Running My Club Is Taking Up More And More Time, And I’m Enjoying It Less And Less

Does this sound familiar? You started your club or took over running it because you have a passion for the hobby or subculture it's based around. You still love that hobby and that culture; the early mornings and late nights organising and running events don’t bother you in the slightest; in fact, you love it. 

Lately, however, the club has been feeling more and more like a time-sink that seems just to devour your time and fun, and it is seriously hurting your enjoyment of your club. 

 

 

If all this sounds like you, I have some good news for you. There is a better way to manage your club that will make running your club quicker, easier and more enjoyable. So, today, that’s exactly what we will be talking about: how to save time running your club and enjoy it more. 

What Is A Membership Management System?

Membership Management System is software designed to streamline the running of membership organisations like clubs and associations. They usually include member management, automated renewal processes, payment processing, event management, communication tools, attendance tracking, reporting, and integration with other systems. Membership management systems can be used for any size of club or association, whether it be a 40-person book club or a 100,000-person professional association.

Membership Management Systems aim to make running clubs easier, more efficient, and less time-consuming while improving member experiences. 

As you can imagine, the range of membership management systems available out there is massive and varied. No matter what your club, association or membership organisation does and no matter how large it is, there will be a membership management system that works for you and fits into your budget. 

If you are curious to learn more about membership management systems and if they are right for your club, try reading the following article. What Is Membership Management Software For Nonprofits? - All Your Questions Answered.

How Membership Management Systems Can Save Your Club Time 

One of the biggest benefits of membership management systems is the time they save you and your admin team. The main way that they save you time is by automating most, if not all, of the mundane, slow manual processes currently involved in running your club.

Automatic Membership Renewal System

The biggest of these manual processes that will be automated is membership renewals. Typically all membership management systems will offer an automated membership renewal system. 

Your manual renewal system probably looks a bit like the following: You have to post renewal reminders to your members. Receive payment in the form of cash and cheques in envelopes and direct deposits, all of which need to be reconciled correctly to ensure all the right people have paid the right amounts of money. Post back-out successful renewal notifications and new membership cards. Then you probably need to send out even more letters to remind those people who didn’t renew their membership the first time.  

That is a long, complicated, and, let’s face it, expensive process to have every time your members need to renew their memberships. 

With a membership management system like Member Jungle or the majority of our competitors, this long experience process will be a thing of the past. Instead, the system will pay attention to when your members are coming up for renewal and will email them an automated renewal reminder. They can renew online from their computers or phones in seconds. All the payments will go directly to your nominated account and will automatically be recorded in the system so both you and your members can see instantly that their membership renewal was successfully completed. If you use digital membership cards, those cards will be automatically updated with the members' new expiry date.

Overall, membership management systems can save your club or association a lot of time and money, and they may be well worth it for your club. If you’d like to find out more about how membership management systems can save you time, please read How to Save Time & Money With Membership Management Software.

Membership Management Systems Can Help Put The Joy Back Into Running Your Club 

If you are struggling to enjoy the process of running your club lately, a membership management system will go a long way to help bring the joy back into your club. The majority of administrators who use management systems have reported that not only have they massively reduced the time and money that goes into running them, but they have been able to reinvest all that time into enjoying their clubs again and improving them even more. 

There are a huge amount of things club admins can do to improve and enjoy their clubs after they start using a membership management system; here are just a few:

• Organise more club events.
• Run those club events more efficiently and easily. 
• Create and send newsletters to communicate better with members.
• Start a club blog to share educational content and discussions related to the club.
• Finding new sponsors for the club
• Lastly, and honestly, best of all. As an administrator, you can participate in club activities and get back to having fun with your club. 

If you want to know more about all the awesome things you can reinvest your time into, check out What To Do With All Of Your Free Time Once You Onboard With Member Jungle. This article is about Member Jungle, though it will be just as helpful no matter what membership management system you end up using. 

Does My Club Need A Membership Management System?

As helpful as a membership management system can be, they aren’t necessarily the right choice for everyone. Whether your club needs a membership management system or not will depend on your club’s size, member count, budget and ambitions. Generally speaking, small clubs with fewer than 100 members tend to find that they cannot afford and or don’t need to invest in a membership management system. However, some clubs with fewer than 100 members do still sign up to use them because they see it as an investment in the future and growth of their club. 

They’re not wrong with that line of thinking; the majority of clubs that use membership management systems experience significant member growth. If your club has fewer than 100 members it might not be the right option for you; then again, it could be. Sorry to sound all wishy-washy, but at the end of the day, it’s a decision that only you can make.  

If you want to know more about this, why not read Is Your Club Too Small For Membership Management Software?

This has only been a brief summary of what membership management software is and how it can help your club. Hopefully, it will serve as a good starting point for you to start looking into these systems and work out if they are right for you. Whether you end up wanting to use a management system or not, or whether you end up wanting to use Member Jungle or one of our competitors, the Member Jungle learning centre will be here to help you with your research. 

So, why not start with How To Stop Losing Club Members.

Otherwise, maybe try starting here, The Problem With Using Excel Spreadsheets To Manage Your Club.