It’s not surprising that like many other nonprofit and similar groups, aquarium clubs operate on shoestring budgets. While most aquarium clubs operate in the black, there is not a lot of money left over. Turns out most things you wanna do as an aquarium club cost money. One of the things that is top of mind for many fish clubs is how to get money to fund the activities that will both draw in new members and retain existing members for years to come.
What can do with more funding?
A lot of things get better with aquarium clubs if you have more funding.
- Maybe you need a larger meeting place since your membership is growing and people are having to stand in the back.
- Do you want to hire a speaker to come in and talk about how they breed Medaka Rice fish in tubs all spring and summer long?
- What about a field trip to the local fish breeder—see their operation in action?
- Maybe members have a ton of planted tanks, and you want to invest in a PAR meter for the group to share.
- How about bringing fish in from neighboring clubs that are not normally seen in your area?
The list goes on and on. But the fact of the matter is that in order to do exciting and interesting things with your club you need a clear funding strategy. Here are a few ways that aquarium clubs can generate funds.
Membership Dues
The first, and very common method of raising funds for an aquarium club is membership dues. Members pay a fee each year to help financially support the club. The purpose of club dues is generally two-fold. First, is to financially support the club. Second, it gives people a monetary investment in the group. A lot of times that investment brings with it some additional perks such as participation in grow-out or aquascaping competitions.
Club Auctions
Next on the list are monthly club auctions at your normal meet ups. Typically a portion of the sale price of an item goes back to the club—say 20% for the club 80% for the seller. This commonly ends up being a much larger amount of money than what is collected through dues. It also provides a space for community involvement and interaction with club members selling their own plants, fish, and used equipment. Maybe their fish are breeding in their tank and they don’t have room for the fry. Or they just did a trimming and they have a bunch of extra plant cuttings left over. While funding clubs, auctions also help fund (enable?) aquatic addiction.
Swap Meets
Another method for fundraising is swap meets. So this is typically for larger clubs with with more membership where club members, local vendors, and fish stores will purchase tables to sell anything aquarium related. They run basically like craft fairs or a mini conventions. People typically come in and sell fish, plants, used and new equipment, artwork, 3d printed accessories, etc. True fish nerds may even travel to go get fish that aren’t local to the area and bring them to swaps and make them available. Clubs make money in swaps by selling table and advertising space. Our clubs most recent swap had maybe 30 tables and it costs $25 to get a table and that turns into $750 for the club fund!
Enter AquaFindr
There’s another option as well. Take a look at AquaFindr—a new aquatic marketplace that gives back to aquarium clubs based on club participation.
Alongside these other funding options, AquaFindr allows anyone to buy and sell aquatic stuff online. Whether those items are shipped across the country, or made available for local pickup, club members will find an easy to use platform that can make buying and selling online easy.
When you register on AquaFinder buyers and sellers can specify their local fish club. Every quarter AquaFinder donates 10% of its profits to local fish clubs based on buying and selling activity. So if your club is active on Aqua Finder, you can get money basically doing what you’re already doing.
Aqua finder offers a free membership tier that is enough for most hobby aquarists. If you need more functionality, you can purchase a higher membership plan that comes with additional features and opportunities for selling. All plans begin with a free first month—so try it risk-free! It’s easy to sign up, it’s easy to set up your store, and you can start selling online within a matter of minutes. Compared to other online selling platforms sellers on aqua finder can save 11-17% more of their hard earned money.
The Perfect Pair – AquaFindr and Your Local Fish Club
To learn more about AquaFindr visit AquaFinder.com.
What other ways have you found success raising funds for your local fish club?
