The best club software for club management compared

Club Software Definition: What is Club Software?

Club software primarily focuses on non-profit organizations, such as small to medium-sized sports clubs, parent associations, and other predominantly non-profit groups. However, it can also be used in the context of membership-based businesses, such as gyms or yoga clubs. For such and similar associations or companies, club programs offer different functions. These help managers with administration, but can also be used by members in some cases.

Club management software mainly supports organizational staff in carrying out their daily tasks. These include planning events, collecting membership fees (club treasury software, sometimes also tax software for clubs integrated) and communicating with club members. Club programs are, in a way, accounting software for clubs.

Members can access the tool via a mobile club software app or a member portal. They then get the opportunity to make direct payments, register for an event, or communicate with other members.

Club managers store member information within a club database to easily access contact information, payment behavior, and membership histories, etc. Therefore, club software is often referred to as member management programs.

Why should club management software be used?

Managing clubs can be a complicated matter. The more members that need to be kept track of, the more effort it takes to collect membership fees, disseminate important information, plan events, communicate with club members, and complete other important to-dos. Even smaller clubs or other non-profit organizations or profit-oriented membership businesses hardly manage all management tasks without technical support. If they do, the corresponding processes are very time-consuming and, last but not least, relatively prone to error.

The specific member management is an essential part of the work of any association. This is often also where the most work is. Therefore, many solutions for club management dedicate a large part of their functions to exactly these management tasks. It is necessary to always keep important data, such as contact information, bank details, payment behavior, and/or membership status, up to date and generally in view. If there are deficits in this area, payments are not made, members are not invited to important events, or they may even completely disappear in various data silos.

With a suitably selected club program, such and other typical difficulties are no longer an issue. In general, the vast amount of work done by club managers can be done in a fraction of the usual time. This leaves more room for personal affairs, strategic tasks, and other important activities that cannot be supported by software.

For a member company, such as a gym, corresponding functions can be of invaluable worth. They can actually control large parts of their business via club software - all-in-one. On top of this, these companies get relatively extensive analytics with some solutions. There is then the chance to track important metrics and see where potential lies and where improvements should perhaps be made.

Not to be forgotten are the club members: For them, it can or should be much easier to interact with their club or gym through such software, quickly receive important information, and update their data as needed or at their own discretion.

Mobile apps for club management make it possible to use the tools on the go. This is especially advantageous if the organization is not a central association with a fixed point of contact. Today's club programs are mostly hosted online, so they can generally be used flexibly from various locations.

How does a club management program work?

The functionality of club software depends entirely on its provision principle. If club management is done online, those responsible usually access the program via a browser or a special app. On-premise systems are installed on one or more computers and can then only be used with these.

The solutions usually include various tools. How club software works in practice is, of course, closely linked to the integrated tools. The following components and related processes are typical here.

Member Management Program for Clubs Member management for clubs forms the core function of many club software solutions. This enables those responsible to manage all members within a specific database.

Registered are names, addresses, contact information, and other important information. The data storage facilitates an overview of the total number of members and reveals, among other things, which members have outstanding payments or what functions they occupy. Many club programs also allow external data to be organized, such as information about event locations, partner companies, parent associations, etc.

But not only the club managers, but also the active members can access the database. Using sorting, filtering, and/or search functions, they can always find the appropriate contact persons, get the chance to adjust their data, or can check their status for registration for certain events.

Club Accounting Many provider companies integrate club accounting into the software. Thus, the management of finances as well as contributions and other accounting tasks can be done in one place.

Digital cash books and various other accounting features are available for this, to organise contribution payments and expenses or to create invoices and reminders. Payment requests can sometimes be sent directly by e-mail.

Through an online banking interface to the club's account, cash flows can be tracked automatically. Even the VAT advance notification and/or connections to DATEV and Elster are possible.

Calendar Club software often acts as a digital calendar. Through this, those responsible can plan events and share corresponding dates with the members.

The latter sometimes get the chance to register directly for the events via the club's software. Through this simplification, the registration numbers can be significantly increased: everything is convenient via smartphone and appointments no longer fall by the wayside. Members can inform themselves in the long term.

Communication Communication is an essential part of all kinds of clubs. That is why many digital tools for club and member management have appropriate tools on board. Club members need to be kept up to date about important developments via an email newsletter, for example. A platform or forum can allow all participants to interact. Moreover, even postal mailings can be initiated via such an application - for example, for official payment reminders.

What are the pros and cons of club software?

Many advantages that clubs can derive from administering through software have already been highlighted. What follows is a summary of the central benefits. In addition to numerous advantages, however, there are also disadvantages, as will also be shown.

• Saves time for non-automatable to-dos: The greatest advantage of using club software is that those responsible have more time and energy for personal contacts, strategic considerations, and other tasks that cannot be supported by software. By massively facilitating recurring minor tasks, administrative staff, who in not a few clubs are also board members, can pay more attention to important decision-making issues.

