Starting and Managing a Pickleball Club

Starting and Managing a Pickleball Club
Rocky Clark, the USAPA Area Ambassador for the northeast asked me to summarize
how we started and operated our pickleball club. We’ve been running for about 4 years
and have 62 active members. We play in a facility called Talent Hall in Litchfield, NH.
This is an indoor facility with two courts that have permanently striped pickleball lines.
The Town of Litchfield operates this facility and it is shared with 8-10 athletic groups.
Litchfield Pickleball Association (LPA) runs 11 sessions and plays 7 days/ week.
Here’s a brief summary. I’ve enclosed exhibits which show how we formed and how we
operate the club.
Major phases and summary notes:
1. How to Get Going
Create a board of directors, with at least 5 signatories- required to incorporate (in
the State of NH). Your state has a Secretary of State and the websites are usually
online. With a little effort, you can navigate your way without having to pay an
outside company to help you incorporate or obtain an EIN number.
Create a legal entity to operate the club. In NH, we could have either formed a
group “doing business as” (DBA) or formed a nonprofit corporation; we formed a
nonprofit corporation. We were able to apply to the Secretary of State online and
paid a $25 incorporation fee. This is much less than fees charged for a regular
corporation. A nonprofit corporation also doesn’t involve annual registration fees.
After receiving our corporate identity, go to the IRS to obtain an Employer
Identification number (EIN). Although there are many companies who charge you
to incorporate and obtain an EIN number, we did both online and there was no
charge from the IRS. You obtain the results in about two minutes- all online.
NOTE: the IRS reviews your online EIN application and decides what type of
group you are to be categorized as- the IRS deemed us a ‘corporation’ for tax
purposes. This requires us to file an annual corporate tax return (a 1 page
document- specifically Form 1120). You don’t want to be categorized by the IRS
as a nonprofit corporation (an IRS 501 C3 or something like that). These
nonprofits file a 27 page tax return because their revenues and expenses are
rigidly controlled under tax laws.
After obtaining an EIN, you can start a business checking account with a bank or
credit union. The credit union had an online application and required an enabling
letter from the board of directors. All our funds go through this bank account. At
least two Board members have access to this account and can write checks.
You can skip all of the above steps if you stay informal: just have one of the
members create a separate bank account for all club businesses. The disadvantage
is that someone is using their personal bank account, using their own SSN. We
tried this for about nine months and then the personal account became a matter of
concern to the account holder. Plus, nobody else had access to the account.
2. Starting up
At some point, you will need to write down some rules for how the board is
formed and elected, how members are added, what are the fee structures, what are
the playing rules, how to communicate with members, etc. We did this informally
for the first year and then sat down and wrote up bylaws and operating guidelines.
We started with a 7 person board, dropped down to a 5 person board, and then
wound up with a 3 person board. Smaller is better.
You have several choices in organizing: the most informal is just to find a playing
venue and whoever shows up plays. We charge $1/ session and some clubs just
keep a donation bucket handy- pay when you play but nobody is checking up if
you don’t pay. This is informal but it’s difficult to keep track of revenues, how
many players show up for what sessions, and how many players are ‘regulars’ vs.
‘transients’, etc. Making any rules for a group like this will be problematical.
We decided early on to be a bit more formal, in part because the Town of
Litchfield forced us to form a group headed by a board as a precondition for using
the facility. We developed a 1 page member application form + a liability waiver
(a town requirement). We charge a fee for joining plus a fee of $1/ session. We
use a signin sheet- an Excel form with the names of all our members- that players
just check off and deposit their buck in a bucket as they enter the session. It was
like herding kittens in the beginning but members quickly adapted to the signin
process because they appreciated that the club was operated with their interests
first and foremost. In the beginner, we had several “mothers” to supervise
incoming check offs and bucket deposits- that diminished after two months.
It became apparent early on that we had to keep track of revenues and expenses if
we were to operate long term. Without revenues, you can’t buy supplies or
provide any benefits back to the members. We always plan on having expenses
that slightly exceed our annual cash flow- otherwise we have to pay taxes on the
profits. We give back to the members by purchasing t-shirts and hats, holding a
monthly lottery that awards $50 to the winner, having quarterly social gatherings,
and purchasing training aids and materials, etc. We also donate each year to the
town’s recreation commission- such groups always need funds.
