Planning

Where is your Club now? There are many clubs and associations that are not functioning effectively. Is your club one of these?:

Membership is dropping for obvious reasons
The club is struggling to keep a stable committee
You have difficulty attracting sponsors
Your committee does not have the skills to complete their tasks
You don't have a development plan
You never know where the club's money goes
You don't know how to go about evaluating where you are now
You don't provide training for your committee members
Your members never know what is going on

Club Health Checklist

Complete the checklist below to see how your club shapes up in the areas of administration, membership, education, meetings and in general. Once you have completed the checklist, discuss the responses with other members of your club and see if there may be areas where changes are indicated.

Does your Club have a development plan for the next 5 years?
Is volunteer management included in your plan?
Does your Club have a Club newsletter?
Are members encouraged to attend meeting of your Club?
Do Club members get plenty of notice when payment of fees are due?
Do office bearers fully understand their duties and carry them out?
Do you have enough people in the running of the Club?
Does each person assisting in the Club have a job description?
Do you have a Club sponsor?
Do you have a Club prospectus?
Is the Club promoted regularly through the local media?
Do you have a volunteer co-ordinator?

Planning

Whilst an increasing number of organisations are employing professional officers to assist with their development, the bulk of the work at club level depends on the efforts of volunteers.

For the optimum development of any organisation it is necessary for these efforts to be coordinated and channelled towards a series of common goals.

The most effective method by which an organisation can establish its goals and identify the best means of working towards them is through being involved in a planning process, which sets them on the path to a better future. Planning can help your club to:

Cope with change in your environment
Clarify its purpose
Look where it has come from and where it is now
Decide where it wants to be in the future
Work out how to get there
Develop teamwork off the field
Use your resources effectively
Check out your progress

It is important to remember that plans, once written, are "living" documents. They are no use sitting on a shelf collecting dust. A plan becomes a guide for the organisation – and it will no doubt go through changes.

A planning process will help you to identify:

The tasks you need to perform to make your organisation work more effectively
What people you need to run your organisation
How to best utilise the resources you have in terms of facilities/equipment, finance and people
How well you have provided the services that you exist for

A plan can be utilised to develop a club prospectus, which might include some of the following information:

Role and function of the club for its members
Role and function of the club within the community
What services the club provides
Who the services are provided for
How to access the club services
Roles and tasks of club members
Future direction of the club
Rights and obligations of members

A prospectus can then be used to market the club for future members, sponsors and funding agencies.

Although planning can be a time consuming process it is one that a wide variety of successful organisations have been using for decades. It is an investment in the club's future.

Management Planning

The same management principles that apply to running a club apply whether the club is run by one person – a manager or a management committee.

Make the club a positive place – it is very important members see the club as a positive place to be. They go there for recreation, it absorbs their vital leisure time. If they are unhappy at the club they will go somewhere else.
Have a future direction – the club must have a concept of its direction and future. All resources should be geared towards these aims and goals. The club structure should be geared towards fulfilling those goals. Quality officials – a plan to educate and encourage officials is important. The better the administration, the stronger the club. Organisation is the key to success.
Set excellence as the example – if the club is a well-run quality organisation, it follows that members will be inspired to replicate the efforts being made on their behalf at the top. Remember that no matter how a club is managed the most important thing is to remember that whatever is done, its is done with the aim of improving the club for its members.

The Club Prospectus

Basically, a prospectus outlines what the club does and whom it does it for. This can be a useful marketing document whether it is to potential members, sponsors or the media. A prospectus may also outline the rights and obligations of its members.

Some questions that might be asked in writing a prospectus include:

Section 1 Why/Who does the club exist for?
Section 2 What services does the club provide?
Section 3 How is the club structured?
Section 4 How can those services be accessed?

Answering each of the questions will give a broad outline of the club. You might like to further broaden the prospectus by adding in some further details under each of the sections, including:

Section 1

A brief history of the club
Types of membership (individual, family, group, associate, school)
How much are membership fees?
Do your programs cater for all community members?
What is the future direction of the club (refer to your club's plan, if one is developed)

Section 2

What services does the club provide?
What are the benefits of being a member?
What participation opportunities are there, including social/competitive/non-competitive?
What skill development opportunities are there? How can they be accessed?
How wide-ranging are the activities? Do they cater for children, older adults, and people with disabilities? How do they cater for each of the groups?
What resources are available? Does the club have any access to books, videos, kits or pamphlets? What facilities exist?
What education/training opportunities exist and in what format?
What support services (such as child-minding) are available?
What social events/opportunities does the club offer?
Outline your risk management (safety) practices and procedures.

Section 3

How/when is the committee elected?
Who is on the committee? What roles do they fulfil?
What support roles are there?
How to volunteer your services
What support is provided to volunteers? (eg. Training, reimbursement of expenses, incentives and recognition).
What linkages exist with other associations, including local government/state organisation of the regional, associations/other, clubs/community, groups/schools.

Finally, it is important to relate: