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Help wanted.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

The American Philatelic Society, the biggest stamp collecting organization in the U-S,
has a job opening: executive director.

The job description is interesting. For one thing, it doesn’t require any knowledge of
stamp collecting.

It doesn’t talk about operations much, either, but then, the A-P-S already has a strong
operations guy.

The emphasis is on growth – of the society’s finances and its membership.

There are some very wealthy stamp collectors, many of whom are quite generous, and A-P-S
leadership feels it’s often overlooked when it comes to donations. That’s probably easier
to fix than the other problem – declining membership.

As the job description says, the A-P-S has an attrition rate of three-and-a-half percent.
Most of the loss comes because of age, and past members aren’t being replaced fast enough.

Yes, stamp collecting isn’t as popular as it once was, but I think the real problem is
that people don’t join clubs and societies any more just to say they belong, or to show
support. Not in stamp collecting, not in churches or synagogues, not anywhere.

There are thousands of stamp collectors in this country who could belong to the American
Philatelic Society, but don’t.

Ask them why, and they’ll tell you the A-P-S doesn’t offer anything they need. Mention a
service it does have, and you hear, “Oh, I can get that elsewhere.”

Solving that problem IS in the job description.

I think this will be more of a challenge for the new executive director than schmoozing
potential donors.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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