in big numbers but sufficient to allow us to grow gradually. Nearly all of them find us through our web site.
8. Plan your meetings well in advance, and vary your programs. Have swap & shop meetings, speaker nights, slide shows, auctions, show & tell nights, debates, book nights, bring-a-guest nights, "Remember when" nights (older members love to talk about how stamp collecting used to be), etc. The sky is the limit.
9. Ask philatelic web sites to list your club. APS and RPSC will do this, assuming you are an affiliate; many private philatelic web sites will do the same thing.
10. Publish a newsletter. It doesn't have to be elaborate, but it can serve as a sort of central clearing house. Be sure to include a schedule of upcoming meetings in it.
Good luck! Operating a stamp club is a challenge, and usually depends on the two or three people who are willing to do 99 per cent of the work.
Bob
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Our club has 14 members, 10-11 show up at each monthly meeting. Our monthly newsletter does help to remind people of the meetings.
Phone calls / offers to pick people up for meetings also helps (most of our members are over 65, some well into their 80s).
We also have a display case in the main post office in town - we have an artist / stamp club member who tries to change the display monthly. We post collections, club information, and stamp show announcements as well.
Our local newspaper runs our meeting notices monthly as well as a monthly, full length page listing all local clubs and organizations with contact information. We have gotten 4 out of our last 5 members through this....
We are listed on AskPhil website.
We have our own Facebook page.
We try to keep in close contact with most of the dealers who regularly come to our annual show. We collected another new member from a dealer referral last year.
At our annual show, we have (and advertise as such), an informal appraisal table where the general public can bring stamp related items / accumulations in for an opinion as to value and what to do with it. This has brought people who wouldn't normally come. Our newspaper also listed our show under the "Weekend Buzz" headline which boosted our attendance significantly. I know your question wasn't related to shows, but we have gotten many contacts and some publicity out of the annual show.
We keep the kids club at the local school informed of our meetings and shows.
Even so, we only have two members less than 50 years of age. As soon as we get another new member or two, we lose others. Our club draws from three states, and the average membership stays about 15 members. We know there are several collectors around, they just choose not to come anymore. (They still show up to the show though.)
Best of luck, this is something that all of us in smaller towns struggle with. We don't have the large concentration of people found in retirement communities in places like Florida or Arizona.
Sally
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re: How to promote a stamp club
i second all the suggestions and add several more: put a flier up at the PO. if there's a philatelic-minded person there, have them spread the word to any customers who buy commemoratives or use them on packages. Donate catalogues or the APS mag to the library and ask the librarian to invite anyone who takes them out. I learned of our club at the recycling center where the director noticed me salvaging covers; she asked if I knew Phil, who she knew as a collector. Word of mouth is invaluable. Work with the PO to sponsor a pictorial cancel on anything the town might like and see who comes in for it (that, too, should be publicized).
David Teisler
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re: How to promote a stamp club
All great suggestions, David and Sally. There may be a caveat, depending on individual post offices or postal administrations. Our Canadian postal outlets and post offices will not post any unofficial announcements, posters, etc.
Many collectors believe that we need to target youth in order to get new club members. While we certainly should encourage young people to get into the hobby, the effort versus return makes it largely a waste of time. While stamp collecting may once have been a popular childhood hobby — and I'm not aware of any evidence that it was as widespread as we think it was — today it's the baby boomers who are the collectors and — May I say the word? -- the philatelists. We need to target them in any way we can. As I said in my previous post, Boomers have the time, the money, and the intellectual curiosity that is required to turn stamp collecting into a avocation.
Bob
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Okay, let me try to reply to some of your suggestions/ideas;
We thought of another newspaper article as Bob mentioned - we're working on that.
Publishing a newsletter this soon would be difficult due to so few attendees at this point. We really don't have "official" members other than myself (vice-president) and the president, so we have no dues and we haven't had anyone volunteer to take on secretary/treasurer duties.
The local post office refused my request to put a flyer up there. I was told it wasn't allowed. You called that one, Bob.... (as a side note; I asked them a while back why they stopped displaying recent stamp releases in they're display window - they said they weren't allowed to anymore! How rediculous is that!!)
