2020 AGM 2020 Vision
SDSC : 2020 Vision A clear view of the Club's future.
August 2020. Author: Phil Dickinson, Club Development Officer.
Note to members in advance of 2020 AGM.
It's been nearly 2 years since I started working for SDSC, and what an interesting time it's been! I started to come to the club at weekends only from the end of September 2018, trying to quickly understand a few things about what the club needed before proposing an outline development plan for the club. Then last year, in my first full season, we delivered all except a couple of the aims of the plan, whilst dealing with a break in and the loss of some high value club assets, as well as interruption of our scheduled activity (the remaining aims of the development plan have since been met). This year, we've started off going straight into a global pandemic, and despite working within very restrictive rules and guidance, we are managing to get things going again. The positive response from members has been overwhelming, and measures taken to allow increased usage of club kit outside of 'opening times' appear to have been well received.
So, what's next, and are we a healthy club? Well, going backwards to go forwards, 2016 saw the club's lowest membership numbers for a long time. It then followed that the 2017-18 and 2018-19 years experienced losses of nearly £14k and £10k respectively, eating into the clubs reserve finances. 2019-20 (my first proper year) saw a small surplus despite the break-in, with extra income coming from increased membership numbers and training courses, although the insurance payout was a significant input here. This year, despite losses of income and memberships, it's looking like our control measures are going to minimise our losses and even perhaps leave us with a small surplus. On the one hand, this is great news, as it means we've taken control of the losses we'd been experiencing in the previous years and starting to become healthy again. On the other hand, this is nowhere near enough to be able to start on any of the improvement works that the club is going to need to keep up with the times and members' expectations. A complete refurbishment of the downstairs will see improved changing and shower facilities brough into the 21st century, as well as better utilisation of space to provide additional storage for the continually growing amount of equipment that the club is making available for members. The balcony railings have had some remedial work which has exposed rusting metalwork which at some point will all need replacing. The pontoon is going to need re-decking and some replacement floats. Following all this, the kitchen and bar then need to be brought up to date, etc etc. Grants are available to help with these things, but at best a grant usually would pay for up to 50% of the costs of this kind of facilities improvement project. Initial plans for a refurbishment of the downstairs of the clubhouse were shown at last year's dinner dance. This sort of refurb is likely to cost the club around £100k. To make it happen, we're still looking for at least half of that from club funds, and we would plan the work in phases to minimise disruption to the club use and to maintain cash flow.
The club is a not-for-profit organisation, such that any surplus is re-invested in the club, even if it isn't within the same year. So far, the club has been eating into its' reserve funds and has spent little on improvement projects for a long time. Now, it is important that we start planning to properly address the needs of the members, improving the facilities to bring them up to date. If we do nothing, then we fall further into the past. There are several things we are doing to address this. Firstly, we are continually growing membership numbers. The more members, the greater the membership income, more friends to make, better socials, and the less duties needed per member. Since the club's lowest member numbers for a while in 2016, last year we hit the highest number of memberships for the same period (I have figures back to 2007). Membership growth can be limited by our ability to support new members into the club, eg by our ability to deliver the required amount of training courses for people.
Secondly, we are developing other income streams. There is a real demand for people hiring boats and boards to get onto the water whilst they're in the area on holiday although this needs to be carefully balanced against members needs to use the same equipment. It's important to note that these additional income streams will provide additional services to members; for example, we are currently looking into the feasibility to hire extra staff to support an increased kit hire operation next year, the costs of which will be met by the income generated, whilst also providing extra staff time to help club members to get kit onto the water and increase the club opening hours.
Thirdly, we need to review the membership fees, as our main 'bread and butter' income for the club. Looking at what the club offers, I personally feel that the club offers great value for money, and members have said the same, which was supported by last year's satisfaction survey. Whilst it's difficult to compare ourselves with other clubs on a like-for-like basis, we do have a lot on (normally!) compared with some clubs which don't even provide regular safety cover. Some clubs charge significantly more, without much promise of regular activity. We need to strike a better balance by increasing the membership fees to meet the longer-term development needs of the club. In 2019, Ian Holden (Honorary Treasurer) proposed prior to the AGM that we need to be increasing the membership fees by 10% a year for several years. I'm proposing an alternative, that will be little different for current members we increase the membership fees for 2021 more substantially, but also increase the renewal discount for one year only. So, for the 2021-22 year, fees would be increased by 25%, however members would receive an increased 17.5%* discount from these fees if you renew on time as normal. The following year, the early bird renewal discount reverts to the usual 10%. So as a member you're not seeing much difference to what was planned anyway. The difference for us as a club, is that new members will be joining on the basis of the new membership rates, so the expected membership income is significantly increased for the next couple of years without penalising loyal/renewing members. After agreement of the proposed new fees, there won't be any substantial increases fee increases for the years that follow would be planned around staying in line with inflation. I entirely appreciate that this is a bit of an ask considering some people will be facing financial difficulties after this pandemic all I'm suggesting is a slightly different approach to what we knew the club needed prior to it all breaking out.
Full Members have a vote to cast either way on this at September's AGM. By voting to agree the fee increase, and the one-off increased renewal discount for next year, you'll put the club into a position where it has a better known and more secure future, where we can plan to move forwards at least as fast as the times. We have worked hard to stabilise the club from going into financial difficulty having stopped going backwards, now it's time to start moving forwards.
* This rather odd discount will make the renewing members fees rise by ~13% over each of the next 2 years.