Proposed New Affiliation Fee Model A Joint Proposal by
Background 1. TNZ currently reports a membership of 40,000 members - based on numbers provided by clubs to regions. 2. We re uncertain as to whether this number represents a true reflection of the actual number of tennis members in clubs throughout the country. 3. If there is a significant member understatement, then this is an issue for TNZ and regions because it means sponsorship and funding is lower than it otherwise could be. 4. Debate on how to solve this problem has been on-going for years. 5. TNZ and the six regions, have been working on a solution and have all agreed on this proposal that is now to be presented to clubs.
Proposal Objective To introduce a new affiliation fee structure that will enable the accurate recording of the tennis membership in New Zealand and will populate a national database. To get a clear picture of the make-up of the tennis membership in NZ. The mechanism that TNZ and the six regions believe will achieve the above is to move from the current per-head affiliation fee model to a new per-club affiliation fee model applied at both TNZ and regional level. The six regions have all endorsed this proposal.
Why? 1. We can t manage what we can t measure. 2. We want to make the affiliation process easy and less time consuming for our clubs. 3. We want to bring more funding in the sport. 4. We want to develop a national database of our members so we can understand who is playing tennis and be able to communicate with you.
Benefits of the New Affiliation Fee Model to CLUBS 1. More efficient for clubs less time. 2. Free access to the PROMATO Club Management software. 3. Ability to provide club members with benefits such as recent Noel lemming deal. 4. More money coming into the game meaning more: - Regional development personnel - More tournaments - Better Regional Performance Centres - Greatly improved communications between TNZ Regions Cubs Members. - Better coaches.
Benefits of the New Affiliation Fee Model to TNZ and Regions 1. Enable an accurate count and understanding of the tennis membership in NZ. 2. Population of national database via Promato to all clubs. 3. Simpler and more efficient affiliation fee model requiring less time to administer. 4. This in turn will increase the reporting size of tennis in NZ making us a more significant and valuable organisation. For Example: Sport NZ has just invested an additional $450,000 into tennis over the next three years based partly on the increase in reported numbers playing tennis in our 2011 Annual Report. Golf NZ calculates the commercial return to Golf as a result of its database of 130,000 members at $500,000pa.
How the Per-Club Model will work Your clubs current TNZ and regional affiliation fees will be your new club-fee going foreword increasing annually by CPI. You will not pay any more for any new/additional members you report. Clubs will be required to record their full list of members onto the National Database and provide contact details for all members. This information will not be provided to third parities and will be subject to the TNZ privacy protocols. There will be a hardship policy for clubs who experience a significant reduction in membership.
KEY MESSAGE 1: More affiliated members means more money into the game and therefore more high performance spend, more club support tools, more junior development opportunities etc. Eg: SPARC investing $450k extra over next three years due to increasing number of people playing the game. NZ Golf has 130,000 members on its database and receive twice as much funding from SPARC and sponsors as TNZ.
KEY MESSAGE 2: No additional cost for clubs as they report more members and provide the required information onto the national database.
KEY MESSAGE 3: No pain for clubs to implement. PROMATO will be provided free of charge for use by all clubs.
General Information: This proposal is not about raising affiliation fees to generate more income. It is about putting in place a model that will provide tennis with the best opportunity to get clubs to report their total membership numbers on a National Database and enable TNZ and the regions to contact club members who choose to be communicated with, with such contact to be within TNZ s agreed privacy protocols. This is about enabling us to understand our business and make it more valuable. Tennis is a significant sport in NZ but we only report 41,000 members and only have 16,000 currently on the national database. NZ Golf has 130,000 members on its database and receives twice as much funding from SPARC as tennis and $500,000 commercial value to golf as a result of its database.
Q & A 1. What member information will be required to go on the national database? Name, suburb, gender, age category and email address. 2. What will this information be used for? i. To populate the national database. ii. To understand our membership ie where do they live, how many in each age group, male v female, where the membership is growing/decreasing etc. iii. To be able to communicate to those members who want to receive communication. 3. Once on the database, will I start receiving emails from TNZ or my region? No. Not until you tell us that you want to receive information (Passing Shots, upcoming events, special deals etc). 4. Will my information be passed onto a TNZ or regional sponsor? No.
Q & A 5. Does my club have to start using Promato? No, but it s a great system so we will certainly encourage you to! If your club uses another system, then we will just require you to provide your region with a full list of ALL your members (and the other information in question 1) and they will upload into the national database. 7. When the national database is populated, will you then revert back to a perhead model meaning we pay more? No. If endorsed by clubs, this new flat-fee affiliation fee model will be set in concrete in your region s and TNZ s constitutions. The only way it can go back to being a per-head model is if the clubs decide to make the change. 8. What if my club chooses not to provide the required membership information to our region? TNZ and the regions will only proceed with this proposal if we receive support from clubs representing 90% of all members. If we don t get it, then TNZ and the regions may choose to keep the existing model and go back to the drawing board!
Q & A 9. What if my club membership declines? Clubs will be able to petition their region for a reduction in affiliation fees if their club membership declines. The region will look at why the membership is declining, can it be turned around with additional support etc before making a decision to reduce the fee for that year or longer. It will be about you engaging with your region.
Next Steps 1. Get clubs representing 90% of the membership to endorse the move to a flatfee affiliation fee model. 2. Get clubs to pass a resolution at their regional AGM to change the region s Constitution to set this change in concrete (region can t change back to a perhead model once the reported membership numbers have gone up) and to approve the regions endorsing this change at TNZ level. 3. Regions come to the TNZ AGM and endorse the same Constitutional change. 4. Late 2012, TNZ invoices regions their flat-fee / regions invoice clubs their flatfee. 5. Populate the national database by 31 December 2012.
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