The Club Health Check: A Self-Assessment for Your Committee

Every club has a version of the same story. Things were ticking along fine - until they weren't. The treasurer stepped down and nobody could find the login for the bank account. Membership had been declining for three years but nobody noticed because the number on the spreadsheet never got compared to last year's number. The insurance lapsed because the renewal email went to an address nobody checked. The working with children register hadn't been updated since 2022.

None of these are dramatic failures. They're slow leaks. And the reason they happen is that most clubs don't have a systematic way to check whether things are actually going well - or just coasting on momentum.

That's what a health check is for. Not an audit. Not a compliance exercise. A structured conversation where the committee sits down together, looks honestly at how the club is running across the areas that matter, and identifies what needs attention before it breaks.

Why This Matters More Than You Think

Sport England's Club Matters programme - one of the most comprehensive club development frameworks in the world - found that clubs which conducted regular self-assessments were significantly more likely to grow membership, retain volunteers, and secure funding than those that didn't. Football Australia's Club Changer star rating system works on the same principle: clubs that measure themselves against a structured framework improve faster than those that don't.

The reason is simple. You can't fix what you haven't named. Most committee members have a vague sense that "things could be better" but can't point to the specific area that needs work. The health check turns that vague feeling into a concrete list. And a concrete list is something you can act on.

McKinsey's Organizational Health Index research, which tracked thousands of organisations over two decades, reached the same conclusion at enterprise scale: organisations that regularly assessed their own health outperformed those that didn't by a factor of three on long-term financial and operational metrics. The principle scales down. A 200-member football club benefits from the same discipline as a 20,000-person company - the questions are just different.

When to Do It

The best time for a club health check is the end of your season or financial year - when the data is fresh, the committee has lived experience of the past 12 months, and there's time to act on the results before the next year begins.

Do it annually at minimum. But there are other moments when pulling out the health check is worth doing:

• After a leadership transition. A new president or significant committee turnover is a natural point to take stock. The incoming team needs to understand what they've inherited, not just what the outgoing team told them.
• When something feels off. Declining attendance, volunteers pulling back, a member complaint that revealed a gap - these are signals, not anomalies. A health check gives you a framework to investigate.
• Before a strategic planning session. If you're about to set three-year goals, you need an honest assessment of where you are right now. Otherwise you're planning from assumptions, not evidence.
• When applying for a major grant or accreditation. Many funders and state sporting bodies ask for evidence of organisational capability. A recent health check, with honest results and an action plan, demonstrates exactly that.

The Seven Areas

These seven areas cover the essentials of how a club operates. They draw on Sport England's Club Matters self-assessment structure, Football Australia's Club Changer domains, and Sport New Zealand's Nine Steps to Effective Governance.

You don't need to use all of them if some genuinely don't apply to your club. But think carefully before skipping one - the areas that feel irrelevant are sometimes the ones that need the most attention.

1. Governance

Governance is the foundation everything else sits on. If the committee isn't functioning well, problems in every other area will be harder to fix.

Questions to ask:

• Is your constitution current and compliant with state/territory legislation?
• Are all committee positions filled? Do office bearers have written role descriptions?
• Did your last AGM meet constitutional requirements (notice period, quorum, agenda)?
• Have your policies been reviewed in the last two years (code of conduct, conflict of interest, privacy, grievance)?
• Are committee meeting minutes taken, approved, and stored where members can access them?
• Does the committee make decisions collectively, or does one person effectively run everything?
• Is there a succession plan for key roles - or would a resignation create a crisis?

What "good" looks like: Constitution reviewed within the last three years. All positions filled with documented handovers. AGM compliant and well-attended. Policies reviewed on a regular cycle. Minutes accessible. The ACNC Governance Standards provide a useful benchmark even for clubs that aren't registered charities.

2. Financial Health

Most clubs don't go broke overnight. They go broke slowly, over two or three years of small deficits that nobody tracked closely enough.

Questions to ask:

• Are your books reconciled and up to date (not just at tax time)?
• Do you have a budget for the current year - and does the committee review actual performance against it?
• Are your reserves adequate? (A common benchmark: three to six months of operating expenses.)
• Has an audit, review, or independent examination been completed as required by your constitution or legislation?
• Are financial reports presented to the committee monthly and to members at the AGM?
• Do you know your cost per member - what it actually costs to serve each financial member?
• Are membership fees covering the cost of operations, or are you relying on grants and fundraising to fill the gap?

What "good" looks like: Books reconciled monthly. Budget exists and is tracked quarterly. Reserves cover at least three months. Financial reports are a standing agenda item. If your club uses accounting or management software, your financial dashboard should be able to answer most of these questions in minutes rather than hours.

3. Membership

Membership is the lifeblood of any club. But many committees don't actually know whether membership is growing or declining - they just know roughly how many people paid this year.

Questions to ask:

• What's your membership count compared to the same time last year? Two years ago?
• What's your retention rate - what percentage of last year's members renewed?
• Are your demographics shifting? (Age profile, gender balance, family vs. individual memberships.)
• Have lapsed members been contacted to find out why they didn't renew?
• Is your membership mix healthy - a balance of new members joining and long-term members staying?
• Do you know where your new members are coming from? (Word of mouth, social media, website, events?)
• Is the registration and payment process easy enough that it's not a barrier?

