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Post by Mel on Sept 18, 2023 11:10:25 GMT -5
So I've finally gotten off my duff and set a date for the first rock club meeting in October. Finally!!
Awesome....except I've never been part of a club before so I'm sort of going in blind. I've talked to one other club in Lethbridge (who were amazingly helpful by the way) but they're very small and have been running a LONG time (since around 1955 I believe). The woman I spoke with told me they have less than 20 active members and most had been doing lapidary for 25+ years. Anyone local I've talked to is interested in a club, but have been doing lapidary on their own.
So based on that, I'd like to ask questions of members here who belong to a club (or those that haven't had a chance, answer theoretically) to give me their input, since I know there are tons more rockhounds & clubs in the US than here on the Canadian prairies. Any answers are appreciated.
1. What are your fees like? Do you pay a flat membership fee per year, per month? A membership + shop fee per hour, or something different? What are your meetings like? 2. How does your club purchase equipment - auctions, retail, used market, members? 3. How do you handle machine maintenance? Do you have a designated team, do members take turns? 4. How does your club handle things like bent blades or other damaged equipment? (if someone accidentally dishes a blade for example). 5. How do you fundraise for your club? I've seen auctions with the club getting 20-30% commission, rock shows with a fee per table, donations, etc. What do you find works best? 6. How long have most of your members been doing lapidary work? Do you have mostly old timers or newbies or something in between? 7. If you have a club space, how did you decide what equipment to put in it? How did you find your space? 8. Does your club do any trips to rock hound? 9. Other than equipment, what have you found to be the biggest expense (if you're in the know)? 10. Any other information you'd like to share about being part of a club? Any downfalls? Anything you weren't expecting? 11. What are your approximate monthly costs to keep your club going? Were there any surprises?
Thanks for any feedback you can give me RTH!
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Post by opalpyrexia on Sept 18, 2023 12:26:02 GMT -5
1. What are your fees like? Annual: Adult $20; Juniors $15; Family $45 — Name Badge $8 /ea What are your meetings like? Business matters, show-and-tell, a member presentation, and social time
2. How does your club purchase equipment - auctions, retail, used market, members? Not sure3. How do you handle machine maintenance? We have designated Shop Stewards with lots of experience plus a member who is an ME. For basic maintenance like cleaning, periodic cleaning sessions are scheduled for member volunteers (who tend to be heavier users of the equipment).4. How does your club handle things like bent blades or other damaged equipment? (if someone accidentally dishes a blade for example). The club generally pays for it. It's rare. Every rock tightened in a vise has to be checked by a steward before you're allowed to slab it. 5. How do you fundraise for your club? I've seen auctions with the club getting 20-30% commission, rock shows with a fee per table, donations, etc. What do you find works best? Two rock shows with table fees. Also renting the building to non-lapidary groups.6. How long have most of your members been doing lapidary work? Do you have mostly old timers or newbies or something in between? It's a mix; although quite a few old timers decided to leave during the pandemic. But we have new members at every meeting now. 7. If you have a club space, how did you decide what equipment to put in it? How did you find your space? We have 5 saws, 5 polishing machines, a flat lap, and a 10" oiled trim saw.8. Does your club do any trips to rock hound? Yes, generally together with other clubs in the greater Seattle area.
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 18, 2023 13:44:50 GMT -5
We are members of 2 clubs, The Mt Hood Rock Club in Gresham OR and the West Valley Rock Club in Buckeye AZ. MHRC is a social club with a pretty balanced focus on hounding and lapidary, with a shop and a pretty structured organization WVRC is a laid back field trip club (my description) that is so devoid of structure that getting volunteers is difficult.
