Hey everyone! I’m looking for suggestions on how to rebuild or rebrand a coin club. I’ve only been a member of the coin club for the past 4 months but at the last club meeting I was nominated and elected to be the President. From my understanding the club use to have almost 100 members, but due to internal issues from what I’ve been told, many members left and the enrollment is under 30. We hold one annual coin show and have meetings once a month. The meetings consists of an informational breakdown of any local events going on in the area as well as any money collected or sent out on behalf of the club. We sometimes watch videos that are coin related during the meetings. We have two different raffles that are offered to members. Membership is $8 and includes a spiral bound RedBook when released. We also offer members a small auction at the end of the meeting with items members bring in. We had a new member that was at the club meeting this past month and had mentioned how hard it was to find out when or where the meetings occur. I had lived in this area previously for 22 years and thought the coin club was new. They told me it has been around since the 1970s. It doesn’t have an online presence so I think even simply having a Facebook page would be helpful to get more members coming to the club. Any suggestions or tips for trying to build up a coin club? Any things your coin club does that you like? You don’t like? Thanks in advance
The club I belong to is very concerned about security. even though we meet in a public local government building, and have 2 off duty packing, they vote to remain anonymous and unadvertised. Current members can bring in individuals they know and vouch for, but the membership continues to drop. Most just come for the flag salute , auction, treats , and drawings. Everyone works so the evenings are the only time. Let me know if you hit good ideas. jim
I've never been in a coin club so keep that in mind when reading my response. What does a club do? Why join? Keeping a good social component would be necessary. Somewhere people can go to talk about and share their passion. Maybe see if anyone wants to present parts of their collection, why they collect whatever it is, and what they can share about it could be useful. Might get pretty dry if everyone is filling albums. If the members like the auction, I would leave it. For sure you need an online presence. Facebook group, website, etc. Then you could put out dates/locations of meetings and could maybe even put meeting minutes or make a little newsletter available.
You could start a Bring A Friend program. Maybe a small prize for those that bring in a new member. You might check with the local dealers about handing out flyers in their stores. You might get dealers to join if they could hand out flyers at the meeting.
It would be very helpful to you if you could gather more information about why those members left the club. Internal issues is to vague to act on. If you can you may want to contact some of the members that left and hear from them before trying to change anything. One thing to remember is that people tend to resist change.
I'd be cautious about on-line presence. Several things people learn about you can be dangerous. 1 - They learn that coins (money) is being carried in and out; 2 - They learn when and where the meeting is; 3 - They can learn who is coming, therefore, who the collectors are; 4 - They can follow you home after the meetings; 5 - They find out where you live and when you are out; 6 - We can all guess how this can go.
Here is a recent thread on the same subject that you might find helpful: https://www.cointalk.com/posts/3726687/
I participate in a car club. Same sort of group I would imagine. A bunch of old guys and a couple of excited youngsters. Club had been around a while and only had a few die hard participants. Each month we did raffles, 50/50 drawings and gave away car care products. Same 8-12 guys would show each month...... A couple years ago one member had an idea to collect food at the events for the local shelter. For some reason having a purpose other than just meeting and telling fishing lies reinvigorated the group. By the end of that summer we had to find a larger place to meet and each month we had a couple of pickup loads of food to deliver. Since then we have become partnered up with the local orphanage. Last Christmas my buddy dressed as Santa and we put him in a red Mustang convertible and he delivered a very nice Christmas to the kids at the orphanage and we all felt great for having been the catalyst that made it happen. Whole point being is that I saw where a benevolent purpose sure put some new life in an old worn out car club. Don’t know if something like that could add anything to a coin club. But you never know.
Neat Randy. Very good way to focus energy. I belonged to a hot rod (car) club back in the 50's. Lot of fun, but we were focused on what we could put together to interest girls. At this age, I think you have a great focus.
Yesterday my local coin club did a free Coin and Currency appraisal at the County Fairgrounds. We were part of a local Bicentennial celebration. We passed out information to anyone interested in joining the club, and gave written detailed appraisals for free. Had over 30 individuals that used our services. We will add 3 or 4 new members from the time spent. The picture is the group that did the program.
Well this is all true, so what you have to do is, never bring anything with you to show. While you're there never buy anything. Oh heck don't take the risk and just stop going. Never talk to anyone about coins. Never show off coins to anyone. Don't order coins through the mail, your postman might realize something. Never talk about your hobby to anyone, no kids, no co-workers, friends, and if possible family. Then 20 years from now look around and ask "Why aren't there any other collectors?" Yes security can be a risk, but without risk there is also no reward.
I wonder how people found out about coin clubs before the internet. Advertisements in magazines? Word of mouth at a show? Ask someone who collects coins if they're in the club? Seems like a lot of ways right there to compromise security. But I've never been to a coin club. I didn't see a website for a local club, or an advertisement at the local coin show,or in a magazine, and I don't know anyone that collects coins. So I guess just hoard coins and post to CoinTalk?
All that is true of course. My reply was regarding drawing attention by posting on the internet. One of the suggestions was to get more visibility. My concern was to be careful about too much visibility and in the wrong places. Perhaps you misunderstood my.
Facebook is a terrible idea because people have to "like" or "follow" the page, which isn't necessarily private, and their profiles have tons of personal information. Having said that, any serious club will have a website. It's mandatory in this day and age. There is no reason to post personal information on the website publicly, and therefore no risk. If you have your own domain, make sure to register the site anonymously.
No I understood you, and your concerns are valid. It's just that if you want your club to grow and have new people, you're going to have to reach out to them.
The coin club that I've attended, though not for quite a while now, openly advertised online and at local shows. They have a website, not a Facebook page. They don't lay low. From what I know they have never had a problem. Everything is a trade-off - stay secret and risk having few to no members or advertise and risk an invasion once in a while. I guess it depends on one's tolerance for risk. Another disadvantage to having a Facebook site is that people need to have Facebook accounts to really interact with the site. More and more people I know have fled from that platform, including myself, so I personally wouldn't go in that direction. Other resources for free websites exist, but almost too many to list. Maybe try some of them out and see if any work for you?
Not sure where you are located, but you might look to see if there is something like this for your general area. https://www.pnna.org/calendar.html This might give you some ideas on how to advertise your club, by looking at some of the ones posted on that site.
