Club management

The way your club is managed has a direct impact on its success. Our Guide to managing your club is coming soon, but until then we have gathered relevant information for you and your club here.

Bridge NSW and clubs

Member v Associated clubs

Under Bridge NSW’s Constitution, there are Member clubs and Associated clubs. Member clubs can vote at Bridge NSW’s General Meeting and its election for Council members. Associated do not have voting rights.

Club fees

Fees are charged annually based on the number of Club members at the census date. Bridge NSW has set 31 October as the census date for 2026. The fee is currently $20 per member, with the minimum affiliation fee being for ten members. Bridge NSW sends out invoices soon after census date. We chose October to spread the cashflow demand on clubs over the year, as ABF fees are due end of March. Unlike the ABF fee, Bridge NSW does not charge part-fees for members who join mid-year. The flip side is there is no process for deleting members before the census date.

Clubs details on our website

The Find a Club section of this website provides a map of clubs across the state. If your club has two or more locations, you should include all of them. We publish the club’s name, address and a club website or Facebook page. We no longer publish phone numbers, email addresses, session times or details of whether a club provides lessons. This is for privacy reasons and to direct people to club websites. If your club does not have a website or Facebook page, please see the guide to setting up a Facebook page on the Raise My Club Profile page.

Communication with Bridge NSW

Bridge NSW also requires two email addresses for its communication with clubs. The first is the email address for the Secretary and the second is the email address for invoicing. The latter can be the Treasurer, but some clubs choose to direct all communication through the Secretary.

It helps if these email addresses have been designed for their purpose (for eg, secretary@maitlandbc.com.au). You can also do this in Gmail or with another email provider (secretaryatmaitlandbc@gmail.com). A purpose-driven email address simplifies things for club representatives and Bridge NSW.Please see our Guide to Gmail for details.

Changing club details

If you change the email address for invoices please email accounts@bridgensw.com.au. If you change the email address that you would like us to use for the Secretary please email office@bridgensw.com.au.

Club details on ABF Masterpoints Centre

Clubs are required to keep the ABF Masterpoints Centre updated on the name of the club Secretary and the Masterpoints Secretary, together with the club’s physical addresses and an email addresses. Clubs can download details for all clubs from the ABF Masterpoint Centre.

Internal management

Purpose and Aims

Clearly stating your club’s purpose and aims helps both your committee and your players. These guide planning and decision making and help to inform your committee and membership of the strategic direction of the club and of the associated club activities.

Make sure that the purpose and aims set out in your constitution accurately reflect what you plan to do. The content of your constitution depends in part on what legal form your club takes, which can range from a sub-club of another club (such as a golf or leagues club) to an actual for profit company.

If your club is a stand alone entity Bridge NSW recommends that you become either an incorporated association or a company limited by guarantee. Both these forms provide greater protection for members, especially committee members.

Teamwork

You need a team of people with a range of relevant skills to form your club committee and to manage the day-to-day affairs of your club. Your team must work together toward the common goal of a successful bridge club as set out in your purpose and aims.

Communication among your team should be open, positive and constructive to overcome obstacles, resolve conflict and avoid disorganisation. Boardable offer some sound advice on such communication at https://boardable.com/resources/effective-board-member-communication/

There should be effective coordination of your team to avoid confusion and overstepping boundaries.

Efficient cooperation to plan and perform tasks in a timely manner and produce the required results is also required. (Hackman, Richard (1990). Groups That Work (and Those That Don’t): Creating Conditions for Effective Teamwork. Jossey-Bass. pp. 1–13, 479–504 ISBN 978-1555421878).

Volunteers

Except for a few clubs that are entirely operated as a for profit business, bridge clubs rely on volunteers. Some clubs employ staff in various roles, but it is the volunteers that employ and direct that staff that determine the culture of the club.

The nature of volunteerism is very different to other environments. Working with volunteers entails different appreciation and rewards systems, and requires clear structure and guidelines, You need a variety of volunteers who manage the small everyday tasks of running a club such as: arranging refreshments, dealing the boards for each session, scheduling lessons and fun days, etc. For some handy suggestions see https://www.drnancyoreilly.com/eight-ways-to-use-not-abuse-your-valuable-volunteers/Number six on that list is about not abusing the goodwill of volunteers. It’s tempting to ask reliable volunteers to do more and more. Watch it. Listen to what they say and let them set limits. You must avoid burning out your volunteers.

Developing a succession plan may not seem necessary when all committee positions are filled and things are running smoothly, but that is really the best time to do it! Any of the volunteers (or even paid staff in some circumstances) can suddenly not be available any more. Anyone who makes themselves “indispensible” to the club is doing the club and its players a disservice. As soon as a person fully understands how to do a role it is time to train someone else.

You need a plan to fill future vacancies and to ensure a refreshment of leadership over time. Ideally thre is always more than one person in your club who knows how to do every role at the club.A common way for bridge clubs to deal with the problem of succession is to look for and mentor replacements from within your club. These people are already familiar with the operation of your club but need some help and encouragement to step up and to develop their skills (Izmailova, Sayana (2024) https://www.wildapricot.com/blog/nonprofit-succession-planning).

Bridge NSW is investing in providing more opportunities to train club level Directors. See the section on Club Director Courses and Exams here. We are also developing resources so that more club members can become teachers, see the lesson materials here.

A guide to grants

Local government councils make available a range of sporting and community grants that maybe helpful to bridge clubs in funding special projects and/or one-off projects (e.g. purchasing new equipment, covering some Congress costs, etc).

First steps to find out more about what’s available

  1.  Contact your local council, introduce yourself and identify the council contact/liaison person – titles vary e.g. Community Liaison Officer, Community Projects Officer, etc
  2.  Determine which grants might be applicable and the timetable for lodging an application. Keep in mind that you may need to apply several months in advance of your project’s start date; there maybe more than one round of grants in any one year; etc.
  3.  Also check the Services NSW website (add link here) for any one-off grants that maybe available and/or contact your local member’s electorate office for help

Note, at this stage Bridge clubs are likely to be excluded from sports grants. However, as mentioned in the first issue of the newsletter, the ABF is trying to get bridge included as a sport by the Australian Sports Commission. If they are successful we will make an application to the NSW Government. 

Before you begin the application process:

  1.  Define the scope of your proposed project (e.g. a start and finish date; how your project links with the stated objectives outlined in the club constitution; who will benefit from the project, etc)
  2.  Register your club with smartygrants.com.au – (add link), the online portal used by local councils for receiving grant applications
  3.  Review the application form available on the portal and identify what information is needed to complete the online application process (e.g. club incorporation number, registered club address, service/supply quotes, etc)
  4.  Locate any required documents and who/where in your club these documents are stored
  5.  Scan documents that need to be attached to any application made through the grants portal
  6.  If its your first grant application, contact other clubs/organisations in your community who may have had previous experience with the grants process and talk about the process of completing the grant application (e.g. Mens’ Shed, U3A, etc)
  7.  Stay in contact with the council liaison officer as they are there to help, and ask to be listed on their contact register for advance notice of any upcoming grants rounds

If you grant is successful, the next steps include:

  1.  Setting up required supply forms and authorities which your local council will use to facilitate funds transfer
  2.  Be aware, in advance, of any conditions tied to grant funding e.g. recognition of grant in publicity materials, etc
  3.  Record all expenditures and/or promotion material where grant funding is acknowledged as an acquittal form is required and evidence of grants recognition is required
  4.  Failure to submit an acquittal form renders any future grant applications invalid.

 Celebrate your success

Please let Bridge NSW know about any successful grant applications so we can share the good news by emailing bridging@bridgensw.com.au.