Importance of planning

Good planning and club management underpins successful and vibrant clubs.

It is the most effective way to sustain, improve and develop your club or association and map out a better future. It is likely that your club will have a plan for many aspects of its day to day running.

Club management covers a number of important areas. These include:

• Making sure you have a club development plan in place
• Considering if your club structure is appropriate for your club's needs now and in the future
• Thinking about whether forming partnerships could help your club operate more successfully
• Checking you have the right governance processes in place to help you to manage the club effectively
• Ensuring you have access to the facilities you need to run your club

What is the overall plan for your club?

It’s important that you have an overall plan for your club. This may be known as a strategic plan or whole club development plan. This will set out the important goals, objectives and ultimately the vision for your club. The club development planning section will provide further information.

Do you have a plan for facilities and equipment?

For many clubs having the right facilities and equipment is vital to participating. And it can be one of the areas that take up most of a clubs time and money. The facilities and equipment resources provide further information whether you are looking to plan for a new facility or need support with managing your everyday kit and equipment.

Planning partnerships - do you know who can help your club and how to work with them?

No club should exist in isolation. Partnerships are critical in order for clubs to be successful in their local communities. Working together with other organisations can help you to deliver your vision for your club. Find out more about the organisations you could work more closely with on the partnerships page.

Other important areas that require planning are dealt with in other areas of the Club Matters site. These include:

• Budgeting and financial planning
• Planning to market and promote your club
• Planning to manage risk