Sports club fundraising for members costs

[CooksDryMeasure]

My kids are part of a sports club that competes a lot. Competition are expensive. Historically the club has fund-raised throughout the year and used that to pay for members competitions costs.

reading between the lines some people have been irritated that members who don’t take part in fundraising (mostly social events, raffles etc) then get their costs paid anyway.

the club is now proposing switching to a points system, everyone will pay upfront and then at the year end depending on how many events you’ve attended, raffle tickets you’ve bought etc you will be refunded some of your competition costs.

I get what they are trying to achieve, and have to say at the last social event where I dropped £70 I did say I would rather just pay £70 next time my kids competed & not having to spend the evening playing bingo!

I am intrigued to hear how other clubs might handle this, or any issues that people can see?

The subs are roughly £30 per person per year so don’t touch the sides! And something like 40% of that has to go to top office.

Swimming you paid monthly for pool access and then races were charged separately from £0-£10 per race, be didn't go to Reginal or nationals so they would be more

Rugby just pay £70 a year + petrol to matches, kit is also heavily subsidised as are the occasional social events

An up-front annual charge would be reasonable, as long as allowances are put in place for the club to support those who are on a low income and simply cannot afford it.

One club (different sport obviously!) has a flat rate membership fee for the year. Every junior has to help out at two senior matches in the season. If they do this, they get a 25% reduction on the following years subs. Seniors have a similar thing for the junior matches. If you help out more, you get a bonus reduction. They have a sponsored event once a year to raise extra. Match fees are covered by the club and they ask parents to volunteer for taxi duty.

Other club, individual and team entry is covered by the parents (30 per day). Transport is possible with the club bus at £10 per day. Any overnight stays are for us to cover. The (very expensive) kit can be borrowed from the club either for the year at very reasonable rates or grab from the bucket on the day. One sponsored event per year to raise money to pay for the junior coach. For international events, national body pays part, club pays part and some has to be covered by parents. If you win a medal, you get a refunded some of your travel costs for the next tournament.

Yeah all our other activities are very different!

netball is £13 a month and for our regional league games we pay 1.50 per quarter player. includes kit except hoodie if you want that.

rugby is £110 a year including kit.

etc etc

Subs for club 1 are £200 per year and for the more expensive one £600.

I quite like the way club 1 does it. The more you help with the running of the club, the larger the reduction you get. If you can't be bothered to help, you pay in full.