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Would you join an aquatic club in Wisconsin?

Care for a Wisconsin Club?

9K views 54 replies 10 participants last post by  JakeJ 
#1 ·
:wave: A fellow member and I have been having some pretty advanced discussion about making an aquatic club for us fish crazies in Wisconsin. Madison already has one, but we're looking at one for the entire state, or one each for the northern and southeastern areas.

A few details: We'd have a website with LFS reviews, news, meeting dates, and other information. If there is membership, it'll be about 15$ yearly. We'd send out newsletters by email monthly; it'll have a few articles, a classified, and etc. We'd also do a biyearly plant swap and maybe a few 'field trips' to aquariums, etc. Meetings would be bimonthly, maybe one up north, maybe one in the south.

So, if Wisconsin had an aquarium club, would you join? And if you have any suggestions, feel free to post them.
 
#7 · (Edited)
And this is the fellow member I'm talking about. We all miss you on TPT, by way of an aside, but you know this :cool: I just wanted to mention it now, seeing as I missed the 'Sayonara Jake boat'

Dave, thanks for talking to us about legalities! I've been wondering about this, and we most certainly appreciate your guiding us in the proper direction!

Forgot to mention in the first post, we'd like to keep the club politically neutral, even as we form it, absolutely no offense to anyone here. There's enough turmoil going on where we don't need politics in a fish club ;) Jake, we can try from five members on, or even the two we've got, like Dave said. Fish crazies attract more of themselves. I'll be driving soon enough, and I don't mind picking you up if there's a meeting up north. What's another fifteen minutes added to the drive to get you?
 
#5 ·
Best thing that has happened to WI in I do not know how long.

Anyway, thanks for the help Davemonkey! I will begin to look into that stuff when I can.

Do you guys have any idea how many members is a good number to start out with? 25 state wide?
 
#4 ·
Just in case you guys would ever want to consider Not-For-Profit or Tax-Exempt status, start checking your state's regulations and registrations for that now before you get started. It helps tremendously to know what you'll need ahead of time. Even if you don't apply for it for several years down the road, at least you'll have the necessary forms, etc... already in place.
 
#11 ·
So, first thing is first, a name for said club. My thoughts would be....

WAGA - WI Aquatic Gardeners Acc.

WAPS - WI Aquatic/Aquarium Plant Society

WAPA - WI Aquatic Plant Acc.

WAPHA - WI Aquarium Plant Hobbyists Acc.


Those are just a few. I am leaning toward WAGA at the moment...
 
#12 ·
Also, would it be benificial to contact the Madison plant club and ask them for advice/see what they think of this whole thing? It would be interesting to see if they would maybe expand and become a state wide group, instead of being Madison only.
 
#14 ·
I lean toward WAGA or WAPS myself, but a little revision, if I might?
WAPS- Wisconsin Aquaria and Plant Society (thus covers not only plants, but FW fish and tank care as well. An all-around thing, and that way beginners will join for the fish aspect, and then start into plant-keeping as well and reap the rewards.)

Or maybe one of us could take a trip out to Madison and see what all takes place. Or if someone wanted to describe what the basic program of their club is, we'd appreciate that as well.
 
#16 ·
Welcome to you, and whichever buddies decide to join! We are building momentum ;) Workshops are something Jake and I haven't mentioned -or maybe thought of- thanks for the fresh idea!
 
#19 ·
YUS! I am so happy, I could hand out free hugs to strangers :cool: We appreciate people wanting to involved and help, very happy to see this. It's near impossible for people to have a club without people like you.
 
#20 ·
I, too, like WAPS as for what it stands for, but the acronym doesn't work. How about something like Wisconsin Aquatic Gardeners and Aquarists Society (or Association?)? It would get across the fact that a primary focus is the plant side of things, but it would still show that the fish/animal side of things is important, too. Just a thought...

I made a post on TPT stating that a few friends and I started an aquarium society during college that is still active to this day (20+ years later). It was literally just a few of us friends in the beginning, and it grew steadily. I would submit that it will not take a large initial group of people to get this up and running. The initial people will need to be pretty passionate about it, though, and shouldn't mind trying to promote the organization--flyers at fish stores, setting up a webpage, social media presence (specifically Facebook, possibly others), etc.

Also, I am planning on attending the April meeting held by the Madison Aquarium Gardeners. They hold their meetings on Tuesdays, and I just so happen to have Tuesdays off of work. I won't mind the drive from Milwaukee at all--looking forward to it quite a bit in fact. If anyone else is interested in going or has any suggestions (questions to ask or whatever), just let me know. Feel free to reply in this thread or PM me.
 
#21 ·
This is what we need!!!!

I think we should go with a society (a group of people with a comon interest) instead of association (a group with a comon cause).

If you go with that, I like what you suggested, WAGAS. Catchy, gets to the point, and looks good! :)

If we want to start getting things out, we should deffinatly get a name going and a cause/point for our club. I do not have a Facebook (yet), but I can do others things via LFS, blogs, etc if needed.

I am envious... You get to talk to fellow fish fanatics face to face! If you could ask around at the MAG meeting, that would be great! I have alread PM'ed a member that I know there, just asking some questions and such. I'll share with you guys what he says bout our idea.

