So, unsatisfied with my lone quest to accumulate masses of coins (not counting this board, of course) in my community, I decided I wanted to join a local coin club. I've been searching, even asked two local coin shops, and found out that as far as anyone knows, no such club exists in an area of approx. 200,000 people! I was a bit suprised. So, I got the idea to start one myself. My only problem has been I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing. I'm sure there are people on this forum that have started clubs in their area before, so, how does one get started? How do you get others to join, and how do you find these others? I saw the ANA guide, but I'm not paying for their membership. Is this a viable quest, or am I wasting my time? Guy~
I think its a great idea coleguy!!! Advertise your meetings in your local newspaper, make it very clear in your ad as to where and what time your meeting starts. Alot of banks have rooms that may suite you for once a month meetings. Have an agenda, know what your going to do. You may want to go over current coin news like significant auctions, mint designs and so on. Have members take turns bringing in something to show. One of our members sets up a table every month with Morgan and Peace Dollars for sale. Donate the first few items to get a monthly door prize raffle going, then request if members want to donate towards the monthly door prize raffle it would help raise money for the club. Strongly promote YNs in your club. Have special programs for them, do a coin quiz and award prizes for the winner. Maybe when you get enough members you could invite dealers and host your own coin show. Take turns with other members bringing light snacks and drinks to the meetings. Good luck with starting your club!!
Man Indian, you sure know a lot about this sort of thing...wish I lived close to where you're at 'cause I'm sure you belong to a club and I'll bet it's really rockin'. Out where I live on the Island it's vitually no mans land...gotta travel for miles to get to a club.
LOL....I do belong to a local coin club but its far from rockin. Being the youngest member there at 43 yrs old and the majority of the members over 70. How I explained my post is how I'd run a coin club if it were mine. We do a few of the things that I mentioned but not all. I hope that when you start your club that its really rockin'. And do me a favor, please involve the kids, I'm sure you plan on it.
When looking for a place to hold meetings,, your local bank may have a meeting room they'll let you use FREE. Especially if you open a checking accoubt for the Coin Club! YMCA's may have a FREE room or very low rental fee for one. As for membership. put some flyers in those coin shops, put a coin Club Opening notice on your area's Craig's List, get a guest appearance on local radio talk programs (give several reasons for the new club, plus some Coin News tidbits). Talk to small business owners who are in local malls and make arrangements to set up a coin display in their display window. Be there to talk personally with any person/s stopping to view your display. Visit schools, colleges and universities to volunteer your service to address any class about coins (why, where, how and when). You may get an invitation from the school to hold an after hours class on coins once or twice a month. There's a need in yor area for a club and you can fill that need. Clinker
starting a club The club I belong to (Northwest Detroit Coin Club - nwdcc.org) charges $10/year dues and raises the rest of its funds through the following means: * 50/50 drawing at each meeting. * Raffling off 1-5 coins at each meeting * Holding a twice-annual coin show and collecting revenue from dealer tables and concessions. * Once-a-year auction where members donate various things, coin-related and not. The basic set-up for each meeting is, if I remember correctly: * Tickets are sold for the coin raffle and 50/50 drawing. * Members are allowed to sell coins. They put them up for viewing before the meeting starts. A bidding process then takes place later in the meeting for the coins people wish to bid on. * Drawings take place for 50/50, coin raffles, and door prizes *The board members (President, Treasurer, and Secretary) preside over the meeting and give reports. *Someone, sometimes a club member, sometimes not, gives a presentation about a coin, group of coins, or coin-related event. Meetings are typically in the 2 or 2 1/2 hour range, twice a month. Hope this helps!
In an area of 200K, there may be a dormant club in your area. You might try contacting the ANA or your state numismatic association. They would likely have a contact name of some sort, past president or treasurer. Private clubs typically cycle thru different levels of activity, whether they be trap ranges, coin clubs, stamp clubs, scuba clubs, etc. There may be a core group of folks willing to jumpstart things with some new blood, which can be your opportunity.
All great ideas so far...thanks! It's going to take some time to get going with this as I have very little free time from work. I thought of this and actually did find a defunct club in a community near me. From what I gathered the core of the club was made up of older members, and they soon dwindled and dwindled until the club just fizzled out with nobody taking over. Might be worth trying to recruit some of the remaining members. Guy~
I'm not a member of a coin club. Coin Talk is my coin club. But I believe the secret weapon to make a coin club successful is to get the wives and girlfriends to participate to make it a complete social experience for everyone with the occasional group dinner or picnic with [coin] raffles and auctions and displays and maybe speakers combined with the all important food.
I would try to do it without investing any money or as little as possible so if it goes no where no big deal and at least you gave it a shot. If it does have any speed it will be more of a snail and you will just add here and there. Perhaps if you can ask the local library if you can have some space in a common area and if so then just post some fliers on the library community bulletin board and at the coin shops in the area. Then once you have a few people, perhaps you can convince the coin shop to host a meeting by using their store and e-mail list ,to advertise for free, the meeting that is to take place. Good luck and remember the more a person talks about a plan of action the less likely any action is ever going to take place.
