There are 4 ways a club can create steady revenue streams.
          CASC status
          Internet shopping
          Small funding bids
          Club events

CASC status

CASC is the acronym for Community Amateur Sports Club and to qualify as CASC, Go-Ride Clubs would need to ensure that they adhere to 4 key rules.

- They are not a profit making club and any profits that are made are re-invested into the club
 - Membership is open to all and does not discriminate in any way
 - Have a core purpose of promoting amateur sport
 - In the event of the club winding up, assets are distributed to another CASC club or the National Governing Body for continued use in promoting amateur sport

These rules are already being practiced by many Go-Ride clubs and all Go-Ride Clubmark Clubs have a CASC qualifying constitution already. The benefits of CASC registration are 2 fold. If a club owns a facility they have a right to a minimum of 80% business rate relief with many local authorities offering up to 100%. Go-Ride clubs would also be able to claim ‘Gift Aid’ on all donations. Gift Aid allows clubs to claim an additional £28.20 for every £100 pound donation.

Most Go-Ride Clubs do not own their own facilities and so utilising the Gift Aid facility will be the most effective way forward. The club can take advantage of this facility by inviting club members to make donations to the club. Although it must be noted that donations are voluntary.

For example if membership fees are £10 then existing club members can join the club for £8 with an optional £2 donation. Again it must be noted that the donation is optional and the existing or prospective member must be able to opt out. Therefore the club must be willing to let the person join for £8 in that situation if the opt out clause is used.  The result is that if a club invites donations when people join the club, then a Go-Ride club with 100 members, inviting a donation of £2, will be able to claim gift aid on £200 totalling an extra £56.40 per year.

Donations can be invited in all sorts of situations with Gift Aid applying to all fundraising events such as tickets for dinners, balls, concerts, raffles, sponsorship for activities and auctions.

So, for example, at the end of season dinner if tickets cost £10 with an invitation of an additional £5 donation, a club with 100 people attending a dinner or other event could raise £500 in donations and thus claim £141.

In reality the amount being claimed per donation is quite small. But if a Go-Ride Club was to apply Gift Aid to several different activities then the total raised could become very significant.

CASC - What to do

- Step 1: Adopt a CASC qualifying constitution (Model Consitution)
- Step 2: Register with the inland revenue and nominate a representative (CASC Registration Form, CASC Representative Form)
- Step 3: Incorporate gift aid clauses into club documents/activities and keep for records (Gift Aid Declarations)
- Step 4: Complete claim and payment schedule forms (Gift Aid Payment Schedule form)

Internet Shopping
Internet shopping and search engines can be a source of regular income for Go-Ride Clubs because various websites will donate a percentage of each sale to a community sport club. Clubs can register directly with online shopping websites such as Amazon or they can register with 1 organisation through which all transactions are made.

Easyfundraising.org.uk allows a club to register with them and then have the opportunity to shop at over 600 shops. What an online shopper would need to do to ensure their Go-Ride club benefits is to log on to easyfundraising.org.uk.

Then follow a link to the shop they desire to make a purchase from. If a shopper went direct to the online shop instead of logging onto the easyfundraising website then the club will miss out. Over 600 shops participate including the AA, Amazon, Gamestation, National Lottery and Next. Returns for the club vary but are generally between 1 and 5%. There are also incentives from big corporations offering bumper payments. For example British Cycling’s new partner SKY, offer £50 for every person that signs up via easyfundraising in addition to SKY’s existing promotional offers.

The benefits don’t stop at shopping. Using easysearch.org.uk instead of Google will raise more funds for Go-Ride Clubs. Easysearch combines yahoo, MSN and Ask search engines and by using this facility a club member would raise on average, £20 per year. By ensuring that the club membership is aware of these resources a club can make a significant impact on their sustainable finances. A club with 100 members spending on average £50 online per year with an average 2.5% return would raise £125. Easysearch would then bring in an extra £2,000 all for just clicking a button.

Internet Shopping - What to do

- Step 1: Register a club with Easyfundraising.org.uk and Easysearch.org.uk
- Step 2: Regularly communicate with all club members the opportunity that exists via easyfundraising.org.uk and easysearch.org.uk

Small Fundraising Bids

There are numerous small funding sources spread around the country. Some are regionally based, others are national. Good practice if searching for new funds is to contact the local authority sports development unit, county sports partnership and British Cycling and ask them what is on offer.

Small funding bids vary in size but will often award anything from between a few hundred pounds to £5,000. It is important to remember that each one will have its own agenda and targets and these should be considered before making a bid. For example O2 Its your Community will provide £1,000 for projects. But they want their funds to be making the biggest difference to the projects success. Here are some examples of what is currently available:

- O2 It’s Your Community - £1,000
 - Grass Roots Grants £5,000 and/or matched funding
 - Regional Community Foundations – Manage portfolio’s of possible funding sources

Small Fundraising Bids- What to do

- Step 1: Search via internet search engines, Regional Community Foundation websites and telephone calls to local authorities, county sport partnerships and British Cycling.
- Step 2: Ensure your projects match their agenda’s
- Step 3: Complete relevant application forms

Events
Mosting fundraising events is not new to many clubs but by incorporating events into a fundraising strategy Go-Ride clubs can raise significant amounts of money. For example combining club events such as race nights, dinners, presentation evenings, intra and inter club competitions with other initiatives such as CASC so that each ideas potential is reached.

The benefits of hosting more club events are that there are more opportunities to communicate new ideas with club members and more social interaction.

Events - What to do

- Step 1: Host some events such as intra/inter club competition, casino nights, club dinners/presentation evenings.
- Step 2: Incorporate the events into a fundraising strategy and combine with other initiatives such as CASC

These are just some ideas about what Go-Ride Clubs can do to raise the funds required to sustain or increase their activities. For more information or support contact the Go-Ride Team on 0161 274 2069 or development@britishcycling.org.uk.

Related Articles
Part 1: Tapping into new Sport England Funding
Part 2: Applying for new Sport England Funding