Possible Financial Setups for Your Sport Club

There are numerous ways that you can set up your sport club to run financially. The way that you choose to do it will depend on the nature of your club, and this, of course, could change over time.

Before discussing the setup, you will need to open a bank account for the club. Ask your recreational sports director for assistance with this as there may be university guidelines for university versus non-university accounts. Make sure to get your non-profit organization number from your recreational sports director and set up your account as such at the bank. As a non-profit organization, you are eligible for the waiving of some fees along your path. Make sure to inquire about these at the bank, when you are making large purchases for your team (balls, uniforms, etc.), and when staying in hotels. Also, make sure to get the other board members’ names on the account so they can write checks, make deposits, etc.

Now, back to the financial setup of your sport club. You will need to have your club tennis team’s members pay a certain amount of money (dependent upon your budget) to run the club: their club dues. When, how much, and how frequently you collect dues is up to you. You could do it annually, per semester, per month, or per time participating. Again, this will depend on the nature of your club.

The recommended method is per month dues, which accomplishes several things that the other methods lack. The per-month dues allow you and your club to adjust each month’s payment depending on how much money you have in the bank, how many matches you have scheduled, how many practices you have scheduled, if you need more balls, etc. It is very flexible! This flexibility will allow you to be much more accurate with your finances, never falling short and not collecting too much. The only downside is that they must be collected more frequently than the annual- or per-semester methods. However, if you have a good treasurer, this should be no problem.

Another financial obligation that you will have to contend with are matches, both home and away. It is very likely that your club will not be able to have each member participate in every match or go on every road trip. Therefore, the most simple and by far the easiest way to fairly deal with these costs is to treat them all as separate events. Financially separated from regularly scheduled practices, this allows those club members who participate in the event to fund it and does not force those who do not participate in it to pay for something that they are not partaking in. For home matches, this cost would cover court time and balls. For away trips, the costs would include transportation and lodging.

A possible four-month payment schedule by a club member:

• September 1: $20 for club dues
• September 1: $8 for rec-sports participation fee
• September 4: $10 for club T-shirt/uniform

• October 1: $20 for club dues
• October 16: $80 for weekend away match

• November 1: $20 for club dues
• November 20: $15 for home match

• December 1: $10 for club dues (shortened practices because of the holiday season)