What's involved in starting a local fossil club?

[ElToro]

Hi guys, I live in Perth, Australia and our local (and world class) Museum is being demolished in June for a 2020 rebuild. That's 4 years without a Museum. Where are folk gonna go to see fossils?? So I'm thinking of starting a local fossil club. I have time on the weekends. We have nothing like it here but I hear some of y'all are part of one. What is involved? I'm thinking of trying to get an educational grant to pay for a place for meetings, bus, food, etc. I'm imagining fortnightly meetings at a school gym (or something) to check out each others fossils and maybe do a little swapping. And monthly fossil hunting trips. I can drive a small bus and a mate can drive a big one. Maybe I'm being a little crazy. What y'all think?

[Auspex]

I am always in favor of paleo clubs; it can take real dedication to get one off the ground, but the effort is well worth it.

Are there any folks being displaced by the museum's closure who might lend their enthusiasm? Any affiliation like that would be helpful.

[ElToro]

I am always in favor of paleo clubs; it can take real dedication to get one off the ground, but the effort is well worth it.

Are there any folks being displaced by the museum's closure who might lend their enthusiasm? Any affiliation like that would be helpful.

Ahh, yes! Great idea. I'm going to hang out at the museum tomorrow so I may make tentative inquiries. Any idea what clubs in other places do? How do they run?

[Troodon]

Here is a link to the one I've was involved in maryland. Gives you some background in what they do.

http://www.ecphora.net/mgs/

[Raggedy Man]

I don't know how things work down under, but a not-for-profit organization will negate taxes if you plan on charging for membership. Clubs do need funding so consider all possibilities.

Best regards,

Paul

EDIT: Most clubs also carry liability insurance here in the states. Again, I am not familiar with Australian laws concerning quarries and their rules or government laws.

Edited January 15, 2016 by Raggedy Man

[ElToro]

Thanx guys. Yea I'm thinking about the insurance and funding. Maybe I can get the local Gov to help out a little...it will take a while to look into it all...

[Raggedy Man]

One route you can take is seeing if a local university, tech college or community group already has a club or room to start a club. This would ease some of the work load needed to start from scratch.

[Auspex]

I the Eastern U.S., the distances between potential members and between fossiling sites is less than in the West, and I imagine the distances in Australia are greater as well. This will need to be considered in the layout of the activity scheduling (and shared activities is the definition of a club).

[erose]

Here in the states we have both gem and mineral and paleo clubs. Many of them organize under a larger umbrella group: American Federation of Mineral Societies (AFMS) with regional chapters and then the clubs themselves. The larger organization has a code of conduct/ethics and, as mentioned, a sort of insurance policy we all buy into that gives landowners some protection when we go out as a group. You may have something similar in Australia as well.

Most clubs here are similar in that they meet regularly and go on field trips. Beyond that, it can be whatever you make it. Some clubs do lots of educational outreach, some hold annual rock and fossil shows, holiday parties, auctions, etc.

I would look at the web sites for a bunch of clubs to get a feel for what they do.

And two other things:

Don't get hung up on insurance. It is not a critical component.

In the states most of us are non-profit organizations for tax purposes. You would just have to see what your countries laws say about such things.

Good luck with this endeavor.

Erich (President, Paleontological Society of Austin)

[Mediospirifer]

The perennial problem that my club (Finger Lakes Mineral Club) has is outreach. We have an annual open house, monthly meetings, and occasional field trips, which don't always go as planned--a trip a couple of years ago to hunt Herkimer Diamonds was cancelled the night before because of flooding in the area we wanted to go!

The places I'd look to try and drum up members are the museum in your area and any local university geology or paleontology departments. We also put up flyers on public bulletin boards all over town, and invite friends to come. It may be worth asking at your local high schools if you can put up a flyer there (admin might say 'no', but it doesn't hurt to ask!). Local nature centers are another possibility.

I've observed that there are more people who want to be in the club (by about a factor of 4!) than want to come to meetings or otherwise participate regularly. We're trying to encourage more meeting attendance by scheduling presentations in addition to show-and-tell sessions.

I'd look into whether there are any umbrella organizations like erose mentioned, and find out what their requirements and benefits are. One criterion that the umbrella org for my club has is there have to be four officers: President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. If we can't fill those four seats, we lose our EFMLS membership, nonprofit status, and collecting insurance. If a prospective umbrella org has similar requirements, you'll need some membership first.

