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Want to Start a Button Club?
Reduce your travel time and make new friends!
Although there are button clubs in cities throughout the U.S., many of us are
too far from these cities for monthly attendance to be convenient. If this
is your situation, I want to encourage you to consider starting your own study
group or club! It only takes a few people to make it worthwhile. And
you may be surprised to find how quickly your circle of button friends grows.
 | Pick a date to invite others to meet in order to discuss the idea of a club
or group. |
| Contact your state society to determine if there are members living near you.
Get their names and addresses so you can send them an invitation to an
organizational meeting. |
| Contact local fabric store owners/managers, sewing machine store
owners/managers, vintage clothing store owners/managers, bead store
owners/managers, and other hobby groups.
Invite them to your organizational meeting. Ask them to bring others who
might be interested. |
When you meet initially, take a poll to determine how the group wants to be
structured:
| Monthly meetings? When, where.... |
| Study topics? What topics? Who will take the lead for
presentations and/or discussions? |
| Group's membership and participation in the State's button society.
Will you pay dues to be a member-club of your state's organization? If you
are a member-club of your state's organization, your club will have voting
rights at the State's Board meetings. Your state's newsletter editor will
appreciate having news from your club. And you may gain new members --
referred from the State organization. |
| Do you want to have elected officers or simply designated representatives for
the club? Typical would be a President, Vice President, and a
Secretary/Treasurer. Also consider a club "publicist" who will send the
local media and relevant retail stores the information about your club and its schedule of meetings. |
| Do you want to formalize the organization by creating a Constitution and a
set of Bylaws? Do you want to apply for recognition with the federal
government (tax id # that is required for banking) and with your state
government (typically, the franchise tax board, to recognize the name and tax
status of your organization). Do you want to apply for nonprofit tax
status with the Internal Revenue Service? |
| Do you want to have a club bank account or simply have the Treasurer maintain
the funds some other way? To have a bank account in the club's name
requires a federal tax identification number. These are easily obtained
from the I.R.S. online or through the U.S. postal service. |
   
     
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