The library also refused my request to post a flyer...said it wasn't a "non-profit organization." (sheesh!)
We have also contacted the Boy Scouts Grand Rapids chapter and applied for stamp merit badge sponsorship, but haven't heard from them as yet.
All other suggestions here have been made note of and I'll be using as many as I can....thank you all for your ideas and support!
'We have not yet begun to fight!'
Kudos And Thank-you's,
Randy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
An additional suggestion about a newsletter: Do one yourself! Remember that Stamporama started with an occasional newsletter and about six members, although it actually only had one member when it started -- Jerry Abern. Another example: The American Kitefliers Association had a very small beginning. One middle-aged man in New Mexico, apparently in need of a hobby, decided to build a kite along the lines of kites he had built as a boy growing up in New York State. Soon, he decided that there must have been other adult kitefliers in the country, so he founded the AKA, with himself as the sole member. He wrote a newspaper article about it and put it on the United Press International wire service (he was working as a reporter for a small daily newspaper), and the story was played as front page news in several large newspapers across the country. He soon started getting requests for membership, and by the time he retired he had 5,000 members.
I know the story is true, because the man was my father. The moral, of course, is Don't give up!
Bob
P.S. You will probably have to become your own secretary and treasurer. Even large stamp clubs are having trouble getting volunteers, even if they have a large membership. My club has about 65 members but no secretary.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
The difference in what Post Offices will display and what they won't is amazing to me. I deal with 4 area post offices - this is my experience:
1. The tiny post office in my little town will always post notices about stamp club shows. They have a board where they also post lost/found notices and other community events. They also display the poster of new releases. For a tiny, rural post office, the service is fantastic - the postmaster always orders whatever I ask for and frequently anticipates my needs (I am secretary of the stamp club in a town 20 miles north, but I buy my stamps from my local post office). This may be related to being a little bitty place where everyone knows everyone....
2. The post office in the town 20 miles north (big city) lets our club have our own display case - we have the key. They are also willing to add notices of our shows around their customer service windows, but we don't really ask because we put up stuff in our case.
3. The philatelic outlet 20 miles north of that always supports our club and our shows. They show up to every show and will post whatever flyers we want at their window for months beforehand.
4. The post office in the smallish/medium sized town 20 miles south of us will not post or display anything for anyone. Regulations, you know.....
So, don't just try one post office. If you can find other post offices / postmasters that are more cooperative, use them as much as possible. They will spread the word as well.
As far as being nonprofit - our club is and has a tax id number to prove it. Even with that though, the local grocery chain will not let us post any notices....even though they post for other clubs..... Nonprofit status does help us when renting the hall for our show so it might be worth looking into.
Other things I almost forgot: our radio stations will announce meetings and shows. We only submit our show announcements, and it does reach a different set of people. Some of those stations also have websites where you can enter events or meetings.
Also, we list our shows on many local business and school electronic marquee signs. They will run our announcements for 1-2 weeks (depending on the person in charge and how many other organizations are competing for time). Lots of people at the show have commented on seeing the signs on the banks and local schools. I don't know if it would work just for meetings though, it is a lot of hassle.
Sally
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re: How to promote a stamp club
It might be worth taking a look at the website for the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs:
http://www.wfscstamps.org/
Not sexy, but it conveys the information. Best part is, each club can link with their own level of design/information.
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09:00:46am
re: How to promote a stamp club
Hi Dan,
When i started our local stamp club, one of things I did was to have public service announcements published in the local papers of all kinds as well as PSA's published in the papers of surrounding towns as far as 40-50 miles from our location. We did get interested persons from that far away. They would make the trip on a monthly basis.
Joel
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re: How to promote a stamp club
I thought I would revisit this thread, as it has been 9 years now
since I originally posted it.
Wow....NINE years!
@Bobstamp -
Your #1 suggestion was one word - "persevere";
WE DID! Thanks for that!
We are still going and still growing, albeit slowly. But growing nonetheless.
We have 12 official members at this moment; 2 visitors are contemplating joining soon;
we average 8 attendees on a fairly regular basis.
