British Taekwondo Guide - Setting up a New Taekwondo Club

British Taekwondo Guide - Setting up a new Taekwondo club

Expanding your Taekwondo Club

2014

BRITISH TAEKWONDO®

© British Taekwondo®, 2014

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(1)  Introduction

A club can, and does, offer a real asset to the local community and if you want to expand your current club to grow your membership you may need to think a little differently. Whether you want to attract more young people or encourage adults to adopt a healthy and active lifestyle, proving that your club can offer much more to the community than just a competitive angle may be a challenge.

This guide will give you some practical steps and ideas that you can put in place. Either from a position where you may be struggling for Taekwondo players to provide teams for competitive events, to diversifying your offer to the community and developing new opportunities be that competitive or recreationally.

The most important aspect to remember is that help is close by at hand, in most cases you will find back-up and support within British Taekwondo and your community networks.

(2)  Different ways to expand the club

There are different ways in which you can expand your club including:

·  delivering more classes within the same session by sub-dividing the group

·  delivering specific sessions for females, children, people with disabilities

·  delivering sessions from a different venue

·  delivering more sessions at another time

(3)  How to expand the club

(a)  You may have a number of personal reasons for wanting to expand your club and these may include:

·  wanting to pass on your knowledge and experience to more people

·  being encouraged by your current instructor to run your own class

·  making extra money, or even making a living, out of running extra classes

·  having key contacts to expand the club

(b)  If there are other sports, or Taekwondo, clubs in your local area ask yourself:

·  Why do you want to set up a new Taekwondo class?

·  Do you have a different ‘offer’ to the other clubs?

·  Do you want to attract a different group of people to your class than other clubs? For example women and girls; members of the BME community; sessions for people with disabilities and impairments.

(c)  British Taekwondo offers guidance regarding expanding the club in your local community where another British Taekwondo club exists. The key thing to remember is that you should not set up a new class or club with the sole purpose of taking members away from another British Taekwondo club.

(4)  Where do you want to set up your new venue?

(a)  If you are thinking of expanding the club to a new venue, consider where you would like to run the new class. Here are some considerations to take into account before you hurry off and hire a hall, buy a building or lease a property:

·  What will be the catchment area?

·  What type of people live, travel to, go to school or work in that area?

·  Are these people the type you want to attract to your new class?

·  What is the area like during the daytime and at night time – is it safe?

·  Will signage be required?

·  Is it accessible by public transport or will you be relying on people getting to you by car?

(5)  What type of club structure do you want?

(a)  Many Taekwondo clubs are started by a single instructor who operates as a sole trader. By that we mean that you own and control the business, take all of the decisions, responsibility and profits from class(es), session(s) and club(s) you run. In practical terms, it means that you collects money from your students and makes payments on their behalf for room hire/rent/mortgage, equipment, wages, BT affiliation, competitions, etc., etc..

(b)  Being a sole trader has its advantages and its disadvantages, but generally it is accepted that it's a reasonable place to start.

Advantages / Disadvantages
You have full control over the business for daily operations as well as how large you wish to grow it. It's easy to set yourself up, simply inform the Inland Revenue you are self employed within 3 months of starting the business / You are the owner of the business and could be held solely liable for any consequences of business failure which is not insurable under British Taekwondo's insurance policies.
You could also be held solely liable for any consequences giving advice/instruction/coaching to a customer/member which resulted in personal injury or property damage. British Taekwondo provides professional indemnity and public liability insurance as part of the annual instructor package to indemnify and protect you against such eventualities.
Members, including instructors, are covered for personal accident and public liability insurance under the insurance policy provided as part of the benefits included in membership of British Taekwondo.
British Taekwondo insurance policies do not cover any financial losses, medical or dental bills of any description, theft of property, travel insurance and damage to property outside the hired area.
You don't have to complete many of the forms and accounting information that limited companies need to produce although accounts should be developed when preparing for your annual self assessment tax return where you declare your annual profits and tax liability. / You have unlimited personal liability rather than the liability forming against a company and their directors. If the business can't pay creditors you may have to sell your own personal assets to meet your demands (such as your house).
As there are no staff on hand the owner also takes all of the profits made by the business and all financial information is kept private (whereas limited companies need to file accounts each year at companies house). You don't need to register a company either and can be known as almost anything and most people have businesses that are "trading as". / It may also be quite difficult to get larger contracts, not only because large corporations have many staff that can work on tenders and offers but because most organisations won't work with a business that only has a staff of one. It can also be time consuming following up on tenders that ultimately don't come to fruition.
Decision-making is also fast as it's just you who decides where the business is heading and whether or not to undertake any work and where and when you will work.
You can build up a closer relationship to your customers and offer a more personalised approach and improved customer service. / You may also need to think about what would happen if you, as the business owner, were to become sick or had an accident so you couldn't work. Although critical illness insurance is available sometimes it doesn't start to pay until after one month and it is unlikely to be at the levels of profits the business is making but it is certainly worth considering.
Accountants generally charge less for company accounts and advice because there is less work to undertake. You just need to complete a profit and loss account rather than a balance sheet and cash flow (although it's worth preparing these last 2 on a regular basis to manage your business) / It is unlikely, at this stage, that you will have any ‘club’ rules in place, so you will have to manage a range of tasks which can limit the possibility of raising funds, applying for grants or attracting sponsorship. Also, some grants involving public money are not given to sole traders.

