The Wisconsin Idea!
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Experience the Moving Force That Works for your Club
Benefits of Membership | How to Join |
- A Newsletter
- • Ten times a year your club receives copies of Across the Fence Post for distribution to your membership. ATFP serves as a clearinghouse for Wisconsin clubs to share activities and ideas. It lists a regional calendar of events of philatelic interest and provides publicity space for your special events to collectors throughout Wisconsin, as well as parts of Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois.
- • Your club members will appreciate the opportunity to read about regional philately and philatelists. Recognition of individual collectors serves as an impetus to get your membership on the move.
- • Your club officers will gain insight into the administrative aspects of maintaining a stamp club through "The Club Co-op" column. It additionally offers a wide range of ideas for club educational programs and activities.
- • ATFP's feature articles aid the individual collector in knowledge of philately.
- • ATFP keeps members informed of services offered by the Federation, including reports of national happenings when deemed significant for its readers.
- Educational opportunities
- • Available through seminars and specialty group meetings at the annual WISCOPEX and other special WFSC-sponsored events. Also available through the WFSC Speakers Bureau - a group of knowledgeable philatelists willing to travel to your club meeting and present a program.
- Social contacts
- • The annual banquet at WISCOPEX is the perfect opportunity to get together with other Wisconsin collectors. The annual convention provides an atmosphere for member club delegates to meet each other, participate in the decision making process of the Federation, offer suggestions, exchange ideas, and get to know the officers.
- Club programs
- • WFSC membership makes your group eligible to participate in the annual Club Trivia Contest, which appears in Across the Fence Post and is designed for use as a program activity. A worthy prize goes to each year's winner. The WFSC also offers its slide shows and a videotape to fill that empty slot on the calendar.
- A Blue Book
- • A detailed handbook of how to stage a stamp show, including time schedules, contacts, and necessary committees and workers with job descriptions. In essence, it is everything you ever wanted to know about stamp shows.
- Regional VP's
- • Officers who are responsible for clubs within their district. Regional VPs are available for consultation concerning organized philately. If needed, they are usually prepared to present a program of interest or provide you with a contact for obtaining a speaker(s). They are interested in maintaining communication between member clubs and the administration of the Federation by listening to your suggestions of how we can be of better service and relating what we have to offer.
- A reserve of willing helpers
- • Individuals, basically from the Executive Board and WFSC committee members, who are interested and willing to work hand in hand with member clubs and their individual membership in ensuring the success of a special event or activity.
- Help for your youth
- • The WFSC has a nationally known VP Youth Division, who is available to share experiences and ideas about working with juniors, both on an individual basis and through her regular column in the Federation newsletter. Our VP Youth Division can provide a multitude of sources for literature and programs geared to working with youngsters in philately. She additionally chaired the annual KIDPEX, a widely acclaimed all-youth stamp show held in Milwaukee and sponsored in part by the WFSC.
- Publicity
- • Obtained through special WFSC promotions and activities. The WFSC is always interested in promoting organized philately, its events, and placing a lone collector in a club within his/her area. At least twice a year the WFSC staffs a society table at a major philatelic event for the purpose of providing information about your club and distributing your club publicity material and show fliers. At every possible opportunity we distribute our brochure listing member clubs, prompting inquiries which bring that potential new member to your club meeting.
- • The WFSC additionally promotes your club and shows through its Show/Bourse/Club Meeting Information flier, which is updated annually. It serves your membership by providing a comprehensive listing of a full calendar year of upcoming shows and bourses throughout the region.
- Gifts and prizes
- • The WFSC promotes itself and the hobby by offering a free logo button to members of your club simply by showing up at a philatelic event where we are participating with a society table. Wearing of the button at our annual state show entitles the bearer to a free gift. When the appropriate occasion arises, special gifts and prizes are awarded. The WFSC also distributes door prizes at the annual state show.
- Judges
- • Knowledgeable, certified philatelists throughout the state who can be called upon to judge at your local exhibition.