Now, on to my main purpose of reposting here;
I am looking to all SOR members for advice/ideas on new activities for our meetings.
Here are some details that may be of help -
--we meet in a room that accommodates only a maximum of 12 people (14 if we SQUEEZE),
therefore space is at a premium;
--we are unable to move to a new location at this time;
--we are an APS chapter and do receive approval books once a month;
--we have 2 Officers: a president(who goes to Florida each winter) and a vice
president/secretary/treasurer (all three are me);
--no one in the group has an interest in being an officer;
--I am the only member of the club who still works a full-time job, therefore my free time
is often very limited;
I realize some of these can come across as complaints, but they are not meant as such -
only fact to consider. Whatever idea(s) we come up with here will most likely have to be implemented and carried out by me, so it can't be too involved and time-consuming.
So far, as a club we have travelled to stamp shows and stamp dealers together, had "Guess the Country of The Stamp Image" quizzes, entered exhibiting shows and had 'Door Prizes'.
Also, someone donated a stack of 30 unused approval booklets with 100-stamp capacity;
I'm thinking of presenting the idea of our members filling them with their own stamps to sell among us members. However, if that should take off, I would need some kind of source to acquire more new approval books. I as yet have not found any and if I do, cost could be an issue as we are still a small club with limited funds.
I know this is a lot of info, but maybe some of you have some ideas here?
I hope to hear from you all soon and thank you in advance for your input!!!
Randy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Randy,
Our club has had some success with having individual members present short programs about areas of special interest or expertise. We have had presentations on military covers, prexies (on cover, different rate usages), digital microscopes, how to make your own stamp pages, machins, and a couple others I cannot remember.
The presentations are about 15 - 20 minutes and very informal. Doesn't really take that much time to prepare either. Everyone seems to enjoy seeing items that aren't in their own collections.
We always have several people who bring stamps for sale: either in binders or in nickel boxes to pick through.
I usually order from the Fulfillment Center once per year and coordinate with everyone to get whatever is needed. It's a huge order and we all split shipping costs. Everyone really likes it.
Another club member gets current stamp issues from the post office and brings to meetings for us to buy just the quantity wanted.
We used to get programs from APS but haven't done that for over ten years.
This month we will vote as a club for the Linn's stamp popularity poll - i bring copies of the ballot and everyone fills it out. I mail them all in one envelope.
If something fun or special is happening that month, I put it in the newsletter in big print.
If something needs communicated at the last minute, I send out an email blast and only have to call the two members who have no computer or cell phone.
In some ways, you are a victim of your own success. The more members you gather, the more newsletters you have to send out (more work for you). Too bad someone isn't willing to step up and help out.
We had a carload attend ChicagoPex last November and got rear-ended on the highway on the way home. Not sure how much enthusiasm will be present for a repeat journey this November.
Congrats on growing your club. Wish you all the best - if can be hard keeping a club going when you are the only one doing the heavy lifting.
Sally
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re: How to promote a stamp club
The two clubs in my area meet on a week night so it would be difficult for me to consider attending. Both have Facebook pages but they have almost no activity so why did they even bother? I actually posted on one to give away some old Scott catalogs and the post was deleted.
I had asked this elsewhere but do any local stamp clubs have more than informational web site where members can continue to interact such as a discussion forum?
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re: How to promote a stamp club
I am aware of one club that meets in a church basement; you have to go down two sets of steep stairs to get to the meetings, not the best venue for their older members.
With some clubs there seems to be a problem resulting in a lack of focus for the meetings. You wind up with a bunch of older guys telling bad jokes, making sexist and racist comments.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Angore - your mention of useless Facebook pages is interesting. Our club has an outdated page with a nonexistent phone number for contact information. Several years ago, one member stated that we "needed" a Facebook page. His wife would set it up for us, and she did.
Then a new member said he would take it over (he was 40 years old). He had a heart attack and died. Apparently he had changed whatever password is required and no one can get into the account now.
I don't have a Facebook account and don't know the first thing about it. Our club does have a webpage through APS. The last internet search I did using our club name returned the APS page first, our Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs link, and a couple other listings before the Facebook link (the Facebook one was number 8). So we decided not to worry about it.
