Contents
Most clubs’ price lists grew one category at a time, each added when somebody asked. The result is a list nobody on the committee can explain. Start again from two questions: what does the club cost to run, and who are you trying to keep?
Start from what the club costs to run
Add up a year’s running costs: the courts, the lights, the clubhouse, insurance, your governing body’s affiliation fee, and a sum set aside every year towards resurfacing. Leave coaching out if your coach runs it as their own business.
Then estimate how many adult members you will have, counting each junior as about a quarter of an adult. The running costs divided by that number is the adult rate that pays its way. Court fees, events and sponsorship then pay for improvements rather than for keeping the lights on.
The membership categories most clubs need
Price every other category against the adult rate. A list built that way makes sense at a glance, and moves together when the adult rate does.
| Category | Who it is for | Against the adult rate |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | 18 and over, or 26 and over with a young adult rate | The full rate |
| Young adult | 18 to 25 | About two thirds |
| Student | In full-time education | About half |
| Junior | Under 18 | A quarter to a third |
| Family | Two adults and their children under 18 | At most about twice the adult rate |
| Off-peak | Plays on weekdays before 5pm | About two thirds |
| Social | Comes to events but does not play | A small fee |
These are a common starting point, not a rule. Move them to suit your members, and keep the list short enough to read on a phone.
Family membership
A family membership pays for itself in the members it keeps. Without one, a family of four pays for four memberships and usually decides one of them is enough.
Write down who counts: two adults living at the same address and their children under 18 is usual. Cap the price, at about twice the adult rate, so a third or fourth child costs nothing more.
Off-peak and daytime members
Retired members, shift workers and parents of young children play when the courts are quiet. An off-peak category asks less of them and fills courts that would otherwise sit empty. The rule is simple: courts booked on weekdays before 5pm.
First-year and returning members
A joining fee is the first thing a newcomer sees, and many clubs have dropped theirs. A first-year rate does more: a reduced price for a member’s first year, to try the club before paying in full. A returning rate does the same for a member who left and wants to come back.
Somebody joining part way through the year pays for the months left. How to collect club subs on time has the sum.
If your club is a CASC
A Community Amateur Sports Club has to stay open to the whole community. HMRC’s guidance sets a level of fees above which the club must show that cost is not a barrier, usually with concessions or a way to pay in instalments. Check the current figure in HMRC’s guidance before you set the adult rate.
The price list decides who joins.
A price list members can read
Put the whole list on one page, with the monthly price beside the yearly one wherever members can pay monthly. Change the words in brackets:
[Club name] membership for the year from [date]
- Adult (26 and over): [amount] a year, or [amount] a month
- Young adult (18 to 25): [amount] a year, or [amount] a month
- Student (in full-time education): [amount] a year
- Junior (under 18): [amount] a year
- Family (two adults and their children under 18): [amount] a year, or [amount] a month
- Off-peak (weekdays before 5pm): [amount] a year
- Social (events, no court time): [amount] a year
Joining part way through the year? You pay for the months left.
Review it once a year
Before renewals, look at who joined and who left in each category. A category with nobody in it can go. A category where members keep leaving may be priced wrong, or may be missing something they need.
Filed under Membership and money · Every sport