• Professional processes: Developer companies of club software generally know exactly what work is required in organizations and how this can be optimally supported digitally. They link their solutions with the corresponding business knowledge. The latter is practically transferred to the club managers via a software for member management or within the tools integrated there and their working methods. Thus, they ultimately perhaps benefit from many knowledge and experiences that they previously lacked.

• Increased efficiency: Another advantage of club manager software (which basically affects every part of the area of effect of such tools) is that it brings more comfort, time saving, and ultimately efficiency. The mere fact that when using it, very many of the central processes in the respective organization and equally important data converge in one place, means an enormous efficiency push. Classically, there are several digital and analogue silos here, the management of which is of course very elaborate.

After the all-encompassing advantages of club software, we now come to the (possible) disadvantages.

• Cost: Club software can indeed cause considerable costs. Especially when it comes to larger associations or the management of many members, a decent monthly or annual sum quickly comes together. In this context, it must be ensured that the expenditure for the club program does not exceed its benefit.

• Loss of personality: Classic club work is largely done on a personal level. Those responsible share dates at assemblies or face-to-face, come to future members' homes directly for registering for a club, or even collect fees at the front door. All these and other to-dos can be done digitally and automatically with club software. Even conversations are to be conducted via these solutions. Thus, a good deal of personality may soon be lost on the track.

• Data protection: Of course, it is always important in even the smallest of clubs to collect various data from members, store it in the long term, and use it at a given time for mailings, requests, or event participation. Whether this is done via a sheet of paper in a folder or via club management software - the applicable data protection laws must always be complied with. However, when using software, those responsible often do not have full control over stored information. These are, if the club software is hosted online or if it is club software in the cloud, usually with the respective provider. Therefore, those interested should pay close attention when choosing a solution that the provider company works in accordance with the GDPR.

Finding the best club software: How to choose the right club program?

In view of the wide range of club software available on today's market, the search for a suitable solution can prove difficult. For a potentially more viable approach, those interested should take the following factors into account.

The users of the club administration app or the software Club administration applications can have various user groups. On the one hand there are the administrative managers. They should definitely be involved in the selection process of a corresponding solution. On the other hand, many club programs are also used by members. For both sides, it is important to determine what the people expect from the application.

All features associated with these expectations that the market offers are to be weighted in terms of their sensibleness for the organization, and then either selected or omitted. After these considerations, you have a more restricted set of options.

Such an initial restriction of the options is important not least because it depends on the functional scope how expensive a club software will get. This applies in particular to the question of usability: i.e., whether members should also be able to perceive certain features or whether it should be a pure administration solution?

The consideration of functions Those responsible should think carefully about which functions the new member management system absolutely must have. But how ideally to approach this task? First of all, it makes sense to look at what problems administrative staff and/or members currently - i.e., without software - encounter most frequently and how these can be solved with program support. Considering the costs, it is important to weigh up where more flexibility is possible and which elements are non-negotiable.

Regardless of the final requirements of the organization, there are some functions that practically always have increased relevance. These are specific management tools for member data, a calendar, and tools for accounting. Furthermore, it is advisable to at least consider the following features:

• Website tools or CMS
• Email marketing
• Advanced event planning
• Analytics and reporting

The experience and reliability of the provider company It is important to check the competencies of the individual software providers in the area of your own organization. Are there cooperations with other clubs in our field? Interested parties should ensure that the company understands their business and their specific requirements. If renowned organizations with a similar orientation resort to the solution, this is a good sign.

In general, it should be looked at how long the developer company has been in business. A multi-year existence is a good indication that the company is healthy and stable and can meet the needs of its customers also in the future. Of course, this does not mean that one should generally keep away from start-ups. The overall impression must be convincing.

Data security Data protection is always an urgent issue in connection with club software. Because such applications usually store a lot of personal information and allow this to be processed in different ways.

If losses occur due to a lack of security precautions or if the provider company does not handle sensitive data in compliance with the GDPR in another form, this can lead to serious difficulties for clubs.

Therefore, those responsible should closely inspect the prospective solution for its data protection provisions. It is also important in this context to clarify whether a complete control over the information and access to it can always be guaranteed.

What do club programs cost?

The cost of software for club administration is primarily based on the number of members to be organized. The more personal data and club processes need to be controlled and the more features are integrated (for more members, a larger range of functions is usually useful), the more expensive the solution will be.

It is helpful to look at not so much the total price, but more the cost per member. In the above club software comparison, the top tools cost between about three and 17 cents per member. These values provide a good starting point for your own closer club administration comparison.

Some of the best club software is also available for free for small clubs. Those who want to use club software for free, however, usually have to accept functional restrictions. For example, often no more in-depth accounting, communication, and analytics features are included in freeware for club administration. Furthermore, club administration software can usually be used free of charge only up to a certain number of members.