We develop an annual cash flow plan to budget all our planned revenues and
expenses (Excel spreadsheet- 1 page). We use the daily signin sheets to keep a
daily track of our revenues, which are entered in an Excel spreadsheet soon after
the session completes. We can therefore keep a daily record of funds collected
and also of how many players per session, an important metric since the club only
has two courts on which to play. The daily Excel record is therefore self-auditing
and no funds get lost. As we accumulate funds, we deposit them into our bank
account. We use Quicken to keep track of the checking account and we can
printout a banking summary each quarter to all our members, showing them
exactly where the money goes.
Transparency and good communication is key: members want to know how the
club is doing, why we develop rules of play, how we arrange for schedule times,
and how we are maintaining membership. Until recently, we used emails to all
members- but this proved cumbersome after we exceeded 30 members. We’ve
almost never used the telephone to communicate. Accepting members with no
computer access poses a slight burden to communicate directly with the
computer-deprived member.
3. Managing for the long term
A three person board plus a financial type (me) basically runs the club. We divide
responsibilities based on the club needs and the individual board member’s skill
set. Key areas are finance, membership, scheduling, and social activities. Recently
we have begun to focus on expanding training and coaching sessions that improve
our member’s competency and skill levels. Board members probably spend 4-8
hours per month on club business. Like many social organizations, getting
dedicated people to be on the board is a challenge- most members just want to
come and play. They don’t worry about how it all happens – until it doesn’t.
Two recent projects were to create a website for LPA to communicate with all
members and to adopt the use of a web-based application called SignUpGenius to
allow members to signup for individual sessions. Requiring members to ‘sign up
for tee-times’ is another behavior modification challenge- but the members see
the benefit of doing online scheduling to avoid overcrowded sessions. Since we
only have two courts, a session with more than 12 players means long wait times
and people milling around in a restricted facility waiting to play. We can’t play
with less than 4 players but having 16-18 players in a session is just not much fun.
So the online scheduling benefit is something all members can agree upon. Very
shortly, we plan to limit individual sessions to 12 players. This too will require a
few “mothers” but we hope it will go forward smoothly.
We’ve just started the website and using SignUp Genius in the past month- we
think it’s going to work out to everyone’s satisfaction.
Our growth over four years has gone from 20 members to over 60 active
members. We have member turnover of about 20% per year, so we’re always
bringing in and training new players. Members leave because they move away,
lose interest, or develop a medical condition. We were the first pickleball club in
NH, now there are several other venues in the immediate area. Many of our
members play regularly at multiple venues. We’ve had very few members leave
because they didn’t like the club or some of the members. We’ve only had one
member in four years whom we’ve asked to leave. Keeping the membership
happy and actively playing is the key objective in all we do.
As we grew, we had to run separate sessions to accommodate different interest or
skill levels. We run Competitive, Recreational, and Beginner sessions. We’ve
discussed a formal ranking of members and scheduling certain sessions only for
members with compatible rankings, but we haven’t gotten around to doing that.
Keeping track of the money is increasingly important. Our operating revenue
budget has grown from about $1500/ year to $4700/ year currently. It’s therefore
important to have a transparent, auditable means of keeping track of revenues and
expenses. Almost all our revenues come from the daily accumulation of dollar
bills- members want to be assured that we are good stewards.
I hope these tips are of use to those starting up new clubs. Although we were the first
pickleball club in NH, the sport has grown and new clubs are springing up rapidly.
Pickleball is a great sport and we’ll do whatever we can to promote its widespread
adoption.
The following sheets are some of the documents and forms we’ve used to grow and
operate our club. I’ve made some notes on the pages to add clarity.
Contact me if I can be of help:
Bob Welch
Litchfield Pickleball Association
http://LitchfieldPickleball.org
(603) 440-5730 (M)
Email:
mailto:welchnh@gmail.com
.
