Airsofters Club

Stone.cold

No

Da Wench wrote: »

So if I'm a member and I go to play for the day, I don't have to pay. Kinda like gym (I'm allergic to them) membership. Bring a guest with me if i like as long as I'm a member.

Im a member of another sports club, again a non profit organisation. We pay a flat rate membership fee every year, reductions for families etc. When we meet up on our own grounds we all throw in a euro or whatever change we have to keep us supplied in milk, coffee, biccies etc

When we run a competition, we all pay to compete, members or not. We only run about 4 comps a year, so it doesn't cost anybody much extra. But we are free to go to other clubs as often as we like and compete there for a fee to the club hosting the comp.

Any money received is put into buying equipment, rent, insurance etc.

If it was run as a business, then you have to set up a company and then arguements ensue about to who or how the profits are spent.

If you are thinking about going down this road, start it from the very beginning as it would be very hard to implement later and team members might get a bit antsy about it.

It is a good idea, and it keeps things clean and simple and no worries about how to pay for the insurance, rent etc

But then this is only my opinion!

in a nut shell Yes , it will not be run now or at anytime for profit, it is being set up to progress the future of airsoft in the midlands and as chuck so rightly siad to ensure we have a place to play. even on days when its just me and him running around

Chuck the Buck

No

You're a member you play free, you bring a friend your friend pays to play and you supply them with mask and aeg if they don't already have one because we won't be doing rentals.

Chuck the Buck

No

Stone.cold wrote: »

in a nut shell Yes , it will not be run now or at anytime for profit, it is being set up to progress the future of airsoft in the midlands and as chuck so rightly siad to ensure we have a place to play. even on days when its just me and him running around

And running it as a club allows the members to say play every or any weekday evening and leave the weekends free to carpool your way to the commercial site of your choice!

But most importantly as I said before it offers the members a place to play where they have both permission to be there and insurance vs messing about in someone's field or woods when they neither have the time or money to visit a commercial site every weekend.

Da Wench

No

I just like things kept simple, clear and straight forward.

A business needs an awful lot of politics, regulating and serious arguments and costs more for rent and insurance also.

With a club, you just need your chairperson, secretary and treasurer. Everyone knows who is who and whats what, its that simple.

It would be difficult at first, especially as you have said that no other club operates like this. Do I take it that other airsoft sites are run as businesses? If thats the case, then who owns the business and is someone getting rich quick or what?

Stone.cold

No

Da Wench wrote: »

I just like things kept simple, clear and straight forward.

A business needs an awful lot of politics, regulating and serious arguments and costs more for rent and insurance also.

With a club, you just need your chairperson, secretary and treasurer. Everyone knows who is who and whats what, its that simple.

It would be difficult at first, especially as you have said that no other club operates like this. Do I take it that other airsoft sites are run as businesses? If thats the case, then who owns the business and is someone getting rich quick or what?

to be honest that is not a concern of mine, i drive 2 hrs to a site or i have a place secure well run close to me to use my airsoft equipment in peace. no brainer which one i would opted for

Chuck the Buck

No

Da Wench wrote: »

It would be difficult at first, especially as you have said that no other club operates like this. Do I take it that other airsoft sites are run as businesses? If thats the case, then who owns the business and is someone getting rich quick or what?

There are guys in Sligo looking at this approach (pure non-profit club) as they are a good bit away from their nearest site and I think I read somewhere that the guys in cork are going to start offering membership.

I don't think anyone is going to get rich quick because of the cost of rent, insurance and updates to the site to keep the punters happy.

If you look at the locations of the current sites they are all based around major urban population centres, the midland, northwest and southeast are all lacking in any sites. To have any chance of setting something up it would have to be a club. Lets face it can you survive as a business if you've 3-4 dedicated customers who turn up hail rain or shine but you're average numbers never reach more than 6? No one would want to run a business out here as you would never have the numbers. So if you want to play in safety then you need to bite the bullet and make the decision to band together and create something to give you the airsoft fix between visits to the big sites!

JonAnderton

Un-decided

Then

I have been thinking about this for a while now, if a local airsoft club was set up, not a skirmish site but a club for members with a small woodland area. would you pay a membership fee to join. there would be no daily cost for members, no rentals things like that. a non profit organisation, i'd like to get some genuine feedback on this

Now

even on days when its just me and him running around

You're a member you play free, you bring a friend your friend pays to play and you supply them with mask and aeg if they don't already have one because we won't be doing rentals

Fees havent been decided yet, given that it will be smaller than a normal skirmish site, the cost will be less than norma

Seems the idea seems to have morphed into...a skirmish site.

