Croydon Harriers – Admin Down 70%, Income Up £3,000

Croydon Harriers

Croydon Harriers have a very rich Club history. Establishing themselves during the 1920's as the only Athletics Club in Croydon, they soon found a loyal membership by providing fun activities such as their infamous 'Sunday Morning Stroll'. The Club now focuses on more competitive athletics, however, and have helped rear British Olympians such as Martyn Rooney and James Dasaolu.
Here at LoveAdmin, we do the job you hate – and we do it well. That's why Croydon Harriers came to us when their admin became too much for one person to manage. Stating that they wanted a membership system that would allow them to efficiently manage their Members’ information and keep on top of subscription payments, we said we could help them, having solved people's admin woes for many years. Since using LoveAdmin, they've streamlined their Member administration, increased membership income and improved safeguards with their ability to share information between Club Officials securely online.

The Challenge

With their previous, labour intensive system, many Members were getting away without paying their subs – something the Club could no longer afford. On top of this, Coaches were relied upon to relay Club communications in antiquated ways. For example, the Membership Secretary used to carry a large box full of A4 envelopes filled with membership renewal forms and other inserts which they would then hand out one-by-one at training sessions! Forms and payments were then handed over to the membership secretary who then typed the information into a spreadsheet, cross-checked renewal forms with last year's spreadsheet and reconciled payments manually.
Croydon Harriers realised their old systems and processes were inadequate and identified key areas for improvement.
They were using Excel to manage their Members’ information which meant that each time a Club Official needed to access the latest membership information, it would need to be requested from the membership secretary and emailed out. By using disparate tools like spreadsheets and paper renewal forms, safeguarding Members’ information could easily be compromised – something you do not want due to the GDPR.

The Solution

Croydon Harriers wanted a system that would modernise and improve the way they managed their membership.

Key to their choice was the need to improve access to information, reduce renewal administration time and increase payment collection rates.

Fortunately, LoveAdmin's software provides Members with their own online account where they can keep vital information like medical conditions, declarations and emergency contact information up-to-­date so there's no longer a tedious task of cross-checking renewal forms against last year's spreadsheet. If a Member does make a change, however, the system notifies the relevant Coaches and Administrators, improving the safeguards for the Members and the Club. This 'self-service' process not only helps Croydon Harriers reduce their admin, but it also provides Members with a more convenient way to pay, making prompt payment more likely. Oh, and of course, no more boxes of envelopes handed out at training!

LoveAdmin's 'real time' payment reports have helped Administrators keep track of every penny paid and owed, and as payments come in, the system reconciles the payment automatically saving hours of admin. Because payments are all done online too, this also eliminates lunchtime trips to the bank.

When it comes to keeping on top of debtors, they can quickly see who is outstanding and send reminders direct from the payment reports. Now no-one falls off the payment radar.

The Result

Croydon Harriers have seen incredible results since switching their membership management to LoveAdmin. In their first season of using the software they have increased their payment collection by 25% (meaning £3,000 a year more money for the Club to invest in its Members) and collect payments 3 times faster than previously. If that isn't something to celebrate, we don't know what is!

“LoveAdmin makes us look more professional. It saves us so much time and actually makes it an enjoyable experience in managing the membership as well as improving communication to our members._”

When we say we Love Admin, we aren't lying – we really do, and we've built a system that's really good at it too. If you want to revolutionise the way your Club runs like Croydon Harriers did, don't hesitate to get in touch with us today – we can't wait to hear from you.

“LoveAdmin is becoming more and more powerful; far more than just a membership database. Apart from the system, the staff are excellent in listening to feedback and provide immediate support when required. This is proof in itself that the system and support can be relied on and is worth the time investing in this for your club/organisation.”