DAILY SIGNIN SHEET: MEMBERS CHECKOFF NAME AND DEPOSIT FEE IN COLLECTION BOX
LPA Membership
SignIn [Enter Day]
[Enter Date]
LastName
Abad
Baines
Bernardini
Bussiere
Bussiere
Breault
Chandronnait
Ciesluk
Croes
Demers
Demers
Denoncourt
Dutton
Duyette
Fabbo
Fabbo
Forcier
Francis
French
French
Garneau
Garvey
Giuliano
Hall
Hall
Heacox
Hubert
Joziatis
Kelly
Kneeland
Labrecque
L'Etoile
Lemay
[Circle Group]
FirstName
LastName
Lewis
Lewis
Lewis
Lowen
Lynch
Mackinnon
MacKinnon
Marchand
Martone
McNally
Messina
Morrissey
Noury
Nosal
Parker
Perham
Perham
Perry
Poulos
Ricciardi
Ricciardi
Routhier
Shepherd
Sinclair
Sutcliffe
Touzin
Welch
Wenzel
White
Yergeau
Marie Elena
Sandy
Hank
Bernie
Carol
David
Al
Krystyna
John
Roland
Sophie
Phil
Bill
Tom
Jim
Lori
Ed
Joyce
Ric
Dawn
Mike
Jim
Joe
Roger
Pam
George
Linda
Glenn
Jim
Linda
Dick
Bob
# in session
$ in session
Shortfall*
$_membership
Collector
* Shortfall = # in session - $ in session
63 members, as of
Bruce
Nancy
Gary
Steve
Phil
Ed
Keiko
Christine
Steve
Jill
Vince
Bill
Dick
Kim
Janette
Bob
Pat
Beverly
John
Patty
Phil
Maxine
Winnie
Priscilla
Annette
Diane
Bob
Jane
Jean
Don
total
Fern
Guests
G1
G2
G3
FirstName
4/19/2014
R or C ?
DAILY RECIPTS FROM SIGNIN SHEET ENTERED INTO RECEIPTS- THIS IS SELF-AUDITING
BANK RECEIPTS ARE A NEGATIVE ENTRY. INCOME CATEGORY IS NOTED FROM QUICKEN CATEGORIES
Pickleball Receipts for 2014
Date
Thursday, January 02, 2014
Friday, January 03, 2014
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Saturday, January 04, 2014
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Sunday, January 05, 2014
Monday, January 06, 2014
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Thursday, January 09, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
Friday, January 10, 2014
# of Attendees
Inside
# Guests
7
0
8
0
11
2
14
0
17
1
11
0
10
13
9
6
13
8
8
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
$19
($1)
$87
$21
$10
$7
$13
$8
$33
$0
($1)
($1)
$0
$108
$118
$125
$138
$146
$179
$0
($179)
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
9
0
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Monday, January 13, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
Friday, January 17, 2014
11
11
13
11
13
12
10
9
11
7
8
0
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
7
11
8
11
0
0
0
0
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Outdoor $ in Session $ Shortfall $ Cumulative Total
$7
$0
$7
$6
$2
$13
$13
($2)
$26
$13
$1
$39
$18
($1)
$57
$11
$0
$68
$0
$36
($2)
$36
$86
$1
$122
$11
$28
$35
$40
$62
$10
$35
$10
$7
$7
$1
$133
$161
$196
$236
$298
$308
$343
$353
$360
$367
$33
($1)
$400
$62
$8
$63
($1)
$0
($3)
$462
$470
$533
($533)
$1
$0
($2)
$0
$0
($1)
$1
$0
Comments
Recreational
Recreational
Recreational
LPA
LPA
Recreational
LPA (includes $8 t-shirt from Bill Dutton)
Recreational (+ $8 t-shirt, Dave Breault)
LPA
Recreational
LPA Morning
Recreational
LPA Evening [$25 Rec fr Bob Lemay)
Deposit to DCU ($138 session, $16 t-shirt,
$25 Recurring)
LPA Evening ($25 Wenzel)
Recreational ($25 Forcier, Sinclair, Sutcliffecash)
Recreational
LPA ($16 t-shirt Parker)
LPA ($25 from Garvey- cash)
Recreational($25 Kneeland)
LPA ($50 Carol & Bernie Bussiere)
This was a 5/8/13 missing receipt
Recreational ($25 fr Diane Touzin)
LPA
Recreational
LPA Evening
Recreational ($25 fr Hank Bernardini- cash)
LPA ($50 fr Keiko & Ed Mackinnon)
Recreational
LPA ($50 fr Don Y, Mike Garneau)
DCU ($300 Recurring fees, $16 t-shirt, $217
session)
ANNUAL CASHFLOW PLAN. THIS PROVIDES THE MODEL FOR NEXT YEAR SPENDING. REVIEWED AT YEAREND FOR ACTUAL VS. PLAN