1. Fees. Both are $15 single/ $25 family per year. MHRC has lapidary shop fees, $10 for a 4 hour session and fees per square inch for slab saw cuts that are only made by volunteer shop hosts who are trained with the saws. At both clubs there are no field trip feed unless the trip is to a claim with fees for collecting to be paid to the mine owner. Meetings. MHRC has 2 a month excep for none in December, a business meeting and a social meeting with a speaker or activity. WVRC has 1 meeting a month, usually skips June and July because of heat and snowbird members. All meetings have speakers or activity. 2. MHRC has a combination of donated and purchased equipment. I was facilities/tools mgr there for a lot of years and got some people set up to take care of the shop tools, plus process purchased and donated surplus tools to sell for additional shop funding. This shop is in rented space, so operations are subsidized with 2 or more pop-up sales a year and some online sales. WVRC has almost no lapidary, I think I am the only member who publicly admits to having tools and there is another who has approached me privately about helping him with his. I will be doing a carving/drilling bead making demo at the show in a month, and possibly in the future, if I can somehow quit my PT job and actually retire for real, I am interested in working with a lapidary shop in a community center to offer basic beginner classes for club members. 3. Maintenance- As I said above, I was the guy for years, but I was blessed with volunteers willing to muck out saws and keep things relatively clean so my job was not onerous. I could go on about the conflicts with members who knew a "cheaper" way to do some things, and learning to deal with it in a friendly way, but probably TMI. The shop committee had, and has, some awesome members who helped to incentivise members and volunteers to support the shop, they were the ones who keep it alive. I don't see WVRC ever having a shop, not that kind of club. 4. Busted stuff happens. The process to train hosts and saw masters prevents most of it, but accidents need to be part of the budget. OTOH there are rules about how equipment is treated, and sometimes enforcement was necessary. I have stories... 5. Fundraising- It's going to differ with every club. Club costs can range from old clubs operating in donated space with very little overhead, to clubs struggling to pay expenses in rented space. Annual shows plus dues used to be about all it took to run a club, but a lot of that was covered with volunteer time, which in todays economy isn't as available. Being creative and trying to tie fundraising with outreach for members is what I've seen the best results with. 6. Experience- That's a fun one, and again all over the place. People with their own shops at home aren't as likely to spend a lot of time in a community shop. At MHRC the last of the founding members from 1952 passed away last year. There are still a few of us boomers helping, but the primary shop help is fairly new at it and mostly there to prevent injury to people and machines. For in depth instruction places like William Holland and the NW Rockhound retreat are better resources, but there is probably someone willing to give a few hours of one on one to get you started. 7. Shop setup- Largely a democratic process in a lot of clubs, and the general disjointed cluster is evident. As much as the artistic minded free thinkers dislike it, a shop set up and run by a fairly inflexible autocrat authoritarian type A usually turns out better, and is a lot less likely to have broken machined and worn out wheels. I could go on, but... 8. Field trips- IMO a club that doesn't do trips is a dying club. Both clubs I am in have good trip organizers, and a good mix of day trips and longer ones. My first ever trip with MHRC was to the OR/ID border for a week at graveyard point/owyhee/succor creek and the friendships made have been lifelong. 9. Facilities is by far the biggest budget item for most clubs, both for meetings and for annual shows. 10. Biggest "downfall" and/or high point of any organization is people. Separate discussion. 11. Budget- Again, all over the place. When I was a board member at MHRC I saw budgets a few times, but stayed far away from the people who did the audits required to remain a non profit. With the shop, I'm guessing the budget for MHRC is at least 5X that of WVRC. For a few years after becoming "project mgr." to re-establish the MHRC lapidary shop, first job I got after joining, I submitted quarterly profit/loss statements for the shop. I can't imagine the money math involved in a line item budget for an organization made up of volunteers.
When you say first meeting does that mean you are joining a club, or starting a club?
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Post by Rockoonz on Sept 18, 2023 13:50:30 GMT -5
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Post by stardiamond on Sept 18, 2023 14:07:55 GMT -5
Mine is a 30 minute drive. They have a shop. I haven't been there. 90 minutes total driving, set up and clean up time which is more than I spend working on rocks on average. I also am not driving now. antiochlapidaryclub.com/about/default.htmlThere is also a gem and mineral society that is closer that has meetings.
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Post by opalpyrexia on Sept 18, 2023 15:13:57 GMT -5
I'm a member of the Maplewood Rock and Gem Club in Edmonds, Lee.
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Post by Mel on Sept 19, 2023 13:03:24 GMT -5
When you say first meeting does that mean you are joining a club, or starting a club? Thanks Lee, I'm starting one. There has been no other effort to create one that I know of and the lapidary folks are seemingly few and far between but the geology/rock fans are a dime a dozen (based on what I used to see with my shop anyways). I'm not sure what to expect, honestly.
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Post by pebblesky on Sept 19, 2023 13:48:12 GMT -5
I am a member of our local rock club, the annual fee is around $20~$30? I just want to use their lapidary machines, but I only used the machines once so far since it still seems to be a lot of hassle driving there.
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