- Increased attendance at your shows
- • Our statewide Stamp Show Calendar and Registry will ensure that you have an exclusive calendar date and potential show-goers will not be tempted to spend the weekend elsewhere. The WFSC Executive Board enjoys combining business with pleasure. A meeting at your show brings in additional carloads of philatelists from throughout the state.
- Notoriety and added income
- • The WFSC has an active Publicity and Public Relations Committee that strives to sustain Federation activities and its member clubs in the state and national limelight. The WFSC newsletter, which contains your club news, is regularly mailed to the national philatelic press. The committee is always on the lookout for contacts with other organizations and agencies who are willing to publish Wisconsin philatelic literature and news, and we pass that information on to you.
- • The annual state show (WISCOPEX) draws great numbers of general public from the area, statewide collectors, and dealers. A host club has the opportunity to become well known nationally, throughout Wisconsin, and in its own community. A successfully run WISCOPEX can considerably increase your club treasury.
- • The WFSC's summer happenings promote philately in the rural community. We invite participation from the nearest member clubs, thereby providing another opportunity for publicity and added income. Since these events normally do not include a bourse, the focus is shifted to exhibits, club-owned materials and individual auction lots.
- • Our Wisconsin Stamp Suggestion Committee keeps close tabs on future new issues, launching letter-writing campaigns for those with potential first-day sites in our state.
- • New activities are always on the horizon, and your membership and participation can make your name known!
- Awards
- • For exhibiting, the WFSC offers the annual WISCOPEX Champion of Champions award, the WFSC Husak Topical Award, and participation certificates. To encourage exhibiting and a bit of club competition, it also offers the WISCOPEX Club Award.
- • Of special note is the WFSC-sponsored Wisconsin Philatelic Hall of Fame, which honors a maximum of three individuals per year for special achievement in philately. In 1995, the WFSC instituted the annual Dealer Recognition Award as a tribute to this side of philately, too. And, the District Representative's Award is presented by our Regional VPs to individuals excelling in local club participation.
- And more
- • Since the WFSC is your organization, we are always anxious to consider your suggestions for added services and benefits.
Our Purpose
The specific objectives of the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs, Inc., are to acquire and disseminate a knowledge of philately; encourage individuals and organizations to locate and preserve postal records and materials for future reference and research; promote and encourage the study of history, geography, and human cultures through philatelic knowledge and research; encourage, sponsor, and introduce the educational aspects of philately among young people; foster and help organize other stamp clubs in and near the state of Wisconsin; cultivate a feeling of mutual friendship and fraternity among philatelists; and assist the members of the WFSC in acquiring and disposing of stamps by gift, purchase or in any other legitimate way.
Our objectives are achieved by the sharing of ideas, pooling of talents and equipment, doing things that individual clubs alone cannot do; providing centralized services and a unified voice speaking on behalf of an identifiable constituency.
In short, we aim to further the hobby of stamp collecting in the Wisconsin area in every way possible, and to be of every assistance to member clubs. The WFSC serves as a home to its membership - a place where clubs can turn to and ask for help and support.
Our History
In early 1932, there were nine philatelic organizations existing in the state of Wisconsin. At a gathering in Fond du Lac on March 19, 1932, these nine clubs formed the Wisconsin Association of Philatelic Societies. The all-state association changed its name on April 6, 1935, to the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs.
Once launched, the organization prospered with ease. It grew from the original nine clubs to 28 by May of 1937, which at the time, was the largest federation in the entire nation. By the time of its 50th anniversary, the WFSC listed 40 clubs on the roles.
The Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs was the first successful organization of its kind in the country, and the "WISCONSIN IDEA" has been emulated in other states. The WFSC is composed of philatelic societies from throughout Wisconsin and border states cities, making it the combined voice and representative of these clubs and their individual members.
The Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs was incorporated in 1985, as a not-for-profit organization. In 1991 it achieved Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) status, making it an official IRS charitable educational organization. The WFSC is active on a national basis, having a life membership in the American Philatelic Society.