Club Matters

Club Matters is a Sport England Lottery Funded Programme that provides free information, advice and guidance for organisations delivering in the physical activity and sport sector. It is designed to support organisations who are looking to develop, reach out to new communities and maximise their engagement with new and existing members, participants and volunteers.

Club Matters provides a wide range of trusted, helpful and practical resources all of which are free, simple and bite-sized. They are designed to provide support, guidance and learning opportunities relating to all aspects of running a club or group irrespective of their size or whether the activities are formal or informal. The resources cover an extensive range of topics including:

  • Setting up an organisation
  • Managing money – including setting up and managing a bank account and annual accounts
  • Engaging and retaining volunteers
  • Child protection
  • Adult safeguarding
  • Business planning
  • Using social media
  • Insurance
  • Health and safety – including risk assessments
  • Understanding the needs of your participants
  • Growing your reach
  • Marketing
  • Tax
  • Raising funding
  • Managing capital projects – including planning permission
  • Managing facilities and asset transfer
  • Engaging with specific target groups like women and girls and people with disabilities
  • Governance – organisational structures, constitutions and committees.
  • Creating diverse committees – This page highlights the benefits of having a diverse committee and provides hints and tips on how to achieve this.
  • Developing a Recruitment Policy – Here, we explore why it’s good to have a recruitment policy, what it should cover, and the steps organisations can take to develop one.
  • Creating an Annual Report – This page identifies the benefits of annual reports and how to go about creating one.
  • Holding an AGM – Here, we explore why AGMs are important, what they should cover, and offer some helpful advice for preparing and delivering an effective AGM.
  • Supporting people’s wellbeing through community links – This page explores how organisations can create links in their community to help them reach and support people who would benefit from taking part in physical activity and sport.  
  • Accessing Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) at community facilities – Here, we identify the need for organisations to check their access to life saving AED provision and offer some advice and guidance to help support conversations with facility providers.
  • And… much more!

 What resources are available?

Club Matters offers a range of excellent, free, face to face workshops, as well as a wide range of online resources including:

  • Face to Face Workshops on: giving your participants and volunteers a great experience (Participant Experience; and Volunteer Experience); Marketing Strategies; Business Planning; and Legal Structures (Club Structures). (Workshops).
  • Podcasts on an expanding range of topics including: GDPR; volunteering; funding; adult safeguarding; women and girls and creating inclusive environments (ClubNatters).
  • Online Workshops on: tax and finance; using Facebook to engage new members; top tips on using Twitter and safeguarding adults: (Online Workshops).
  • Online learning modules and toolkits on: VAT; finance, cash flow and budgeting; facilities management; capital projects; governance; organisational structures and marketing (Online Modules)
  • Video case studies on: the journeys that organisations have undertaken to reach their full potential (Case Studies)
  • Infographics on: Engaging women and girls in sport and physical activity, safeguarding adults – top tips and making your club inclusive (Infographics).
  • Downloadable templates and resources on: safeguarding; sport development planning; partnership working; and engaging with members, participants, volunteers, coaches.
  • An ‘Improvement Tool’ which is designed to get you thinking about where you perform well and where there are opportunities to improve (Improvement Tool).
  • Newsletters: to keep you up to date with the work of the team and news stories of interest from across the sector (Newsletters).
  • Social Channels offering helpful tips, examples of good practice, news and much more: Facebook (Facebook), Twitter (Twitter) and Youtube pages (youtube): offering helpful hints and tips and examples of good practice.

If you want to explore the resources and keep in touch with Club Matters please sign up to their newsletter, social channels and have a look through the website.