Like many community sports clubs, especially those with charitable status, Vale of York Athletic Community relies heavily on the dedicated efforts of our volunteers. Running a thriving and safe athletics club takes a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Handling memberships, organising training sessions and events, keeping our website updated and planning for our own permanent track and field facilities takes a lot of time and effort. All this work has to be done while keeping costs down so that we can be as accessible as possible to everyone in the Vale of York.
On a recent club visit, in his role as England Athletics Regional chair for Yorkshire and Humberside, our founder, Ian Martin, recently had a discussion with a fellow Club Chair about the range of free software and services to which UK charities are entitled. We wanted to share details of some of this software, and what it can be used for, specifically from the perspective of an athletics club like ours.
Keeping Finances on Track
As a non-profit, managing our finances is crucial. Session fees, facilities hire, membership contributions, and grant applications means having a clear overview of our income and expenditure is vital. As a registered charity we also need to submit annual returns to the Charity Commission.
NatWest offer free Freeagent accounting software if you sign up for one of its free charity bank accounts: https://www.freeagent.com/partners/natwest/.
Streamlining Administration
Document storage, office suites and collaboration tools make general club administration so much easier. Plus, Microsoft Azure credits mean we can host our website for free with a little technical know-how.
Microsoft 365 for nonprofits https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/nonprofits/microsoft-365
Azure credits for nonprofits: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/nonprofits/azure
Google Workspace for nonprofits: https://workspace.google.com/nonprofit/signup.html.
Spreading the Word
Whether it’s creating a newsletter to celebrate our members’ achievements, designing social media posts to encourage new sign-ups, or producing flyers for events, having free access to premium design tools is a huge benefit.
We use Canva for Nonprofits: https://www.canva.com/canva-for-nonprofits/ and Adobe Express for Nonprofits: https://www.adobe.com/uk/nonprofit/creative-cloud.html.
These platforms offer user-friendly tools and templates with free premium features that help us create professional-looking materials without the need for a dedicated graphic designer.
Engaging Members and Supporters
Keeping our members and supporters engaged is important. We send out monthly email newsletters using Beefree, which offers $1,000 of free credits for nonprofits: https://beefree.io/plans/.
A Treasure Trove of Tech Help: Charity Digital
For more ideas visit Charity Digital [https://www.charitydigital.org.uk/ an organisation dedicated to helping UK charities access free and affordable software.
Calling Sports Charities
Are you part of a UK-based sports charity? Have you had success with any free software or services? We’d love to hear about your experiences and recommendations in the comments below.
Pooling our knowledge can help all of us in the voluntary sector make the most of the resources available and enhance the positive impact we make in our communities.