Litchfield Pickleball Association_Budgeted Cashflow for 2013
Approved Cash Flow Plan_Final
Item
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Revenue
Residents
10
Non Residents
Session Fees
200
200
200
200
200
Misc Income
Recurring Membership Fee
0
0
0
0
0
2012 Year End Cash
553
Balance*
Total Revenue 753
200
200
210
200
Expenses
Supplies
Additional Nets
Outside Court Construction
Member Benefit
Water for Members
Training Materials
Litchfield Donation
Social Activities
Misc Expense
Total Expenses
15
15
15
25
20
250
25
20
60
60
50
360
Running Cash Balance
693
833
673
15
15
Jul
Aug
10
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Total
10
200
50
0
200
200
200
200
200
0
0
0
0
0
200
50
0
260
200
210
200
200
200
250
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
25
20
250
25
20
25
20
250
25
20
60
60
410
133
273
113
200
25
20
25
20
250
25
20
760
260
50
360
60
60
100
50
460
123
63
-37
103
253
-7
25
20
600
100
25
20
25
20
100
Assumptions
New Member Dues
Litchfield Residents
Non-Litchfield Residents
Session Fees*
Recurring Membership Fee
Misc Income
Res
NonRes
Assume
10
20
1 per session
0 NR/ Res
100 per year
Expenses
Balls & Misc Supplies
Nets
Outside Court
Player Training Materials
Donation to Litchfield RecComm
Water for Members
Social Activities: 3/ year
Member Benefit
Misc Expenses
Supplies
Nets
Outside
Training
Litchfield
Water
Social
MiscExp
15
0
200
20
600
25
100
250
50
monthly
annual
annual
monthly
annual
monthly
3/ year
4/ year
3/year
Changed from $10/ mo to $25/ mo in this revision
Notes
Assume 3 new members: 3 R.
*Sessions: assume 5 sessions/ week, 10 players/session and 4 weeks/ month. This equals $200/ month
* Year end Cash Balance = $201 from 2012 + $352 deposit on 1/2/13= $553
30
0
2400
100
0
553
3083
180
0
200
1000
300
240
600
300
150
2970
Banking Summary - 2013
1/1/2013 through 12/31/2013
4/19/2014
Page 1
Category
INCOME
Coaching Revenue
Misc Income
Non Resident Membership
Resident Membership
Session Fees
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENSES
Construct Outside Court
Donation to Litchfield Recreation Comm
Member Benefits
Monthly Raffle
Social Activities
T-Shirts for Members
TOTAL Member Benefits
Miscellaneous
Supplies
Training Materials
Water For Members
TOTAL EXPENSES
OVERALL TOTAL
1/1/201312/31/2013
55.00
235.00
70.00
90.00
3,089.00
3,539.00
527.99
600.00
695.00
311.00
354.72
1,360.72
620.36
207.93
100.00
245.03
3,662.03
-123.03
Litchfield, NH Pickleball
New Hampshire's First and Best Pickleball Club
ABOUT US
MEMBERSHIP
SCHEDULE
BREAKING NEWS
FOR MEMBERS ONLY
LINKS TO PICKLEBALL
Schedule
Search...
Edit
We play 7 days a week at
Talent Hall. The schedule
RECENT
POSTS
sometimes changes if other
events bump us. You must
have a SignUpGenius
account to sign up, but you
Click logo to sign
can view the day schedule
up
as a guest.
The schedule on the SUG page should be
accurate, but check the Breaking News tab just to
be sure – there might be a temporary schedule
change that we didn’t have time to update.
Day
Monday
Type
Competitive
Time
9AM –
Schedule
Change for
Saturdays
In or Out?
Our
Second
Tournament
Master the
Dink
Schedule
Change for
April 12th &
13th
1PM
Tuesday
Recreational
11AM –
1PM
ARCHIVES
Wednesday
Competitive
9AM –
1PM
Thursday
Recreational
9AM –
1PM
Friday
Competitive
9AM –
1PM
Friday
Recreational
1PM –
4PM
Friday
Competitive
Competitive
8:30AM –
12PM
Saturday
Recreational
12PM –
3PM
Sunday
Recreational
8:30AM –
11AM
Sunday
Competitive
11AM –
1:30PM
Pickleball Rocks - Let's Play!
