Starting a New Club: What You Need From Day One

You've decided to start a club. Maybe it's a running group that's outgrown informal weekend meetups. Maybe it's a new sports club in a growing suburb. Maybe it's a professional association that doesn't exist yet.

Whatever the reason, there are decisions in the first month that will either make your life easy for years or create problems you'll be cleaning up forever.

Here's what to get right early.

Incorporate first

This is the step most people skip. They start with a Facebook group, collect some money via bank transfer, and figure they'll sort out the "official stuff" later.

Later never comes. Or it comes after someone gets injured at training and you discover that an unincorporated group has no legal identity, which means the person who signed the venue hire agreement is personally liable.

Incorporation gives your club a legal identity separate from its members. It means the club can open a bank account, sign contracts, hold insurance, and apply for grants — all in the club's name, not a person's.

In Australia, incorporation happens at the state level:

• Victoria: Consumer Affairs Victoria. Apply online. Costs about $34.
• NSW: NSW Fair Trading. Online application. About $50.
• Queensland: Office of Fair Trading. About $170.
• Western Australia: Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. About $120.
• South Australia: Consumer and Business Services. About $100.
• Tasmania, ACT, NT: Similar state/territory bodies. Check your local registry.

You'll need a minimum number of members to incorporate — typically 5. You'll also need a constitution.

Write a proper constitution

Most state registries offer a model constitution. Use it.

The temptation is to write something custom that perfectly captures your club's unique character. Resist that temptation. Model constitutions exist because they've been tested in thousands of clubs. They cover the things you haven't thought of yet.

You can modify the model rules later when you actually know what needs changing. Starting with a blank page is how you end up with a constitution that doesn't mention quorum requirements.

The things worth customising from day one:

• Membership categories. If you'll have juniors and seniors, or playing and social members, define them now.
• Membership fees. Either set them in the constitution or give the committee power to set fees by resolution.
• Financial year. Most clubs use July–June to align with the Australian financial year.

Open a bank account

You need a bank account in the club's name. Not someone's personal account with "club" in the description.

You'll need: your certificate of incorporation, the constitution, identification for at least two signatories, and minutes from the meeting that appointed those signatories.

Require two signatories on all transactions. This isn't paranoia — it's basic governance. Every year, clubs lose money because one person had sole access.

Get insurance

This is non-negotiable. If your club involves any physical activity, you need public liability insurance at minimum.

Many state sporting bodies provide insurance as part of affiliation. Check what's covered and what isn't.

If you're not affiliated with a peak body, get your own policy. Expect to pay $500–$2,000 per year for public liability.

Set up your committee

At minimum: president, secretary, and treasurer.

The secretary handles correspondence, keeps records, manages membership, and does most of the actual work. This is the hardest job. Pick someone organised.

Hold a proper first committee meeting. Take minutes. Record the decisions. This is the start of your club's institutional record.

Keep proper records from day one

From day one, keep:

• A member register. Name, contact details, membership type, date joined, payment status.
• Financial records. Every dollar in and out, with receipts.
• Meeting minutes. Every committee meeting and every general meeting.
• A document register. Where is the constitution? The insurance certificate? The incorporation certificate?

The Facebook group mistake

A Facebook group is fine for social interaction. It is not a membership system, a communication platform, or a record-keeping tool.

The problems: Facebook owns the data. You can't tell who's a financial member. Important notices get buried. You can't run reports or give your state body an accurate membership count.

The first year

Most clubs that fail, fail in the first two years. Usually not because of money or members — because of burnout. The founding group does everything, doesn't build systems, and runs out of energy.

The antidote is boring: write things down, share the work, keep records, follow your own rules. The clubs that are still going strong at year ten are the ones that acted like a proper organisation from month one, even when it felt like overkill.

Start right. It's much harder to fix later.