We have never had anyone say they found us by Facebook, even when the page was correct. Several new members found us through the APS webpage and our monthly listing in the local newspaper. Not sure how much Facebook matters around here. Most of our members are barely able to use a computer, and some don't have a computer or cell phone.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
.
Sally, you may want to enlist the widow.
Google has a procedure for bona fide family members to gain access to gMail accounts (don't ask), and FB probably has a similar provision.
If no one wants to maintain it, you could delete it ,,,
... but I get your point: no harm, no foul.
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Facebook is not the end all but it is essentially free way to advertise with minimal effort. Of course, getting the Facebook liked/shared to get it into news feeds is needed too.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Thanks ikeyPikey but he was single. No family members who know anything about the stamp club. The lady that set it up is the wife of a different club member. Can anyone delete a Facebook page?
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22 Jan 2019
12:44:45pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
"Can anyone delete a Facebook page?"
No, only the person that set it up. Since it is likely that the page was set up as a secondary page to his own account, FB probably won't let you have acccess to the account either. However, you should contact FB, explain the situation, explain that the page is defunct, incorrect and out of date and ask them to delete the page so that you can post a correct page for the club. You may have to prove your authority to make such decisions for the club.
I can't see them declining, since having a "bad" page is also bad for them.
Roy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Thanks Roy. Will give it a try.
Sally
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09:18:53pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
Our club is small and aging..but we put on a show last Fall that brought in over 200 folks (mind you they didn`t
join our club but it promoted the hobby) The reason for the interest was a series of short presentation from other clubs from two provinces. One popular presentation was embroidered wartime postcards....the second was a Royal Tour.....It seems if you can encourage folks from away and interesting history they will come....I believe the interest in collecting a stamp doesn`t
tweek the interest...but a story /collection does. We also meet on a Saturday afternoon and invite the public to small presentations...once or twice a year.... When there is no presentation the meetings are very short and hardly worth the drive....
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Facebook is not free, their income last year was $41 BILLION. They sell ‘you’ and your data. Even if you post nothing in your page they sell you and your data. They can now predict with 94% accuracy your religion, how you vote, etc. just by who you friend on FB. Folks mistakenly think that because they do not get spam emails their personal data is not being sold but this could not be more incorrect.
Don
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re: How to promote a stamp club
.
NYTimes piece on the location data industry
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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01:24:35pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
It has been some time since I have posted anything on this forum or really been active in the philatelic community. I found a stamp club in my neck of the woods that I don't have to drive over an hour one way to attend. It's a shame I didn't find it sooner. Anyway it is the Baraboo Wi. Stamp club and meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month. They are done for the year because it's the silly season.
The first scheduled meeting 2025 will be held on Thursday, January 30 at 6 pm in the Baraboo public library.
I thought that I'd share this information for those Wisconsinites who live within reasonable distance from the meetings location and would like to attend. I plan on being there in attendance.
Jeremy
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08:00:24pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
Good job, Jeremy! Our stamp club will have a lunch together on our regular meeting day in December. I would still like to have a December meeting of some sort, maybe a buy/sell/trade. We'll see in others would too.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
I sent comments to my closest stamp club to have some daytime event but they never responded.
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11:33:55am
re: How to promote a stamp club
I will see how things go after all this will be the first meeting that I attend with this stamp club. I did some research and was able to make contact with the presumptive club president via email and he informed me that the club is in a transitional period because the club president passed away a couple of years ago and 2 other regular members passed earlier this year. He also said that the attendance is usually between 2 to 6 club members and there isn't any real structure of planned topics of discussion which I am hoping that I can help change. But I will be careful to not let this become work especially a hobby that I really like. My youngest son who is 9 years old and I will be regular members.
Aside from the low attendance by members one thing that I found disturbing is that 2 of the regular attendees are dealers from out of town and the presumptive president doesn't know if they actively collect or as he put it just there to buy up collections and sell what they can. I didn't say anything in response to his statement because it would be foolish of me to presume anything. So I'll be able to gauge what is happening when finally meet the other members. He also said that there are a few members that don't attend for health and transportation reasons. Again I don't want to presume anything but its seems to me that he is really asking for help without asking by informing me of the club business after all I just made contact with him to find out the 5w's and make my virtual introduction.
