The Cloud Appreciation Society has 43,500 members.

[RWB]

The ANA has 24,000 members.

Cloud Appreciation Society members pay $23.07 annually.

ANA members pay $28.00 annually.

Is this food for thought or just idle fog?

 

 

[DWLange]

What are the membership benefits of the CAS?

[Morpheus1967]

Well, to be honest, all that is needed to get the most of a membership to the Cloud Appreciation Society is the ability to tilt ones head back and point skyward.

[RWB]

Here's the web site: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/

Can communications and interaction ideas be used to improve ANA? --- even something as simple as the ANA splash page?  (At least the double-wide trailer photo is gone.)

[physics-fan3.14]

I like clouds. Sunrises are the best. Not going to pay that much to look at pictures of clouds, though. 

I like coins, too. However, membership in the ANA suffers because I can't really see the benefit of joining. I joined this year, to see what it was all about. I've gotten a monthly magazine with 120 pages of junk I don't care about and occasionally a couple of interesting articles thrown in.

What is the benefit of joining the ANA? If they want membership to improve, I think they really need to make a strong case for why they exist.

[LINCOLNMAN]

5 hours ago, physics-fan3.14 said:

I think they really need to make a strong case for why they exist

Been a LM for about 35 years. I think the value is there, but perhaps the ANA doesn't make their case to the public or to a wider audience to bring in new members. 

[World Colonial]

I used to be an ANA member but only because it was a requirement to purchase insurance through Hugh Wood.

As for the value proposition, I agree with Jason, though I presume it depends upon what you collect.  For my collecting interests, the ANA has little if any benefit.  I have never used the ANA library but doubt it has anything related to my collecting interests anyway, including other series that I like enough to study but don't collect.  I already own the best reference books for the pillar coinage and none exist for my other series.  Another example would be the Mexican Cap & Ray denominations (I own a few but have bought nothing in over a decade) where "Resplendores" is the only reference I know (for the 8R) and the now defunct site Mexican Coin Magic is almost certainly better (and free when it existed) anyway.

[LINCOLNMAN]

WC, have you ever attended a summer seminar? Hanging around with a bunch of like-mined collectors is well worth the price of admission, the learning experience a bonus. I get the impression that you reside overseas, which would perhaps diminish that benefit. 

[World Colonial]

20 hours ago, LINCOLNMAN said:

WC, have you ever attended a summer seminar? Hanging around with a bunch of like-mined collectors is well worth the price of admission, the learning experience a bonus. I get the impression that you reside overseas, which would perhaps diminish that benefit. 

I live on the east coast now but used to live in Phoenix and Salt Lake City.  I have never considered attending an ANA seminar.  I prefer to spend my limited coin budget on coins but that is just my preference.