Hi everyone. I'm interested in starting a local coin club, but lack experience in such an endeavor. I know that there would be interest, but the trouble for me seems to be how to get started. To those ever involved in the creation of a coin club, how did you go about it in its infancy? I'm thinking I'll put an ad in the paper asking for those interested in sharing in the responsibility to meet for dinner. Like-minded people may wish to help contribute. For the first official meeting I'd like to be able to raffle off a few coins and supplies, but cannot possibly take on the financial burden solo. This would help to cover the costs of the prizes, rental of meeting place, etc. I hope to be able to eventually get the club as an entity registered with at least one TPG, so members can pool submissions to curb costs. If successful enough, one day maybe send a YN to the ANA summer seminar... All just a pipe dream until I can get some good ideas. I'm open to any helpful suggestions, but hoping someone who's been in my shoes and succeeded will show me the way....
The link you posted Hobo, that's at cointalk.org. What's the difference with that and cointalk.com? Same thing? Looks the same. I've always just gone to cointalk.com.
I think it used to just be .org. But then they got the domain for cointalk.com too. So now both take you to the same place.
Gotcha. Wanted to make sure both were run by the same people (Peter, I guess). Didn't want to have a redirect to .org and log in, then get my log in info phished or something.
Yeah, that kind o' stymied me too, Lon, when I clicked on the link. But dear Hobo would never steer us wrong.......
Did coleguy ever get a club going then? Hopefully he will read this thread and chime in. I wish I had a club to go to around here. It sounds pretty neat. CT is basically everybodys club.
My guess is there must be a coin club near you, in a nearby city? At minimum, in the same state would be my guess. Anyways, contact the nearest coin club and ask them for their ideas and feedback. They may help you with a ton of ideas and may even suggest a way to get a rented space. I know my coin club I belong to only charges like around $11 a year per membership and you would still want to apply for a 501(c)3 but you won't have to worry about all that until things come together. :thumb:
I'm attaching a scan of my Local Coin Club's newsletters. This is an old one, and we switched some small details, but I'll walk you through the typical coin club day here at Stanwood Coin Club. We Come in between 6:30 and 7 PM Club starts with announcements, NEWPS, Gawking at silver prices, upcoming shows/events, etc. Either talk on preparations of the coin show, or how the coin show went and how to improve for next year Bring in and show displays. Displays earn you a ticket in the display raffle and help you win a silver coin. Each display is one ticket. Only one display per meeting. Bank guess, where assigned people bring in a bank with no more than $10.00 in it, people who guess it closest win and have to take the bank too. Break time, where people mingle and talk about coins and eat food the assigned people bring in to share. People can also buy the raffle tickets from the ticket seller, browse auction items and put items in the auction. People talk (and complain) about PM prices. Once the break is over: Membership drawing: Each member has a nametag in a box. A member whose name is pulled is then paid their membership fees from the beginning of the year ($7) If name of a person who is not there, the money is carried over to the next drawing (making it a $14 prize) The final meeting is draw until a winner is named. Auctions: Each paid member is allowed to set coins in the auction at their desired starting bid. The bid increments are usually low so many people can bid on a coin. The club takes no fees, so the seller gets the whole amount of money and the buyer is charged only what he bids. Auction is over, now the monthly raffle. The "Christmas" raffle is a coin club funded prize. It used to be Silver Eagles, but (complaining of silver prices entered here) we switched to 90% Silver halves (Franklin/Kennedy Proofs) Tickets are kept until December and then Starts over and kept until May for final meeting cash giveaways. Now we go to the fun monthly raffles. These raffles are from volunteering people who bring coins valuing up to $35 (Can exceed but only get reimbursed for the $35 (or lower) Claimed). This can be a minimum of 5 coins with virtually no max, just no Pocket Change. Winner of the first raffle prize picks the next ticket and so-on End of Coin Club. Put things back to normal in the library and clean up. Pack up and leave. And a bit about the club: We are a non-profit organization, so you cannot be making a profit for any position here. We keep records of all transactions, fees and payments for membership, rent, coin shows, reimbursements etc. Positions. All positions are from somebody 18 or older, and if younger, can be done with a parent. No exceptions. Positions: President- Leads coin club conversations and directs said conversations. Leads the suggestions, takes them and starts a vote on them. Sets a date for the Coin Show that will play to the strengths of all members, and reserves a place to hold the show, pays the place for the show. Contacts local dealers to sell show tables. Etc. Puts ads in the local papers. Vice President- Does the same when President is not able to. Secretary- Takes minutes and sends out newsletters. Talks to companies about donations and helps set up coin show date. Operates the PO Box and keeps an expense report to get reimbursed for his/her expenses. Puts ads in the local papers. Keeps track of members and membership fees. Gives out the membership cards. Treasurer- Keeps track of ALL monetary transactions, in charge of reimbursing people for raffles and bank guesses. Writes all checks on behalf of the Coin Club and keeps track of the Bank Account. Sets up cash prizes for the "Christmas Raffle". Keeps a spreadsheet of cash in bank, cash in cash box, expenses, payments, donations and the such. Auctioneer- Leads auctions. Marks sold for prices or pass on auction slips. Runner- Runs items to auction winner, takes cash and brings back change. Sargent of Arms (Raffle Ticket Seller)- Sells Raffle Tickets and keeps track of how many and what (Christmas and monthly). Also keeps the Christmas stubs for the semi-annual money raffle. Always draws the first ticket. Volunteering members- do whatever they volunteer for. Member- Sits and talks while the meeting runs. Our local coin club is a registered not-for-profit organization, so the left over money gets given away. And people get their reimbursements. Members get a cool membership card: If somebody exceeds the $35 limit on the monthly raffle, they will only be reimbursed the $35. Any extra is just a loss. The point of the club is to expand the hobby and interest into young'uns. We have advertised once in the local high school and gotten a couple new faces. Displays don't have to be coins. We have a local hippie who hoards everything cool, he brought a whole set of 1800s medicines that didn't work, or killed you. Entertaining. Other coin clubs have a buy/sell/trade meeting where only members get together and have a mini-show. In the month previous to that meeting, you post a want list and the secretary will include each person's want list in the secretary's report. Hope this helps you with starting a coin club. I would love to hear if you make it. ~Cannyn
I never was able to. All I got was a lot of people interested in buying and selling bullion, not wanting to join a club about coins. Instead I joined the closest club available to me, in another state and 90 miles away, but it's better than nothing I suppose. Guy
I recently ran into www.meetup.com, a place folks can create groups, advertise them in a region, connect with others, etc. You might take a look in there and see if there's already a local group, or start one up. I'm not affiliated, just mentioning it. Dave
You might want to check out Meetup.com. It's a site I use to organize a local Environmental club and another on Financial Literacy. It is a handy way to gather people who are interested in almost any oddball topic.
