A superb series of posts over the weekend, Dennis! I hope that your candid responses puts an exclamation point to the end of this thread. Good publicity does not come from the checkbook. If it did, we could spend thousands of club dollars on one single full page ad in the New York or L.A. Times. Question: What would be the end result? Answer; We would have spent a lot of the club's money on "publicity" for the sake of our Treasurer's Report. If one looks at our membership numbers alone, it would appear that the club may not be growing as fast as some think it should be growing. However, taking into consideration the annual "drop-out rate" of those who for one reason or another decide not to re-new their dues, vs. the number of new members who have been recruited to replace the drop-outs, I think we're doing quite well. Money spent does not tell the whole story.

I read of well established coin clubs all over the country that are disbanding because of shrinking memberships. Some have been in existance for up to 30 years. Other once large state and regional numismatic organizations are combining their memberships in an effort to remain viable and keep their collective heads above water. It is my opinion that we should be counting our blessings that we are experiencing steady growth of our club, (perhaps not as large or as quickly as some would like us to be) and that we are not losing our significant base. I throw the following out as a challenge.... If each current club member would sign up just one new member between now and the 1999 convention, our ranks would double by June! Think about it.