This depends on the market for geocoins. If there is a demand for them however, I say go for it! It has been very profitable for us, and lots of fun in the designing and voting!

Best case scenario, we are able to sell it at an event. It all depends on the process leading up the the point that the coin can be sold.

I always like having our organization design and decide on the coin. That’s so much preferable to having a committee or the board decide on a design. And as I said before — it was really fun!

Bec

Would you like to see the WGA produce a new geocoin for 2008? Should it be ready to unveil and sell by the time of the fall WGA picnic? Should we use the same process as least year for selecting a design?

I would like to see the minting of WGA coins continue. The process by which these are designed seems to work well so I see no need to change it. I would however stress that the coins should be available NO LATER THAN the picnic as a good part of the year is already gone come fall. From a distribution standpoint handing these out at the picnic makes a lot of sense, but I’d like to see them made available perhaps a month earlier. Having early availability may even inspire more purchases of the coin at the picnic for those who have seen them floating around.

While this is one of a very few ways in which the WGA raises money (along with an occasional T-shirt sale, donations and the pancake breakfast), I question how much money we need to raise in the sale of the coins. Currently the WGA has a reasonable amount in the bank with which to operate efficiently.

Yes to a 2008 Wisconsin geocoin… it should be an annual thing.

Yes, the coin selection process employed in the past where everyone voted for the design should continue to be used… maybe with the addition of a runoff election between the 2 or 3 designs with the highest votes if there are many designs to choose from and no clear winner. We want the people who are going to buy our coins (the members) involved in choosing the design.

It would be nice but not absolutely essential to have the coins done so that we could hand them out at the picnic and sell any extras that we might order.

But (and this is a big but) I would be hesitant to eliminate the presale aspect of the geocoin sale. What if the WGA ordered 500 coins ahead of time and only 300 sold? This is supposed to be a fund raiser for the organization, not a money loser. The WGA shouldn’t be trying to “invest” its money in the geocoin market. You don’t get your cookies immediately when you order from a girl scout, you don’t get your popcorn right away when you order from a boy scout, you don’t get your pizza right away when you order from someone going to band camp, and you don’t get your coins right away when you order from the WGA (though we will take your money right away!). 😀

Although it seems like the geocoin market has slowed a wee bit this past year, there still is plenty of interest.

I think the start would be determining what we as an organization hoped to accomplish by a yearly geocoin. Would it be a fundraiser? Increase awareness, a publicity tool? Etc.

The current process of gathering ideas, voting, etc I thought worked very well.

If it could be done by or prior to an event, all the better. I think it would help add to the “hype” of the geocoin and event.