Reducing costs is a great place for cricket clubs to start. Investigate all outgoings at a club and see if there is a way to lower the costs involved. Clubs who have done this have saved in some cases thousands of pounds.
Are you CASC (Community Amateur Sports Club) registered? If your club wants to receive an 80% reduction in business rates then investigate becoming one. On average clubs who are CASC registered save over £4,000 a year. In Somerset we currently have 32 clubs who are CASC registered, this number could be much higher! More information on becoming a CASC club can be found here.
Greater bar management and training of those behind the bar is often overlooked. Ensuring that no stock goes out of date and that pints are poured correctly can eradicate wasted stock for example.
Lowering utility bills by insuring lights are only used when required and turned off when they are not and installing energy saving bulbs or better still light tunnels into the building to increase the natural light flowing in. Install push taps instead of twist taps to reduce wasted water in both sinks and showers. Purchase a water butt to capture water from the roof and re-use on pitches, why use drinking water to water the grass!?
Buy in bulk where possible to lower costs. Why not team up with some other cricket clubs and increase your purchasing power. Examples may include cricket balls, bar stock, food for teas or BBQs, loam or grass seed and boundary flags/rope. The sharing of assets with other local clubs can work too, this may range from sharing a cricket coach or a junior team to a piece of ground machinery or a BBQ. Think outside of the box in order to save money, times are changing and costs are increasing.
Utilise skills from within your club membership. You may have several plumbers, electricians, chefs, teachers, plasterers, accountants or solicitors for example, all of whom have skills that could be put to great use at a cricket club. How do you find out what skills are hidden in your membership? Just ask. Include a question in the membership form for what job they do or what skills they have that might benefit the cricket club. Don’t forget to make the most out of NatWest CricketForce too, more information on the ECB flagship self-help event can be found here.
Team up with other organisations or business’s who have skills or resources that would benefit the club. A great example of this is construction colleges, they have students who need experience in building and cricket clubs often need things built. Huish & Langport Cricket Club recently teamed up with Yeovil Construction College who built them a new scorebox.