One benefit of our club is that we do fundraising to subsidize our field trips. This is where non-profit org status is important: without it, we'd be paying taxes on the funds raised.

Good luck!

[Auspex]

Field trips, speakers, swap meets, raffles, community exhibits and outreach...Lotsa' stuff to keep folks interested, but it takes a dedicated crew to put them all together. Clubs don't just 'happen'.

[GDawg]

Here in the states...anyone can use a school because they are public properties. Rules and fees(if any) may vary. Generally, here if it is a decent cause then there will be no fees...works best if you are offering a service to the school community(student membership) or get to know the principal well. I would think you would have no problem for a fossil club. Good luck.

[ElToro]

Seems like there is no fossil club in Australia that's less than 2 time zones away. And the distances are big for many fossil sites. Me and a mate have already looked into hiring a bus. And we need to keep in touch with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. No matter where you are, these guys will land a plane in the middle of nowhere and fly you to a hospital in civilization. I've done a few university paleo field trips so have a little experience with those sort of trips with large groups. However, I won't take the group to a winery for lunch! Lol! Not much work was done after lunch.

Anyhow, the school option is a good one. I'm still friends with my old principal (spent a lot of time in his office) and even tho he's long retired, I'm sure he still knows some school staff. And he likes fossils. Maybe I can get him on board!

I'm rambling a little, but thanx for the advice! I will contact the club in Sydney and see how they work.

Whatever the case, if it happens, it will start small and the first couple of field trips will be within 100km distance. There are a couple cool places. No point getting over ambitious.

[Mediospirifer]

One thing we've done a few times at our Mineral Club: One of the other (now former) Club members is a professional lapidary. He liked to buy boxes of rough stone (fairly random collections) on EBay, pick out enough of the more valuable material to repay his investment, and bring the rest to Club meetings for members to pick out pieces they like. I'm considering doing something similar with microfossil matrix: put a cup of two of matrix in a zipper sandwich bag and hand them out with tweezers and hand lenses. It's a fun way to have a fossil-hunting trip without having to travel!

[ElToro]

One thing we've done a few times at our Mineral Club: One of the other (now former) Club members is a professional lapidary. He liked to buy boxes of rough stone (fairly random collections) on EBay, pick out enough of the more valuable material to repay his investment, and bring the rest to Club meetings for members to pick out pieces they like. I'm considering doing something similar with microfossil matrix: put a cup of two of matrix in a zipper sandwich bag and hand them out with tweezers and hand lenses. It's a fun way to have a fossil-hunting trip without having to travel!

Yea, the mind boggles at the cool stuff you could do. Classes in prepping and preservation too. All sorts. Stuff like paraloid can be hard to get here so we can source it in bulk for everyone and show them how to use it. Would be a valuable resource for the locals.

[-Andy-]

Hi guys, I live in Perth, Australia and our local (and world class) Museum is being demolished in June for a 2020 rebuild. That's 4 years without a Museum. Where are folk gonna go to see fossils?? So I'm thinking of starting a local fossil club. I have time on the weekends. We have nothing like it here but I hear some of y'all are part of one. What is involved? I'm thinking of trying to get an educational grant to pay for a place for meetings, bus, food, etc. I'm imagining fortnightly meetings at a school gym (or something) to check out each others fossils and maybe do a little swapping. And monthly fossil hunting trips. I can drive a small bus and a mate can drive a big one. Maybe I'm being a little crazy. What y'all think?

Doesn't sound the least bit crazy. Sounds wonderful in fact.

I will share what I know as one of the pioneer members of Singapore Fossils Collector.

I met a fellow Fossil Forums member, Calvin, on another non-fossil related forum. We met, and he showed me his incredible collection, and we had great fun discussing about fossils and dinosaurs. It led us to wonder: Were there more collectors in Singapore? We started looking for others online. Calvin did the heavy lifting; he started the group on FB, and invited as many in as he could. The thing is, there is no such club here, so dinosaur and fossil enthusiasts flocked to our group.

Five years after the creation of this club, we have 544 FB members, of which up to 20 are regulars who come for our meet-ups. What I can suggest to you is:

1) Showcase your club on tv, or on newspaper. Calvin then got a slot on the local newspaper where he extended an invitation to all Singaporeans to join SFC. It worked wonderfully.