- Jake
 
#24 ·
Looks like we might qualify for Tax-Exempt status too, being a non-profit fraternal organization, which we of course, would have to apply for. But that's all I know.
 
#25 ·
I do not know anything about the legal side of things. Should we be working on a mission statement?

Does anyone have any experience building a website? I do not, but I'd be willing to try to learn/help out. I do have some experience setting up groups on Facebook. I would be willing to do this for WAGAS (if that is what we will be :) ). Although it may not be able to reach everyone that we'd want, I think it would be a useful adjunct--it is a growing/widely used thing nowadays and would not only be great for sharing information/thoughts/pictures/etc, but also it would be helpful as a reminder service about upcoming meetings/etc. Let me know your thoughts...

I welcome specific questions to ask when I attend the April meeting in Madison.
 
#26 ·
Legally, I say we deal with that when the time comes. We are deffinatly a non-profit fraternal orginization, and from what I have read, it'll cost about $45+ dollars for the paper work and such, other then that, I'm not sure.... :confused:

Website wise, I would love to takle it with your help if that works! I have already setup a email adress, wagascontact"at"gmail.com

As far as websites go, lets go as cheap as possible. Atleast for the begining of the club. I think a good Wordpress or Blogspot blog would work. A Facebook page would also be a great thing to have! I will not be able to join in the fun on FB until April 28 though.... I may be able to convince my parents to allow me to get a Facebook earlier than that though.

I second working on a mission statement. I think the main idea behind WAGAS would be to spread the aquatic plant part of the hobby, and to support already "planted" hobbyists. Other then that, not exactly sure what we are about?

- Jake
 
#28 ·
We are live! http://wagasaquariumsociety.wordpress.com/

Still needs work, but its a start.

As far as a mission statement goes... Here is my best attempt so far.

The purpose of The Wisconsin Aquatic Gardener and Aquarium Society is to spread the study and husbandry of aquatic plants and freshwater fishes and to support hobbyists and provide aquarium related social and learning oppertunities to its members.

Any good at all?
 
#30 · (Edited)
Anybody's here, but this one was preoccupied with new fish.

We are alive!!! I'll let TPT know.

Mission statement is good, brief and to the point, and more official than what I could pull together, but here's my revisions, underlined: The purpose (or intent?) of the Wisconsin Aquatic Gardener's and Aquarium Society is to spread the study and healthy, long-term husbandry of aquatic plants and freshwater creatures, to educate aquarists regarding equipment, and tank maintainence, to support hobbyists and provide other aquatic-related social and learning opportunities to its members.

(Added the 's to Gardener because the phrase -you've got to imagine it sans 'and Aquarium'- "Wisconsin Aquatic Gardener Society" doesn't flow so well without it) Thoughts?
 
#31 ·
Thanks for letting TPT know Defiesexistance! It would be kinda hard for me to now.... :icon_hang

I like your revisions. So, so far we have this:
The intent of the Wisconsin Aquatic Gardeners and Aquarium Society is to spread the study and healthy, long-term husbandry of aquatic plants and freshwater creatures, to educated aquarists regarding equipment, and tank maintainence, to support hobbyists and provie other aquatic social related and learning opportunities.

I like the sound of that. Thanks for editting/changing it. :D
 
#32 · (Edited)
Hehe, just a bit maybe. No responses yet, but I am hoping for some motion there. They will know when they check the subforum.

Got to adjust typos again, or I will be crazier, don't mind me at all. Is there anything else you'd like to add to it?

"The intent of the Wisconsin Aquatic Gardener's and Aquarium Society is to spread the study and healthy, long-term husbandry of aquatic plants and freshwater creatures, to educate aquarists regarding equipment and tank maintainence, to support hobbyists and provide other aquatic-related social and learning opportunities."
 
#35 ·
Nice job, Jake! I see three 'likes'. I let TPT know, but no responses on anything yet.

So. When and where do we plan the first meeting?
 
#36 ·
Hey sorry for getting back to you so late. Been a busy week....

I am not sure when we should get this going. I definately think we should stick with having meetings in a public place. Random people at your house is kinda akward. How about, say, a library? And we would need to find a area, like Milwaukee, Green Bay, Appleton, etc.

I am in the Green Bay area by the way. :D
 
#37 ·
I was beginning to wonder if you were breathing yet! But I understand busy, please answer my PM whenever ;)

A library? Never thought of that; good idea. Or a park shelter or something? (homes could maybe come later on as our foundation is rock-solid. How else are we supposed to show people our setups? I wouldn't mind people in mine) Do you want to switch places, once WAGAS can have a meeting up nort' and the next down in the SE corner?

Still no responses on TPT. How're you doing, DMent? We're ready for your comments whenever.
 
#38 ·
I wasn't thinking of meeting at public places for the moment, but for all of our meetings. Mostly because it is way less akward for new members, and makes finding a place for the next meeting less of a hastle. Personally, I would much rather meet at a public place. The idea of going to somebodies house who I do not know very well is not a good one for me. Especially since I am 13. Not sure how everbody else feels about this though.

I agree that we should have rotate meetings from up north to down south and such. With gas prices these days, I do not think a lot of people will want to drive that far.

I'll return your PM in a second. Again, sorry for the long wait!!! :(
 
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