With recent developments regarding the now global pandemic that is Coronavirus, our priorities are to ensure that the vulnerable in society are protected wherever possible and that the disruptive impact of COVID-19 on sports is kept to a minimum. The elderly in our society have lived through more testing times and shouldered the responsibility of significant hardships in the past, so it’s fair to say we owe them one and should take necessary precautions to minimise the risk to their health and those with compromised immune systems. We recommend following HSE guidelines on protecting yourself and others against the Coronavirus and beyond that, have some recommendations for clubs using Clubforce to help minimise disruption and avoid an administrative backlog when normal club volunteering activity resumes.
Follow this link for details on COVID-19 contact tracing app functionality being released by Clubforce.
Meetings and demos
Our account managers will be avoiding travelling to clubs to help reduce the risk of spreading the virus. As an alternative, we will provide online demos to clubs until we can resume visiting clubs. This is a short-term measure to help stem the spread of COVID-19 and we hope to be back on the road visiting clubs in the not-too-distant future. All of our account managers will still be available via telephone and email and our head office can be contacted as usual on +353-91-506048.
Clubforce Training
We will still be on hand to provide training sessions to clubs looking to make the most of the Clubforce system. If you would like to book an online training session with our resident training specialist for your club, choose a time slot here.
Cancellations
According to today’s statement from the Irish government, outdoor mass gatherings in excess of 500 people should be cancelled, so for some, sports club training will not go ahead in the coming weeks. Other jurisdictions may have alternate policies with regard to the virus and we recommend checking with the NHS for customers in the UK or any other national health authority as appropriate.
School Holiday Camps
It may be too early to say that Easter holiday sports camps will not run during the school holidays in April. However if there are Easter camps (or other club events) that your club is accepting payment for on Clubforce, that your club now wishes to cancel, let us know by contacting info@clubforce.com.
Refunds
If your club has already accepted payment for events that are to be cancelled, the club can issue a credit against upcoming summer camps or issue a refund to the member. To issue refunds visit the Accounts tab of the Clubforce admin panel and choose the Refunds tab from the sub-menu.
Follow the link to our helpdesk for specific instructions on how to issue a refund through the Clubforce admin system.
Planning
All too often through the years we have heard from time-pressed volunteers, “if only we had the time to do X, Y or Z…..”.
Maybe now is the time.
Hopefully sports clubs will return to normal activity relatively soon and the demand upon club volunteers will resume – so in the meantime if time allows over the next few weeks, consider those projects that your club has put on the long finger in recent times.
It may not be possible to tackle some projects that require gathering volunteers together (e.g. painting clubhouse) but here are a list of things we know clubs tend to put off because they haven’t had the time to sit down and prepare for:
- Move your club lottery online
- Time to think about preparing for a sports capital grant
- Migrate your club communications to the GDPR-compliant Clubforce app
- Keep members up-to-date with newsletter
- Get up-to-date with the Clubforce training material
- Seeking out new club sponsors
Moving your club lottery online
Club volunteers will look to avoid social interactions over the next few weeks – but that doesn’t need to derail club fundraising activity. Hundreds of clubs conduct fundraising online with Clubforce, including selling lottery tickets globally – your club can use this quiet period to boost online club lottery ticket sales. To find out more, get free access to this recorded webinar.
Sport capital grant applications
Now might not be the time to finalise and submit a grant application but this guide might be useful in helping club volunteers understand what’s involved in making a successful application.
Using the Clubforce app for team communications
Club volunteers recognise the challenge posed by GDPR and using communications tools that comply with the regulation. There has been a huge upsurge in clubs using the Clubforce app – the next few days and weeks provide time for club volunteers to assemble their teams into different communication groups, making life easier for club coaches when training and game time resumes.
This heldesk article and video will help your club getting your messaging groups set up. Clubforce is the number 1 sports communications app on the iOS and Android stores.
Keeping club members up-to-date
If your club has announcements to make regarding the Coronavirus, you can do so easily via the Clubforce newsletter which includes easy-to-use templates designed to make life easier for you as club volunteer. For instructions on using the newsletter function, check out this article and video on the Clubforce help desk.
Accessing Clubforce training material
Since last year we have been busy creating additional training and support resources – all aimed at making the life of the club volunteer easier. The Clubforce helpdesk at help.clubforce.com includes over 80 articles (plus 30+ short videos) showing you how to use the most commonly used features on the system. Check it out here by asking a question. This helpdesk includes some of the most frequently asked questions from club members – send them here to find out more!
There is also an archive of recorded webinar content relevant to different club officer roles that can be accessed anytime here including topics such as membership management, fundraising and communicating with club members.
Seeking out new club sponsors
As your club prepares for a new season, now is a great time to think about sponsorship revenue for the club. Take a look at our club sponsorship proposal template and start your club on the path to a successful new partnership with a local business and find out how to help them maximise their brand awareness with Clubforce.
Clubforce is ready and waiting!
We are here to help!
We are fortunate that most of our business is conducted online and for us, it will be business as usual as much as possible over the next few weeks, so if there are tasks that you have put on the long finger that we can help you with, we’d love to hear from you!
Get in touch! Call us on 091-506048 or email info@clubforce.com