What "good" looks like: Retention above 75% year-on-year. Membership stable or growing. Lapsed members contacted within 30 days of non-renewal. New member sources tracked. Demographics roughly reflecting the community you serve. Membership reports that show trends over time - not just a snapshot - are what turn this from guesswork into evidence.

4. Volunteers

Your club runs on people who don't get paid. If the volunteer base is thin, overloaded, or ageing without replacement, everything else is at risk.

Questions to ask:

• Do you have enough volunteers to run a normal week without anyone doing more than one major role?
• Are key roles filled - or are the same three people covering canteen, ground setup, scoring, and committee?
• Are there visible signs of burnout? (People pulling back, avoiding calls, snapping at meetings.)
• Do volunteers have clear role descriptions and know what's expected of them?
• Is there a pipeline of newer or younger members being introduced to volunteer roles?
• Are volunteers being recognised - not just at the annual dinner, but regularly throughout the year?
• Have you tracked volunteer hours? (Useful for grant applications where volunteer contribution is valued at replacement cost.)

What "good" looks like: At least 10-15% of members volunteering in some capacity. No single person holding more than two roles. Volunteer roles documented. New volunteers recruited each year. Recognition happening regularly, not just annually. If burnout is showing up, it's being addressed - not just acknowledged. Task management tools help here: when action items from meetings are tracked and assigned, the load becomes visible and distributable.

5. Communications

If members don't hear from you between renewal notices, you don't have a communication strategy - you have a billing cycle.

Questions to ask:

• How often do members hear from the club? (Weekly, monthly, only when something's happening?)
• Do you know your email open rates? Are they above 30%?
• Is your website current - or does it still show last season's fixtures?
• Are your social media channels active and engaging, or just broadcasting?
• Do new members receive a welcome message or pack?
• Can members easily find information about upcoming events, committee decisions, and club news?
• Is there a consistent person or process responsible for communications, or does it happen when someone remembers?

What "good" looks like: Members hear from you at least twice a month during the active season. Email open rates above 30%. Website updated at least monthly. Social media posts getting engagement, not just likes from committee members' partners. New members welcomed within a week of joining. Communications responsibility is assigned, not assumed.

6. Events and Programs

Events are where members experience the club. If attendance is dropping or programs are stale, it shows up here first.

Questions to ask:

• What are your attendance trends for regular fixtures or activities? Up, down, or flat?
• Have you introduced any new events or programs in the last two years?
• Do you collect feedback from members about events - or just assume things are fine because nobody complained?
• Are events well-organised, or does each one feel like it's being invented from scratch?
• Is there a calendar published in advance so members can plan around club activities?
• Are you catering to different segments - juniors, seniors, social members, competitive members?
• Do you track which events attract new members or drive the most engagement?

What "good" looks like: Attendance stable or growing for core activities. At least one new initiative tried each year. Member feedback collected at least annually. Event calendar published before the season starts. Event attendance data tracked so you can see what's working and what isn't - not just a headcount on the day, but trends over time.

7. Compliance and Risk

Compliance isn't exciting, but it's the area where gaps create the most serious consequences - legal liability, insurance voidance, personal risk for committee members.

Questions to ask:

• Is your insurance current and does it cover your actual activities? (Not just what you did five years ago when you took out the policy.)
• Are working with children checks (or equivalent) current for everyone who needs them?
• Is your safeguarding policy up to date and have relevant people completed safeguarding training?
• Do you maintain an incident register - and is it actually used when something happens?
• Are you meeting your obligations to your state sporting body, state regulator, and (if applicable) the ACNC?
• Is your data handling compliant with privacy legislation? Do you know where your member data is stored and who has access?
• Have you completed a risk assessment in the last two years?

What "good" looks like: Insurance reviewed annually and covering current activities. All required checks current. Safeguarding policy reviewed within the last 12 months. Incident register maintained and accessible. Annual return lodged on time. Member data stored securely with documented access controls.

How to Score Each Area

Keep the scoring simple. Complexity kills participation.

Option 1: Traffic light. Green means "this is working well - maintain it." Amber means "some concerns - needs attention in the next three to six months." Red means "this is a problem - needs attention now."

Option 2: 1-5 scale. 1 means "we're not doing this at all." 3 means "we're doing the basics but there's room to improve." 5 means "we're doing this well and consistently."

Either method works. The traffic light is faster and better for committees who haven't done this before. The 1-5 scale gives more nuance if you want to track improvement year over year.

The important thing is that each committee member scores independently before the group discusses. If you start with a group conversation, the most confident voice in the room sets the tone and everyone else adjusts. Independent scoring first, discussion second, consensus third.

Running It as a Committee Exercise

The health check is not the president's homework. It is a committee exercise. The whole point is to get collective input from people who see different parts of the club.

Here is a process that works:

Before the session. Share the seven areas and their questions with the committee at least a week in advance. Ask each person to think about how they'd score each area and to bring any data that's relevant - membership numbers, financial reports, event attendance, communication metrics. If your club uses management software, pull the reports in advance so the committee is working from data, not memory.