I hope that you guys don't mind if I take some of ideas that have been posted here and run with them.
Jeremy
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09:09:12am
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re: How to promote a stamp club
I've found the best way to promote a stamp club is don't let them get away. There are three reasons why people come to meetings: to socialize and for the free cookies and coffee, to learn something new and to buy and sell stamps. You need to satisfy all these needs at every meeting.
When you see an new face get right over and introduce yourself, make him/her feel welcome and explain what will happen that night. We have all walked into a room, turned around and left because we didn't feel we belonged.
Align with a local Charity. Members are more engaged when they feel they are part of a greater good. We all get calls from the public wanting to dispose of an old collection. Many will donate if they know money generated will fund a worthy cause. My first goal in meeting with a former collector is to rekindle their interest in the hobby. I write this because such a person came out to their second meeting last night. He was an avid collector and will be again. (and he's under 70!)
We recently combined two local clubs and expanded the meeting schedule to try to satisfy everyone. That has morphed into three meetings a month, two afternoons and one evening. You'd think more meetings would dilute attendance but we have experienced the opposite effect. We get strong attendance at all meetings with times and days that appeal to a wide audience.
Other observations: Our website is kept current and relevant, same with our facebook page (800 and growing). We partner with other regional clubs to run on line auctions and have over 50 active participants from coast to coast. We actively promote SoR and have run seminars on how it works.
Biggest challenges: keeping up the momentum and finding hard working volunteers to pass the torch to.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
@comet66,
That's got to be the most practical, common sense take on stamp clubs I've heard yet. I bet you guys have a fun club.
No offense to anyone in the Jacksonville Stamp Collectors club, I've met the players there several times over the years (theyre great people), but to be perfectly honest, it's a snoozefest. I always found it challenging to work all day come home, eat something and then drive across town for a boring stamp club meeting.
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12:08:44pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
@comet66,
Great write-up John, but I think you should have shared the website, so here it is:
https://londonmiddlesexstampclub.ca/
Roy
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01:32:34pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
@musicman
After all the good ideas how is the club doing now.
Which ideas worked the best?
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07:22:57pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
I sent one more email to the club president before the up and coming meeting at the end of this month. I will be bringing some philatelic freebies to hand out to members. All things that I don't want. You all know the types of things stamps, old catalogs, old albums etc... from the large lots and collections that have accrued and taken apart over the past 45 years to fill my favorite albums. Its time to thin the herd and do something with my spare time in retirement.
If this turns out to be a bust. I'll just start a stamp club here in Reedsburg Wi. There's a public library here too. It cant be that difficult. Hell I'll just do it.
Any more ideas other than the ones that have been mentioned will be welcomed.
Jeremy
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09:29:38pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
I was interested for an update from musicman from 2019 posting if any progress?
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07:59:56pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
There has been many excellent ideas mentioned in this thread and the Baraboo Stamp club president has reached out to me again and said in the email that he was really intrigued by the SOR forum. I hope he becomes a member. I'll be borrowing many of the ideas mentioned. I hope that you all don't mind.
I am putting together my 25 pound box of philatelic freebies to hand out at the meeting next Friday. It will be a way of paying it forward.
Jeremy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
This is my main "stamp club", of the 6 Groups (not Pages), that I administer on Facebook.
I promote them online in various ways, mainly by mentioning their existence in philatelic forums.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Hi All,
This is in response to David "1899" Thompson's query above regarding his interest in our local stamp club's progress and current standing - thanks for the inquiry, David.
Its been 6 years - almost to the day - since my last post about our local club, the Greenville Stamp Club in Greenville, MICH.
Here are a few updates;
--We are now meeting in our local library - the Flat River Library - in the Michigan History room, which can accommodate up to 14 people comfortably.
-- There is no charge for the use of the room, but we do make a yearly donation to the library as a thank-you.
