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GZ BREED COLUMNSnon-sportingdilemma as to what the parent club cando to prevent it and help the local clubsstay viable. In 1993 the local breed clubpresidents formed their own groupwithin the parent club to discuss theissues facing the local clubs. Our groupis named the CSPCA Presidents’Alliance.When we met that first year, we hadover 35 local breed clubs. Today thatnumber has dropped to 21, with severalof those on the verge of closing.Currently we have a Yahoo groupthat we use for discussing issues andfinding solutions to the problems facinglocal clubs. Following are some of theideas that this group has gatheredregarding promoting the local clubs,gaining new members, fund-raising,and so on.One company that offers a goodfund-raiser is the Current catalog (currentcatalog.com/-club).Your club memberscan bring the catalog to work andsell Christmas items to co-workers whowould purchase the items anyway, andthe club receives 50 percent of sales.(Online sales can also be set up.) Justmake sure that if you do Christmasrelatedfund-raiser, do it in early fall,before all the schools start having theirfund-raisers.“Soup in a Jar” sales are anothergood way to raise money. For these,“soup jar” recipes are found on theInternet. You put the soup ingredientsin each jar in layers, close the jar, securea cut-out piece of colored cotton clothover the top with a nice ribbon, andyou have a great gift. We have also soldspice mixes this way, and mixes for dips,Mexican hot chocolate, spiced nuts, andsalad dressings.Wrapping-paper sales are anothertype of fund-raiser. A company thatoffers especially nice paper is Innsbrook.With each fund-raising idea, you willneed to clarify what percentage of proceedswill go to your organization.Another idea is selling dog-relatedjewelry. Several companies that can befound online make these items and offerthem to approved organizations as fundraisers.Selling handmade note cards and stationerywith artwork or photos of yourbreed is another way to raise money.Local paper-specialty stores have notecard–size boxes with clear plastic lidsthat allow you to package cards in aprofessional manner.In order to keep members, clubshave to offer value in return for theirmembership dues. If you don’t givethem a newsletter, speakers at meetings,fun parties combined with meetings,and whatever else might be of interestto the members, then most won’trenew. It is very important that yougive them a need or reason to renewtheir membership in the local club.Most local clubs have members withvarying interests. Some join just tolearn more about the breed. Othersjoin to find out how to get involved inshowing, still others join to help outwith rescue, and so on. A lot of localclub members are just pet owners, andyou need to offer them a reason to stayinvolved in your club. You can assignthem jobs at the fund-raisers, andmaybe have them help in transportingrescue dogs. If your local club is gearedstrictly towards dog shows and showing,you will lose members who can bevaluable to your club.Some of our clubs give a free year ofclub membership to each family whoadopts a rescue dog. This has two benefits:It gives the local club the opportunityto educate the people who havetaken a rescue dog, and it gives youmore club members. If you offer incentivesto keep the rescue people interestedin your club, the next year theywill be dues-paying members. It is awin-win situation.Newsletters are a great way to giveclub members something in exchangefor their dues. Newsletters need to beinformative and educational. Thereneeds to be a balance between fun andinteresting articles about dogs in generaland things that pertain to yourbreed. Usually club members wantideas from fixing problem behaviorswith their dogs, how to solve healthissues, fun photos, news of other clubmembers, newest research findings, andthings of general interest.The best advice that I can offer alocal club is to look and see which onesof your local clubs is doing well andcontinuing to gain members and earningenough money to keep it going.Seek out the members from those clubsand ask how they are doing it, becausewhatever they are doing must be working.Seeking advice and input frompeople who have been successful atsomething you would like to do is thevery best counsel that I can give you—whether it is with regard to makingyour club better, or anything else in lifeyou would like to do. —A.F.Thank you, Alice.After 21 years as your columns editor,this will be my last submission onbehalf of the Chinese Shar-Pei. I nolonger share my life with Shar-Pei, andbecause of other demands I find that Ialso no longer keep up with the activitiesof our breed. I want to especiallythank Alice Fix (and all other contributors)for keeping these columns currentwith our club activities. —Jo AnnRedditt, orientpubl@aol.com; ChineseShar-Pei Club of America website:cspca.comChow ChowsProtecting the Chow ChowAfew of the important purposes ofthe Chow Chow Club, Inc., asdefined in the club by-laws, are to“encourage and promote quality in thebreeding of purebred Chow Chows tothe standard of the breed, to do allpossible to bring their natural qualitiesto perfection, and to do all in its powerto protect and advance the interests ofthe breed.”In order to have enough devotedworkers to accomplish these goals, wemust continue to attract new clubmembers and engage the existingmembers in breed-specific activities.The members of the club haveworked for over a century to meetthese objectives. One of the importantelements in meeting our goals is toeducate the club members and theA K C G A Z E T T E • 22 • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 2