During the session (2-3 hours). Work through each area one at a time. Each person shares their score and their reasoning. The facilitator captures the discussion - what's going well, what's a concern, what evidence supports the score. After discussion, agree on a consensus score for each area. Record it.

After the session. Compile the results into a one-page scorecard (see the template below). Identify the red areas. For each red area, agree on one to three specific action items to be completed in the next three months. Each action item gets a named owner and a due date. Record these as formal committee resolutions in your meeting minutes so there is accountability.

Don't try to fix everything. A club that focuses on two or three red areas and makes real progress is in far better shape than one that writes an ambitious 20-item action plan and completes nothing.

The One-Page Club Health Check Scorecard

Use this as a template. Print it, pin it to the clubroom wall, and update it annually.

Club name: _______________ Date of health check: _______________ Committee members present: _______________

Area	Score (G/A/R or 1-5)	Key strengths	Key concerns	Action items (next 3 months)	Owner
1. Governance
2. Financial health
3. Membership
4. Volunteers
5. Communications
6. Events & programs
7. Compliance & risk

Overall assessment: _______________ Top 3 priorities for the next quarter:

1. ---

2. ---

3. ---

Date for next health check: _______________

What "Good" Looks Like - Benchmarks by Club Size

There is no universal standard for a healthy club because a 50-member social tennis club operates differently from a 1500-member multi-sport organisation. But here are rough benchmarks drawn from Sport Australia's AusPlay data, Sport England's Club Matters programme, and Football Australia's Club Changer criteria.

Small clubs (under 100 members):

• Committee of 5-7 filling all required roles
• Budget balanced or in small surplus
• Retention above 65%
• 10-15% of members volunteering
• Members hear from the club at least monthly
• Insurance and checks current

Medium clubs (100-500 members):

• Committee of 7-12 with sub-committees for major functions
• Budget exists and is reviewed quarterly
• Reserves of at least 3 months' operating costs
• Retention above 75%
• 12-18% of members volunteering with documented roles
• Regular communications with measurable engagement
• Risk register maintained

Large clubs (500+ members):

• Formal governance structure with clear delegations
• Audited accounts and monthly financial reporting
• Reserves of 3-6 months' operating costs
• Retention above 80%
• Dedicated volunteer coordinator or committee
• Communications plan with multiple channels
• Safeguarding officer and current training register
• Annual risk assessment with mitigation plan

These are guides, not pass/fail thresholds. A small club scoring below these benchmarks is not failing - it has identified where to focus its effort. That is the entire point.

Turning Your Health Check Into a Strategic Plan Input

The health check tells you where you are. Your strategic plan tells you where you're going. The two should be connected.

When you sit down to do your annual strategic planning - or to review your existing plan - bring the health check scorecard. The red areas tell you what operational issues need to be addressed before you can pursue strategic ambitions. There is no point setting a goal to grow membership by 20% if your retention rate is below 60% - you'll be filling a leaking bucket.

The connection works like this:

1. Red areas become operational priorities. These go into your quarterly action plans as specific, time-bound tasks.
2. Amber areas become improvement objectives. These inform your annual goals - move them from amber to green over the next 12 months.
3. Green areas become strategic building blocks. If governance is strong and finances are solid, you're in a position to invest in growth, new programs, or facility improvements.

Sport New Zealand's Nine Steps to Effective Governance makes this link explicit: step eight is "monitor and evaluate performance," and it feeds directly into step nine, "plan for the future." You can't do the second without the first.

Making It Stick

A one-off health check is better than nothing, but the real value comes from doing it consistently. When you compare this year's scores to last year's, you can see whether the club is improving, holding steady, or sliding. That trend data is more valuable than any single snapshot.

Three habits that make the health check a permanent part of how your club operates:

Schedule it. Put the health check on the committee calendar as a standing annual event - ideally four to six weeks before your AGM or strategic planning session. If it's not scheduled, it won't happen.

Keep the data. Store each year's scorecard somewhere the next committee can find it. When leadership turns over - and it will - the incoming committee needs to see where the club has been, not just where it is now. Meeting minutes from the health check session, stored alongside the scorecard, provide the context behind the scores.

Report it. Share the high-level results with members - not just the committee. A one-paragraph summary in the annual report or a slide at the AGM that says "here's how we assessed ourselves, here's what we're working on" builds trust and demonstrates that the committee is managing the club thoughtfully. Members are more likely to volunteer, renew, and support the committee when they can see that someone is minding the shop.

Getting Started

You don't need a perfect process to start. Print the scorecard template. Put it on the agenda for your next committee meeting. Give everyone 15 minutes to score each area independently, then spend the rest of the meeting discussing the results.

The first time you do it, the scores will be rough. The discussion will be more valuable than the numbers. That's fine. By the second or third year, you'll have trend data, calibrated expectations, and a committee that's used to the process.

The clubs that run well don't do so by accident. They do it because someone - usually several someones - took the time to look honestly at how things were going and made deliberate choices about what to fix. The health check is how you start.