Status - Join A Club
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Most of our efforts at ACC during the past five months have related to this new program centering on membership recruitment for your clubs and societies. This program will use the larger antique malls, antiques & collectibles shows, collector publications and auction houses to provide an entree for collectors to request "more information" about clubs in which they have an interest.

The leadership of many clubs have been contacted and informed of the Join A Club program. Partners representing the malls, shows, etc. have been identified. The logo is designed and most of the printing work regarding banners, forms, letters... are at the printers. The new Join A Club website has been completed and went "live" a matter of hours ago.

This program should be operational within the next two weeks. We feel good about the response and sincerely hope that it can help each club which participates by bringing new members into your group.

Be sure to visit the sections "Join A Club Request Form" and, more importantly "Participating Clubs". Read the information on your club very carefully and please let us know of any necessary changes. Is the contact information correct? Does the description need changing? If your club is not yet listed, send us the information. Let us know at: info@collectors.org

Club Information Update
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We have been pleased to receive several e-mails during the past month that went something like this..."I'm the new president of our Club and would like to inform you of the updated changes in our club leadership." Boy, do these kinds of messages help pick up the day! We know with dozens of collecting clubs currently having your annual conventions that often there are leadership changes. We are particularly interested in the names & e-mail addresses of your president, PR person and Membership person. These can simply be e-mailed to: info@collectors.org

And, one more point. During the past two months we have visited over 500 club websites. As you are updating club officers and information on next year's convention, remember your own website. We saw a discomforting number still announcing their "upcoming" April or May 2005 convention. Your website is the most important PR tool your club has. Make sure the information remains current and easy to find.
 

Changing Website URL's
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We mentioned visiting several hundred club websites during the past few weeks. It appears that a number of clubs are in transition, often moving their website from a service to their own stand alone website, getting a new shorter website address - all part of the growth process. What happens to your "old" URL you have given up or not renewed? Well, we found four club examples where their old website is now a porno site. Yet, their old address and club name are probably on dozens of directories and link exchanges all over the Internet. Your club leadership needs to be aware of this and when changing URL's, you may need to consider paying the extra $25/year or whatever it takes to renew the old address and have it feed into the new site.

ACC Club Dues Renewals
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Three clubs within the past week have contacted ACC inquiring as to whether or not their ACC club membership dues is in need of renewing. Technically, the answer is probably "yes" however ACC has 3 or 4 major projects going right now and we have decided not to add to the workload with renewals. We are putting off any scheduled renewals until we get into 2006.

Atlantique City Coming Soon!
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Once again, the Association of Collecting Clubs will have three booths at the Atlantique City Antiques & Collectibles Show, Oct 15-16, promoting collecting clubs and memberships. These are complimentary booths, courtesy of Antique Trader, Krause Publications, who operate Atlantique City - the largest indoor show of its kind in the world.

For the over 200 clubs who provided materials for the March show, we are in the process of "taking inventory" of the remaining club promo materials. If we feel we need your supply replenished, or the information is out-of-date, you will be personally contacted within the coming week..

For those clubs who have not previously participated in the Atlantique City ACC booth, we urge you to consider it. All you have to do is send us 40-50 copies of your club promotion flier or membership brochures. If you have publications or newsletters you wish to send, this is fine, too. Fliers on upcoming club shows seem to always be popular. Materials should be sent to: ACC, 18222 Flower Hill Way #299, Gaithersburg, MD 20879. Please let us know if you plan on participating by sending literature. If you have questions, please e-mail: AtlantiqueCity@Collectors.Org

This booth receives a tremendous amount of activity from the show visitors, as well as the dealers at the show. We will continue to be in Booth #1991 (near the large food court). If you plan on attending, please stop by and say hello.

PriceMiner - Special to Collecting Clubs
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PriceMiner is the most comprehensive pricing tool in the world, containing data from eBay, GoAntiques, and TIAS. Combining millions of prices realized from eBay and the leading sites for Art, Antiques and Collectibles gives you unprecedented power at your fingertips. PriceMiner, recently launched, is a product of GoAntiques, Inc.

PriceMiner presents historical price data for same or similar items that you search. Search/sort criteria include price range, category type, sale date, data source and currency (converted to US dollars). In addition, you get instant analysis in the form of graphs and charts that include average price, number of items included in the average, price range from highest to lowest, and a current estimate based on today's market conditions with a confidence factor.

By your club joining the affiliate program and linking to PriceMiner on your club's website, the club can earn commissions every time someone subscribes to PriceMiner or links to PriceMiner through your site. There is more information on the Club Special on the ACC site.

It is FREE to join and only takes a few minutes to do. Start earning money for your club...by providing a new service helpful to your entire membership.

ACC Needs Website Design Help
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Club Management and Finance
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We attempt to work on the ACC program areas as time allows, however we have considered trying a new process. Taking the program areas one at a time, we are extending the "opportunity" to you so you can give us your opinion and expertise which will be merged in with other contributions and hopefully the program areas will "grow" and be more useful to club leadership.

In this area we have discussed Club Dues vs. Member Services, Year-end Audits, Plan of Work and Budget, Offering Life-Time Memberships, Gifts and Endowments, Going After Grants, How to be More Financially Creative, and Sources of Revenue for Clubs. There probably are entire areas we are missing.

Anyway, we would welcome any input you may have either via e-mail at info@collectors.org or via postal mail at: ACC, 18222 Flower Hill Way #299, Gaithersburg, MD 20879. No particular deadline.

Global Marketing Survey
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Last month we requested clubs to complete a short survey on Global Marketing for clubs. We are very pleased with the number of club leaders who responded by completing the online survey. During the weeks ahead we will be analying these comments to determine how we might best assist those clubs desiring to expand their membership globally.

Club-Sponsored Collector Insurance
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Making sure your members have insurance on their collections is one of the best services a club can provide.

This link also offers information on the liability insurance program for club conventions and events. If you have questions write to: insurance@collectors.org or call the AIA Office at 1.800.287.7127.

That's all for now. Let us know any time that we can be of assistance.