[Case study] Membership, accounting, communications: how do you manage your association?

It's vital to simplify and optimise the management of your association. Communication, accounting, membership, cash flow... the various modules of an organisation can be difficult to manage, especially as the association grows.

AssoConnect is the solution. This all-in-one web platform lets you manage your association entirely online, with no need for technical skills.

Used by more than 50,000 association managers, it represents a real performance driver for associations. Here's a closer look at 3 case studies that have considerably improved the management of their associations by using AssoConnect.

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1 - Club Iris Hockey Lambersart centralises and organises memberships

Presentation of the association

Founded in 1941, Club Iris Hockey Lambersart now has over 450 members. It's a dynamic club that has developed around values such as conviviality, friendship, family and tolerance.

Over the years, the club has expanded to include new teams such as wheelchair hockey and the women's team.

Membership, a headache every time the sports season gets underway

Before the switch to AssoConnect, the membership period was a dreaded moment every year for Sandrine Louis, the club's employee.

She was in charge of registering all the members on file. Hundreds of registration forms had to be entered manually, late members had to be identified, cheques and other cash payments had to be recorded, and so on.

Sportsmen and women couldn't sign up online, nor could they pay by credit card. I managed the registration forms and various means of payment, cheques and cash, by hand. I had to make a lot of reminders before collecting all the subscriptions.

The meeting with AssoConnect was arranged by the region's president. A survey of club needs carried out in 2018 highlighted the need for the club to help Sandrine with membership management.

It was therefore decided to test the AssoConnect association management software.

The switch to AssoConnect

The transition to AssoConnect was simple and efficient. The software features a function that allows club files to be imported directly from the platform into a centralised database.

From her AssoConnect platform, Sandrine created a website for her hockey club and completely redesigned her membership system.

For the transition, we imported our members directly into AssoConnect. This year, more than 200 sportsmen and women used the website for their membership, which means that I didn't have to collect and enter registration forms manually in Excel. And more than half of them paid by credit card: that's more than 100 cheques I didn't have to manage!

Result: less manual management, and a lot of time saved

• Online registrations are automatically recorded in the software, so Sandrine doesn't have to do anything special.
• For members who don't want to use the internet, Sandrine can collect the registration forms and transfer them to her platform.
• What's more, the AssoConnect software makes it easy to keep track of members.

This customisable function gives administrators an overview of the information collected on members. In the case of Club Iris Hockey Lambersart, this feature indicates which course the member is taking or whether the required parental authorisation has been provided.

For Sandrine, the switch to AssoConnect has meant a lighter workload, with around a hundred fewer cheques to manage in the first year, and more time to devote to higher added-value tasks.

A national partnership after the local partnership

It is thanks to this positive impact on the club that AssoConnect and the Hauts-de-France Hockey League have developed a partnership for 2019.

This successful cooperation paved the way for a partnership between the French Hockey Federation and AssoConnect. Now, like Sandrine, all clubs affiliated to the FFHockey can enjoy the benefits of AssoConnect at a reduced price.

2 - Boxe Académie simplifies its association accounting management

Presentation of the association

Created in September 2019, the association aims to promote sport and culture through boxing. As an association under the French law of 1901, La Boxe Académie has been able to demonstrate, despite the health crisis, its values of sharing and cohesion by allowing its participants to practice boxing even during the period of outdoor confinement.

But the organisation of the association was becoming increasingly difficult for the volunteers. The organisation was divided into 3 distinct modules:

• communication, website and emailing,
• membership linked to the website with online membership,
• accounting.

Initial problem

The company was faced with a number of organisational difficulties, particularly in terms of cash flow. The chairman wanted the treasurer to concentrate on his added value, i.e. applying for grants and optimising the association's cash flow, without necessarily calling on the services of an accounting assistant.

The solution: AssoConnect

The association turned to AssoConnect. The software, equipped with a complete and effective accounting module, has considerably improved the association's organisation on a number of points:

• Invoice management has been optimised: purchases, services provided by various suppliers, etc. Invoices can be customised to reflect the association's image (logo, wording, etc.),
• cash management has been greatly simplified : everyone has access to invoice creation, the treasurer no longer has to wait 6 months to manage all the invoices, he can access them at any time and in real time,
• general coordination is much improved: as the association is based on a collegiate organisation, decisions are taken by all members. The accounting module has strengthened this cohesion by providing access to data for all participants.

With AssoConnect, all the treasurer has to do is run a check to make sure that the invoice corresponds to the right account in the accounting records - organisation is considerably improved!

Short, medium and long-term results

In addition to the improvements in accounting organisation, the results of using AssoConnect are relevant:

• considerable collective time saving
• around ten hours of useless exchanges avoided, as everyone can now enter and access the information they want,
• better visibility of the association's activities, enabling decisions to be made on the basis of reliable data.

I can't wait for the accounting module to be used on the membership system at the start of the new school year!

3 - Rugby Club Thonon Chablais adapts its email communication in Covid time

Presentation of the association

Founded 100 years ago, Rugby Club Thonon Chablais Leman has been through many adventures. Opened in 1922, then mothballed during the Second World War, the club was finally revived in 1947. It offers its players an ideal setting in which to share their passion for the oval ball. Christian has been following the club for several years.

Before AssoConnect, the club's communications were poorly adapted to its different audiences

Christian was very involved in the club, first as a parent and supporter, before becoming president before stepping down and taking on the role of treasurer in 2017.

When he took up his post, the details of the 350 members were stored on Excel files. Unfortunately, this organisation is not sufficient to keep in touch with all the members and people involved in the club.

Members are only part of our community. We have between 120 and 140 sponsors, not counting friends of the club! So we need to communicate with them too, because they're essential.

Communication with sponsors is essential and fosters trust between the two parties. A breakdown in communication would put an end to this mutual trust and lead to an inevitable drop in funding.

Communication takes on a whole new dimension with AssoConnect

When Christian was looking for a tool to improve the situation, he quickly discovered AssoConnect and took the plunge.

It was a smooth transition: he easily imported his data from his Excel spreadsheets into the software and programmed a daily email campaign.

This communication enabled the club to distribute news of matches and other events to as many people as possible in a very short space of time.

What's more, AssoConnect's Emailing module enables the campaign to be tailored to target certain members according to criteria such as the category to which they belong or the team concerned.

AssoConnect's Emailing module enables us to keep in touch with our various audiences, and that's essential!

An unexpected slowdown with Covid-19

The health crisis brought the club's activities to a halt in March 2020. With matches cancelled, Christian had to scale back his newsletter.

He and his team came up with some inventive ideas, developing a partnership with a local bakery for Epiphany. Each purchase of a galette at this bakery enabled the Rugby Club Thonon to recover one euro.

Once again, AssoConnect's emailing module provided invaluable assistance to the club in orchestrating its communications.

Naturally, we communicated the ins and outs of the partnership via our newsletter to all our contacts. I think it's fair to say that the partnership was a success. Everyone was happy: the bakery increased its sales of galettes, and for the club, it gave us extra cash!

Rugby Club Thonon Chablais Léman is very active on the platform, creating a unique link between the association and its various stakeholders.

The club recently opened an online shop via the AssoConnect platform. Stay tuned!

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AssoConnect, the ideal partner for all types of association

AssoConnect is positioned as the universal software to help all associations change the world.

This mission is supported by a number of key features that enable the platform to truly transform and simplify the daily lives of volunteers and employees.