--I am now semi-retired (2&1/2 days a week) so I am able to donate a little more time to club happenings.
--We have lost a couple members thru the years and then gained a couple as well. Our official membership still stands at 12, with regular attendees numbering 6-8. (We have one member who is 98 and still drives and works out at a gym 3 days a week!!)
--We continue to have APS approval books for the club once a month...we meet twice a month.
--We have been enjoying Youtube videos on stamp collecting, projected on a large screen provided by the library. One particular YouTuber - Graham Beck - has done a long-running series of short videos called "Exploring Stamps". I highly recommend his videos - VERY entertaining and well done!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's a recap of where we are today as a local club. I suspect this is probably the norm for many if not most local clubs. Membership in the same range and regular attendees also....at least in small towns such as where we live.
Thank you all for jumping in previously with your comments and ideas to help us along our way!
Feel free to ask any followup questions if you like -happy to answer them!
Randall/
Musicman
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11:01:29am
re: How to promote a stamp club
I just looked at this thread in its entirety and realize that I have made a mistake in my last post. The Baraboo stamp club meeting isn't this Friday it is this Thursday at 6pm and the location is at the Baraboo public library. My apologies for the mix up. I hope to see some of you there too.
Jeremy
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03:28:02pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
Here is an update for the local stamp club I attended for the first time with my youngest son. The turn out of members was better than I thought it would be 8 of us in total with my son now the youngest member. How cool is that? I think that it is pretty awesome. We didn't get to discuss too much in any great detail a whole lot of club business. The president was forth coming with all of the details fir instance the finances are in the black to the high for digit tune. Not bad for just a hand full of members struggling to keep it afloat primarily with donations. I did pass out the stamporama business cards and donated the 25 pound box of philatelic give aways to the club. The members of the club didn't take all that much. Two of them were more interested in liquidating their own collections than anything else. One guy is a dealer out of Sauk Prairie who is a specialist like I am and pretty interested in the US classics and EFO's. So I have found a kindred spirit that I can relate to.
Towards the end of the meeting there was some discussion of hosting a show. It surprised me that they had no idea of where to have the venue. So I suggested the local VFW or the American Legion. That would keep the cost for rental of the space down and leave quite a bit of wiggle room for some advertising. More importantly avoid dropping unnecessary coin to rent a hotel conference room though that would be ideal given the fact that we are so close to the Wisconsin Dells. I suggested radio and passing out some flyers. I even suggested to set up some tables at the next gun show. The last one I attended I did get a smoking deal one some Federal Duck Stamps. I'm still hunting for the elusive Federal Firearms Transfer stamps. It was a good night.
Jeremy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Jeremy!
I'm very glad to hear another kid is in the hobby!
That makes my day!
-Ari
P.S. Maybe also a library would be good for a show? Just make sure they permit the exchange of money for goods. Mine doesn't, so our club holds it at the church where we meet!
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re: How to promote a stamp club
The closest stamp club to me is over 30 minute drive and their meetings are in the evenings so always dark. I tried to contact them to see if they would consider meetings during daylight hours but emails and other methods go unanswered. I am sure many are older and most of us older types do not like driving in the dark.
The county I live in is big on senior llving and there are two senior centers in the county that have focus on senior activities. One could start an interest group and use the facility for free. They have groups for crafting, cameras, language, etc. and many a free.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Al,
I know what you mean.
When I joined JPSCC it was late at 7 PM but I talked with the president, and we made meetings start at 6 PM.
I think it is possible, and maybe it would help if you call them and let them know other clubs have done this succsessfully.
What do you think?
-Ari
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Our local club meets in the evening at the senior living community activities room (one of our members lives there). The site is fantastic- no steps, good lighting, plenty of chairs and tables. And free!
We have “always” met at 7 pm. Discussed several years ago changing to an earlier time but several members said that they couldn’t be there any earlier because of work. May be worth another discussion though
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Here is the meeting notice from my club "Mount Nittany Stamp Club." We meet once a month at The American Philatelic Research Library in Bellefonte. Usually it is one of the meeting rooms but occasionally we meet in the Library. We host SCOPEX every year in the summer. The show was held at the end of "Summer Seminar" but that is not being held this year but the show will go on. WE have about 50 members and twenty are active. We don't have dealers selling at our meetings but there is a dealer member that sometimes brings items if they were requested by members. We have an auction once a year in the fall and a pot luck dinner in December.