CATEGORIES
Coaching
Tips
LPA News
Pickleball
News
6PM –
10PM
Saturday
April 2014
March 2014
Uncategorize
d
LPA Full Membership
LPA SIGN
UP
SHEET
This is our new sign up sheet for all scheduled playing times for both competitive and
recreational groups. This sheet always show the current day and 8 days into the future. You
can only sign up for a week at a time, but you can see the whole week on one page. Pick the
day and time that you want to play and sign up, you can sign up for multiple days and times
from this one sheet. This format should make signing up and tracking who is playing at each
session much easier.
If you have any questions or comment please let me know.
Thanks
Ric French
CREATED BY: Ric French CONTACT
Date
Location
Time
Available Slot
4/18/2014 (Fri)
Recreational
1:00PM - 4:00PM
Pickleball (12)
6 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
(2)
Jim Fabbo
lori Fabbo
Ric French
Will be there at 3pm
Dawn French
Sign Up
Competitive
6:00PM - 10:00PM
Pickleball (12)
Submit and Sign Up
3 of 12 slots filled
MAXINE
ROUTHIER
Linda Hubert
Edit
Swap
Delete
Bob Welch
Edit
Swap
Delete
Sign Up
4/19/2014 (Sat)
Competitive
8:30AM - 12:00PM
Pickleball (12)
1 of 12 slots filled
Bruce Lewis
Bruce Lew is
Sign Up
Recreational
12:00PM - 3:00PM
Pickleball (12)
11 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
(2)
Dawn French
Ric French
Jim Fabbo
lori Fabbo
Linda Kneeland
Susan Rizzo
Bill Morrissey
Al Chandronnait
Edit
Swap
Delete
©2014 SignUpGenius.
All Rights Reserv ed.
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Henry Bernardini
Sign Up
4/20/2014 (Sun)
Recreational
8:30AM - 11:00AM
Pickleball (12)
5 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
(2)
Ric French
Jim Fabbo
lori Fabbo
Sign Up
4/21/2014 (Mon)
Competitive
11:00AM - 1:30PM
Pickleball (12)
Competitive
9:00AM - 1:00PM
Pickleball (12)
Sign Up
8 of 12 slots filled
Bob Welch
Edit
Swap
Delete
Bill Dutton
Edit
Swap
Delete
Al Chandronnait
Edit
Swap
Delete
Joe Giuliano
Bob Lemay
Keiko MacKinnon
MAXINE
ROUTHIER
Linda Hubert
Edit
Swap
Delete
Sign Up
4/22/2014 (Tue)
Recreational
11:00AM - 1:00PM
Pickleball (12)
5 of 12 slots filled
Dawn French
Ric French
Bob & Pat Perham
Pat only
Winnie & Phil
Lynch
Dick Labrecque
Sign Up
4/23/2014 (Wed)
Competitive
9:00AM - 1:00PM
Pickleball (12)
6 of 12 slots filled
MAXINE
ROUTHIER
John Croes
Linda Hubert
Edit
Swap
Delete
Bob Welch
Edit
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Delete
Bob Welch
Edit
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Delete
Joe Giuliano
Sign Up
4/24/2014 (Thu)
Recreational
9:00AM - 1:00PM
Pickleball (12)
2 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
Pat only
Gerry Vagos
Sign Up
4/25/2014 (Fri)
Competitive
9:00AM - 1:00PM
Pickleball (12)
3 of 12 slots filled
linda hurbert
linda hurbert
Bob Welch
Edit
Swap
Delete
maxine routhier
Sign Up
Recreational
1:00PM - 4:00PM
Pickleball (12)
1 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
Pat only
Sign Up
4/26/2014 (Sat)
Competitive
6:00PM - 10:00PM
Pickleball (12)
Recreational
1:00PM - 3:00PM
Pickleball (12)
Sign Up
2 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
(2)
Sign Up
4/27/2014 (Sun)
Competitive
3:00PM - 5:45PM
Pickleball (12)
Recreational
9:00AM - 12:00PM
Pickleball (12)
Sign Up
2 of 12 slots filled
Bob & Pat Perham
(2)
Sign Up