I think I can see where you're coming from with a not for profit site, but if you're going to invite non-members on and charge them, then you wont be able to judge the 'income', so if you have the fee set so that all the insurance and costs are covered by the regular members, then any extra income obtained by visitors will surley be...profit... How the profit is spent will then decide if it's a 'commerical' venture or not. Will these profits be ploughed back into the club to improve facilities, etc or will they go into the pockets of the organisers... I think you intend it to be the former.

Any idea on insurance yet?

Chuck the Buck

No

any extra money would go towards rent & insurance to lower the cost for the members. Stone cold has a few insurance quotes already.

MacAonghusa

No

Stone.cold wrote: »

I have been thinking about this for a while now, if a local airsoft club was set up, not a skirmish site but a club for members with a small woodland area. would you pay a membership fee to join. there would be no daily cost for members, no rentals things like that. a non profit organisation, i'd like to get some genuine feedback on this.

That was my plan for airsoft in Sligo. Start a club, organise a site & insurance etc. Then split into whatever teams are needed and practice/skirmish whenever it suits.

Stone.cold

No

Will these profits be ploughed back into the club to improve facilities, etc or will they go into the pockets of the organisers... I think you intend it to be the former.

Any idea on insurance yet?[/quote]

Jon, i can see where your coming from, as i mentioned earlier this type of club has not been set up for airsoft in ireland as of yet, fortunatly we have an acting club secretary who is very experienced in setting up clubs of this nature, and will be guiding us to achieve our goal of a non profit organisation, the only people that will benefit from the proceeds will be the members. As for insurance i have a couple of quotes in as a guide but we can not move forward till we have finalised a site.

As i siad earlier in this thread we appreciate everyones input into this topic.

MacAonghusa

No

I think ppl are over complicating it and it doesn't need to be complicated. All you need is a group of like minded individuals who like the idea of having a site they can play on at pretty much any time and are happy with the idea of paying a membership fee up up front from satisfied with the knowledge that any "profits" the club makes are cycled back to reduce insurance costs for regular members. Easy peasy.

Puding

No

as i mentioned earlier this type of club has not been set up for airsoft in ireland as of yet

Well its currently running in cork anyway it is not easy as mad ozzie will tell you as he was very much the driving force behind it but it can work, for use any money made over covering the insurance could be used for a number of things, lowering the fees for the following year, subsidizing activities for the club e.g going to events, increasing the facility available at the site, basically everything made would go back into the club and the members.

Tigger

No

MacAonghusa wrote: »

I think ppl are over complicating it and it doesn't need to be complicated. All you need is a group of like minded individuals who like the idea of having a site they can play on at pretty much any time and are happy with the idea of paying a membership fee up up front from satisfied with the knowledge that any "profits" the club makes are cycled back to reduce insurance costs for regular members. Easy peasy.

'cept its hard

MacAonghusa

No

Tigger wrote: »

'cept its hard

Well certain club rules will be set by the law, insurance constraints and land owner. After that the club should only need to agree on some basic guidelines and appoint one upstanding individual as financial controller then it should be handy enough. IMO. Not that I know anything about setting up clubs

JonAnderton

Un-decided

i think this could be a great thing if it's done right.

Good luck to you and keep us updated on developments

Quick question.what about the casual player from overseas who might only be able to attend twice,three times a year?

Stone.cold

No

Puding wrote: »

Well its currently running in cork anyway it is not easy as mad ozzie will tell you as he was very much the driving force behind it but it can work, for use any money made over covering the insurance could be used for a number of things, lowering the fees for the following year, subsidizing activities for the club e.g going to events, increasing the facility available at the site, basically everything made would go back into the club and the members.

I taught Ozzie was starting that next year, thats great.

Stone.cold

No

MacAonghusa wrote: »

Well certain club rules will be set by the law, insurance constraints and land owner. After that the club should only need to agree on some basic guidelines and appoint one upstanding individual as financial controller then it should be handy enough. IMO. Not that I know anything about setting up clubs

Dont say that i had intended picking your brain for ideas we have an independant treasurer to look after clubs finances

Stone.cold

No

JonAnderton wrote: »

i think this could be a great thing if it's done right.

Good luck to you and keep us updated on developments

Quick question.what about the casual player from overseas who might only be able to attend twice,three times a year?

By all means Jon. look forward to putting a face to the name

Da Wench

No

Which ever way you decide to run the club, once a proper committee is set up and things are done honestly and openly, it should run smoothly.

AGM with full committe and all members present and provide a full statement showing obviously all income and expenditure. Problems only arise if members feel like they are being kept in the dark, lied to, and not having suggestions acknowledged, never mind being taken on board.

It is probably best if you meet up with another sports club that operates on a membership basis and find out how they did it, which is what we are doing.