Clubmate - Running a fishing club just got easier

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Durham City Angling Club

KEY BENEFITS

Increased membership base by 25%, saved hours on admin time, enhanced reporting and created a standardised system for staff and volunteers.

Durham City Angling Club - Our Story

Founded nearly sixty years ago, Durham City Angling Club is one of the longest standing clubs in the area. We control several stretches of the River Wear and pride ourselves on being able to cater to all types of freshwater fishermen; from specialist coarse fishing to still-water specimen fishing on our four-lake still-water complex.

Our Problem

In my eight years as Chairman of D.C.A.C, I saw multiple members of staff leave the membership secretary role. Whilst it was for their own personal reasons, each time their departure was at very short notice.

The problem was that once they left, it was up to me to hold the fort.

It became my responsibility to take care of the time-consuming admin tasks to keep the club running. Since each secretary had their own way of doing things with their own systems, it was a stressful task to get usernames and passwords from them to access the information I needed. That was followed by many hours of work getting memberships in and keeping them organised.

As Chairman of the club, I realised that we needed a reliable, standardised system that would make keeping track of members and payments easier. The solution needed to be independent of an individual – something that allows staff and volunteers to have their own logins so that if they were to leave the club, the next person could pick up where they left off. 

The Solution

Somebody recommended Clubmate to me, so I organised an online demo with them and I was impressed straight away. Their solution stood out to me simply because the system was so user-friendly. I was also impressed by the competence of the team – they were very supportive during the setup process and answered any questions I had.

It supported us during COVID-19

Now, more than ever, fishing is needed as an escape and a way to feel a sense of normalcy amongst everything going on. We’ve already put certain precautions in place to keep our members safe, and they’re already practising social distancing when they’re out on the water. Adding Clubmate is just one more way to keep things running smoothly.

Since Clubmate allows members to pay online, I rarely need to handle cash. This feature has been especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic because we’re able to maintain social distancing by avoiding collecting cash directly from our members. Plus, paying online means that there’s no more sending cheques through the post – it’s a much safer way for our members to pay.

More than just a quick fix!

It was clear that Clubmate was far more than just a quick fix for us. The dashboard gives me a clear overview of how the club is performing, how many members I have and in which categories. The financial reports allow me to see the revenue taken in a membership year and it’s simple for me to produce membership reports for the committee – which has saved me a lot of time!

Because the system is user-friendly, it’s easy for secretaries and volunteers to get to grips with. It’s simple for them to track everything and create clear reports when they need them. I know that it will save my membership secretary and future volunteers hours of time doing membership admin.

What’s more, it improves the overall member joining experience. New members can join online, pay their annual fee online and start fishing right away.

I'd recommend it to anyone

The support I’ve received from the Clubmate Help Team has been excellent – nothing is ever too much trouble! They have maintained a great level of communication with D.C.A.C, so our setup process was nice and simple. 

Since using Clubmate, our membership base has grown by over 25%. This boost in revenue from membership sales has allowed us to reinvest funds into a stocking program for 2021, which is a major benefit for our members. So not only has it saved us hours of admin time, but it’s also helped us expand our club and increase participation – which is a fantastic bonus.

I would recommend Clubmate to any fishing club. You can’t lose!

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If you’d like to learn more about Clubmate and how it could benefit your fishing club, please get in touch (we don’t bite!):

hello@clubmate.co.uk

0333 987 4677

CLUB NAME

Durham City Angling Club

CLUB MEMBERS

350+ members

CLUB WATERS

Brasside Complex & various stretches of the River Weir

MAIN CONTACTS

Den Lilley

WEBSITE

https://www.durhamanglers.co.uk/

KEY CHALLENGES

Time consuming admin

Being available to join 24/7

Multiple trips to outlets

Growing the club

Engaging with our members

Club promotion

Interested in becoming a member of Durham Anglers?

Membership is now open.

If you live in or around the Durham area and would like to join our friendly club, click the button below to visit out website and sign up.