Running a club

Fundraising and Grants
  • There are a thousand different ways to fundraise. What is your fundraising target? Are you looking at smaller, more frequent events? These will raise smaller amounts, but can be easier to organise than one larger fundraising event. However, one big event can bring in a large amount of money for your group – just take into consideration all of the preparation for the event.
  • Grants are a great way to boost your club’s income. Start with your local council – do some research on what grants they have given out before and what grants are available from them. The Government Funding Database is a really handy website which shows the types of grants on offer from your local council. The National Lottery website is a great place to get you thinking about what information you need to apply for a grant and what you will use a grant on as this may increase the chances of a grant being successful.
  • Your bank may be able to help you too. For example, Royal Bank of Scotland has a number of programmes that support local community organisations. Royal Bank of Scotland's RugbyForce helps rugby clubs to attract new members and get ready for the upcoming season. CricketForce is a nationwide initiative aimed at cricket clubs. The programme is designed to bring clubs and their local community closer together, and ensure they’re ready for the new season.
Finances and Banking
  • Most clubs and societies will need basic banking facilities to receive funds from their members and to pay suppliers. Many banks offer special accounts for community organisations often featuring free in-credit banking, free deposits, use of the bank’s branch network and a cheque book or debit card.  These will generally offer cheaper and simple banking than business bank accounts. 
  • Decide who in your club will operate the account on a day to day basis.  You may wish to appoint a club treasurer. The rules about who can operate the bank account and what they are allowed to do are called the Account Operating rules and are created when the bank account is first opened.
Things to remember
  • You don’t necessarily need to register your club anywhere, but there are a number of ways that you can register your club should you choose to. Think about your club’s activities – do you think there will be a governing body e.g. football clubs registering with the FA, or guides and brownies registering with the Girl Guiding Association. If your club falls into this kind of area, it may be worth doing some research into the governing body and whether registration is required.
Finding Facilities and Equipment
  • Think about what activities you’ll be doing and what time of year you’ll be running. Does it need to be indoors or outdoors? Think about what facilities available close by or locally. It may be worth getting quotes from a few different venues, as this could be the main cost for your group and may impact what you are charging your members.
  • Do you need equipment? Could you borrow any from your chosen venue to save on costs?
  • Do you need sponsorship? Would a local business be interested in purchasing your kit so they can display their business name on it or sponsoring your events?
People, Roles and Responsibilities
  • Think about who you could rely on to assist you, close family and friends who share the same interests may be a good start. Do you know anyone who has run clubs before and to be able to share their expertise with you?
  • When setting up your club you may have created a constitution setting out who does what in your club. Most clubs will need a similar set of roles, including chairperson, treasurer and secretary at a minimum. These people are often called club-officials or officers. 
  • Each of the officials above should have a clearly defined set of responsibilities. For example, the treasurer of the club will be expected to oversee all financial activities and report to the chairperson while the secretary might take responsibility for maintaining the membership list.
  • You will also need to consider how these roles are filled – office bearers are typically elected by the membership for a set length of time.  You should record the roles and process for appointing people in your club’s constitution.
Starting Up, Writing a Constitution and Developing Your Idea
  • When you're thinking of a name for your club, think about your club purpose - if you’re a football club would you want FC in the name so people know straight away what you club is about or if you have strong links to the community, you could include your town or location into the name? Have a club name that both stands out and also clearly states what the club is about and involved with.
  • Think about how often would like the club to meet – weekly, monthly, less than that? Think about your lifestyle now and how running a club will fit into that.
  • Many clubs and societies create a Club Constitution to describe how the club should operate.  You don’t have to create on but it can be a good idea to document how your club will work and other details like who can be a member, what (if any) membership fees are due, who will be involved running the club and what should happen if the club is disbanded.  A more formal constitution may be required if your club is seeking grant funding. This example from British Orienteering will give you a good idea of what should be included in your constitution.
  • The best place to start for finding members for your club is with your friends and family – would they or their children be interested in joining? How about advertising in the local newspaper? How about social media? Why not create a Facebook or Twitter account for your group? Once you get things started, you’ll find that word quickly spreads and more and more people will turn up each week.
  • If your club is going to be an on going organisation receiving funds from the general public, it is likely that you will need to register as a charity with the Charity Commission (England and Wales) or OSCR (Scotland). 
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