(c)  Don't forget that as a sole trader you still need to account for all of the income, expenses and profits for any income tax and national insurance liabilities on a yearly basis. Rules relating to VAT still apply if the turnover of the business exceeds the limit set by HMRC.

(d)  Now that the club is starting to develop, choosing a different type of club structure might suit your needs better. However it's a choice that shouldn't be taken lightly. Here are some options available to you, if you would like more information about the advantages and disadvantages of each type, please speak to a member of British Taekwondo’s Development Team and seek professional legal advice to ensure that the choice you make today suits your personal needs and allows you to grow and develop in the future. N.B. the following information was correct at March 2014.

Unincorporated organisation / A group of people who form a members club that is bound by a set of rules or a constitution. Normally run by a committee and it is they who will enter into contracts or hold land on behalf of the club
Company limited by guarantee / Owned by its members but has a separate legal identity. If the company becomes insolvent, members are not liable for the company's debts (beyond an identified amount, usually £1), unless they have broken company law
Community Interest Company / This is a company limited by guarantee, but has additional features including a community interest test, an asset lock and a cap on dividends. It emphasises public benefit over private profit. It must identify the community which will benefit from any profits
Industrial and Provident Societies (IPS) / An organisation registered with the Financial Services Authority that conducts an industry, business or trade. It can either be a cooperative, run for the benefit of its members, or a community benefit society, which is run for the benefit of the wider community
Charity / A voluntary organisation set up for charitable, social, philanthropic or other purposes. It is required to use any profit or surplus only for the organisation's purposes, and it is not a part of any governing department, LA or other statutory body. All the purposes of the organisation must be charitable and comply with a legally defined list
Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) / The club must have the provision of facilities and the promotion of one of 113 eligible sports as its main purpose to qualify. It must be open to anyone, and it must be amateur, which means its players cannot be paid a wage and all the profits are reinvested back into the club
Social enterprise / A not-for-private-profit business, rather than a legal structure in its own right. This means that to qualify, a business might take a variety of forms (e.g. company limited by guarantee, CIC). What is important is that any profits go straight back into fulfilling its aims (e.g. providing sports facilities for people on low incomes). No profit can be paid to individual shareholders. The way in which it is structured should enable service users, members and the wider community to have a say in how it is run

(6)  Who is going to run the new class?

(a)  As you know, there is a lot of work involved in running a club including collecting money, paying rents, negotiating contracts, organising trips to competitions, selecting players, liaising with the local community networks, marketing and communications. Even if you have all of these skills it is unlikely that you can be in two places at once so you need to think about the people who you can call upon to help you. Also, what will happen if you are taken ill, or want to go on holiday? If the classes have to close during those times it can be difficult to attract your audience back. It is easier to keep your existing customers than it is to find new ones!

(b)  In order to operate effectively you may need to consider asking friends, colleagues or family for some help. Here is what we consider as being essential:

·  At least two of you need to handle the paperwork, money and phone calls.

·  Someone with the time and ability to raise cash every year.

·  Someone to be responsible for welfare and safeguarding, especially if you are going to have members under the age of 18.

·  At least two of you needed to cover classes in times of illness, other work commitments and holidays.

Some of the above administrative type roles can be done by the same people for both classes, however instructors roles clearly need to be deployed at the same time if your classes are taking place on the same day!

(7)  How do I recruit people to help run the club?

(a)  British Taekwondo can help you to identify the roles that you want to fill and provide you with some templates that give you some ideas of the tasks that could be undertaken, suggestions about paying expenses and providing 'on-the-job' training. Then you need to find the people with the right skills to fill them! Ask a member of the Development Team for more information about setting up a club committee and role outlines.

(b)  When you have decided the type of people you want to recruit, you have a number of options on where to find them:

·  Volunteer Centres and online volunteer bureaus will help you to match your vacancy with local professional people who want to ‘give something back’.

·  Ask colleagues, friends and family to give you some support while you get your club up and running.

·  Host an 'open day' to give people in the area a taste of Taekwondo and use the day to recruit some volunteers.

·  Once you have some students, undertake a ‘parent audit’ to find out what skills your current/future parents and grandparents have. Then approach individuals and ask them for some help.