"Greetings to Everyone,
February Meeting: One week to go before our February meeting at the APC. Thursday, February 20th starting at 7PM. We will be watching the weather and will make any necessary changes put safety first and adjust the date if Mother Nature does not cooperate. Standby for any updates.
Our February program after the short business portion will consist of a couple of member activities. First a Stamp Poll and second a Philatelic Quiz. We will also have a show and tell, so bring in you neat and interesting items to show and discuss. Also, if you have unidentified stamps or covers, bring them along and we will see if "light" can be shed on them.
After this meeting we will be able to provide a 2025 Program Schedule. We had some challenges getting later programs set for the year.
We also have a new Director of Education at the APS, Tomalei Vess. She is planning to join MNPS and attend our meeting when she can. She admitted that she is new to philately, so we can help her learn about this great hobby.
SCOPEX is not that far away, and planning will begin in earnest soon. Don can get us up to speed on his activities for the show and we can begin to explore ideas on getting the word out to the public. Be sure to mark June 21st and 22nd on your calendars for the show and June 20th for set-up.
January Meeting Summary: We had a great turnout in January in spite of the iffy weather. We met in the library and identified 24 "difficult" foreign stamps. The members present divided up into several teams. We used the APRL stamp catalogs and other references to aid in the stamp identifications. Once the activity was completed, the teams were able to select small awards for their efforts. From the comments of the members, it was a much-enjoyed activity and we all learned something new about some of the foreign stamps.
Enough for now. Questions and comments are always welcomed.
Enjoy the hobby, tolerate the nasty weather, and have fun.
Hope to see you on Thursday, February 20th.
Cheers,
Gerry Robbins, President MNPS"
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07:37:38pm
re: How to promote a stamp club
Seems to me to attract new collectors it would be better to advisterize where these people get their information from, like internet, youtube, church, etc., & etc.!
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Vinman, I would like to hear your impression of the education director given the short history of the last two.
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re: How to promote a stamp club
Hi Al,
I will have to wait on my opinion until I get to meet her. I have heard good things from those who have spoken with her and her plans. I, along with many others, would like to see Summer Seminar return, maybe she can pursue that. She was invited to or club meeting on Thursday but was out of town, hopefully we will get to meet her next month with some questions.
Vince
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09:46:22am
re: How to promote a stamp club
The meeting last Thursday went well however just 6 of us were there in attendance. I arrived a few minutes late because I had to make sure that the little man was fed. We discussed the idea of hosting a show in further detail. Some suggestions were made to where the venue will be held. I arrived to the table with 3 and quickly ruled out 2 because they weren't suitable for a number of reasons: parking, size of the venue, handicap accessibility, lighting etc... We ultimately narrowed it down to 3 distinct possibilities one that was suggested is the Lions club located in Mauston, another is the Vikings inn located here in Reedsburg where the first show sponsored and hosted by the club was held in 2018, the last one that is being considered is the Reedsburg Country Club which is one of the venues I suggested and meets all of the requirements. It also has lots of history dating back to the Prohibition era. That's right mobsters and speak easy's haunted this town.
One of the members of our club is non other than the president of the EFO Club/forum. That is correct ladies and gentlemen. I also found out that there is going to be a Philatelic Flea Market held in September in Saint Francis Wi. a suburb of Milwaukee and I plan on attending as a seller and buyer. Probably more of the later so I'll have to bring a fat wallet. So far I have passed out a little more than a dozen SOR businesses cards.
Jeremy
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re: How to promote a stamp club
A club can be as small as one wants and operate in any manner without trying to imitate a classic club: officers, regular schedule, auctions, shows, etc.
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08:08:03am
re: How to promote a stamp club
We had a great stamp club meeting yesterday. 14 members and one visitor came. Almost everything in the auction sold.
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