2) Lead by example. People would join if they see how wonderful and fun the club is. Post regular updates on your findings! Post the latest dino news!

3) Activities- Plan lots of it! Here in SG, we lack fossils, so we go to local fossil shops to shop, survey possible sites to dig(though always to no avail), visit schools and museums to give talks(the $$$ is always welcome, though not a must)

4) Home visits and trade! The only regular activity in SFC are our meet-ups. At least once every 3 months, we arrange visits to each other's house where we admire collections, catch up, eat, swap fossils, and have a all-around great time.

What I can say is, as long as you have the passion and the right people, you can certainly keep your fossil club going strong.

[ElToro]

Doesn't sound the least bit crazy. Sounds wonderful in fact.

I will share what I know as one of the pioneer members of Singapore Fossils Collector.

I met a fellow Fossil Forums member, Calvin, on another non-fossil related forum. We met, and he showed me his incredible collection, and we had great fun discussing about fossils and dinosaurs. It led us to wonder: Were there more collectors in Singapore? We started looking for others online. Calvin did the heavy lifting; he started the group on FB, and invited as many in as he could. The thing is, there is no such club here, so dinosaur and fossil enthusiasts flocked to our group.

Five years after the creation of this club, we have 544 FB members, of which up to 20 are regulars who come for our meet-ups. What I can suggest to you is:

1) Showcase your club on tv, or on newspaper. Calvin then got a slot on the local newspaper where he extended an invitation to all Singaporeans to join SFC. It worked wonderfully.

2) Lead by example. People would join if they see how wonderful and fun the club is. Post regular updates on your findings! Post the latest dino news!

3) Activities- Plan lots of it! Here in SG, we lack fossils, so we go to local fossil shops to shop, survey possible sites to dig(though always to no avail), visit schools and museums to give talks(the $$$ is always welcome, though not a must)

4) Home visits and trade! The only regular activity in SFC are our meet-ups. At least once every 3 months, we arrange visits to each other's house where we admire collections, catch up, eat, swap fossils, and have a all-around great time.

What I can say is, as long as you have the passion and the right people, you can certainly keep your fossil club going strong.

That sounds great! Good work! My brother lived in Singapore for many years and I visited him many times. Would have loved to check out your club! I like how you are not too strictly organized. Too many rules can be bad.

[Mike from North Queensland]

I would check out your local gem club and try and run as part of them. Saves inventing the wheel.

they should have a permanent club house.

A lot of there equipment would be useful to prep fossils - large stationary diamond saws

a fair few would have at least some fossils and you may find some converts.

A larger word of mouth network to start up a club even if you just shared their facility in the end.

I also get a lot of my display cases from my local gem clubs annual gem show.

Mike

[ElToro]

I would check out your local gem club and try and run as part of them. Saves inventing the wheel.

they should have a permanent club house.

A lot of there equipment would be useful to prep fossils - large stationary diamond saws

a fair few would have at least some fossils and you may find some converts.

A larger word of mouth network to start up a club even if you just shared their facility in the end.

I also get a lot of my display cases from my local gem clubs annual gem show.

Mike

Thanx mate, yea there is a Lapidary club with its own clubhouse. They don't seem to have much to do with fossils tho. I sent them an email to see what the go is.

[jon]

May I suggest that you contact the Fossil Club of NSW for some assistance, in the first instance.

Then contact the WA State lapidary Body.

They will help with both legal and insurance matters, including incorporation and public liability.

To form a registered club , you need a minimum number of members, your local lapidary club should be able to help there.

There are a lot of advanced collectors in Australia, many can advise on material sources. Make contact with them, use this forum, facebook for the 2 or 3 fossil groups in Aust & NZ.

Get to know the dealers and ask their advice.

Learning prepping; try the forums here, plus fossilsoft and other Youtube sites are good and their practices can be modified to suit your own equipment/ knowledge levels.

Speak to the museum, see if you can volunteer doing some prep work or at least view their fossil colletions including what they have in the dungeons

[Pterodactyl]

Look up the Dallas Paeleontoligical Society. I am a part of this "club" and I really like it. There might be some info that's critical to you. Hope this helps.

[ElToro]

Look up the Dallas Paeleontoligical Society. I am a part of this "club" and I really like it. There might be some info that's critical to you. Hope this helps.

Thanx mate! I really want to encourage young hunters and newbies so I think club is a better term. I'll check out the club you're in.