Reducing costs and generating income

Introduction

Do you want to find ways to reduce your costs and generate more income? Are you looking to improve your organisation’s financial position?

Many clubs and community organisations are looking for solutions to these questions as rising costs and financial pressures continue to create significant challenges.

These stresses are affecting how organisations operate and changing how participants, members and volunteers choose to spend their time and limited disposable income. A club or community organisation can be affected in many different ways:

Higher running and operational costs, including venue hire, utilities, equipment, travel and maintenance.
Fewer opportunities to secure sponsorship and grant funding.
Reduced income from memberships, session fees, fundraising activities and the sale of kit, equipment and refreshments.
A decline in volunteering, as individuals prioritise their own time and financial circumstances.

Top tips

Understand your financial position

Developing a clear picture of your organisation's finances will help you identify opportunities to reduce expenditure, maximise income, spot potential risks and take steps to manage them.

Plan ahead

A well-structured financial plan can put your organisation in a stronger position to respond to challenges and take advantage of new opportunities.

Think creatively

Review your current activities and explore innovative ways to make adjustments and make the most of your available resources.

Work in partnership

You don't have to work alone. There are many organisations, networks and partners that can help you, strengthen your offer and share valuable expertise.

Developing a risk register

Do you understand your financial position?

Making effective decisions to reduce costs and generate income starts with understanding your current financial position.

Looking back at previous financial statements and records can help you identify spending patterns, understand average costs and pinpoint any increases. Start by reviewing your bank statements, budgets, business plans and annual accounts.

Once you have a better understanding of your current financial position, it’s equally important to look ahead. Planning your future finances will support any next steps and prepare you for potential challenges. If you haven’t already, consider developing:

An income and expenditure forecast

Helping you estimate how much money your organisation expects to receive and spend, typically across a three-to-five-year period.

A cashflow forecast

Showing the money that’s likely to come in and out of your organisation, usually on a monthly basis, to help manage your day-to-day finances.

A sensitivity analysis

Enabling you to assess how changes in income or expenditure could affect your financial position, helping you to prepare for different scenarios.

When developing your financial forecasts, think about:

The financial impact and costs associated to your short and long-term costs plans.
Contributions to reserves or sinking funds to support your future needs, pay for scheduled maintenance, or cover any unexpected costs.
If your forecasts are realistic and achievable based on your current capacity and expected income.

How can my organisation reduce its costs?

Reducing your costs doesn’t mean you have to stop delivering activities or reduce the quality of the sessions your run.

With careful planning, and some innovative thinking, your organisation can reduce its spending while continuing to provide opportunities for your local community.

Your organisation may have already taken steps to manage costs, such as limiting how often you replace equipment or reducing energy use by switching off lights and lowering heating and water temperatures.

Explore some other ways you might not have considered yet:

Buying in bulk

Bulk buying can often secure discounts and lower the cost paid for items.
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When buying in bulk it’s important to keep track of what you’re ordering to avoid any unnecessary purchases.

If storage or demand is a concern, consider connecting with other local clubs or organisations to split the costs and manage stock.

You could also benefit from buying schemes or commercial opportunities offered by your national governing body (NGB). Your NGB may have developed partnerships and be able to offer discounted rates on services such as energy, insurance and catering.

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Review existing contracts and suppliers

Regularly reviewing contracts and suppliers is an important way to ensure your organisation is getting the best deal available.
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Over time, costs can increase, new providers may enter the market and your organisation's needs may change, meaning existing agreements may no longer be the most suitable or cost-effective option.

Taking the time to compare providers, renegotiate contracts and explore alternative options can help identify potential savings. Online comparison tools can be used to compare prices for equipment, supplies and energy.

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Energy efficiency and savings

If you own a facility, reducing energy costs should focus on both quick practical actions and longer term improvements that increase sustainability and efficiency.
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Sport England have created a checklist to help reduce energy costs in sports facilities that includes:
- Installing a smart meter to better understand and monitor your energy usage.
- Considering what can be turned off when you’re not using it such as gym equipment, vending machines or extractor fans.
- Reviewing and upgrading your old appliances for more energy-efficient products.
- Installing solar panels, energy efficient lighting (LED), or motion sensor lighting systems.
- Improving insulation or introducing more efficient systems such as heat pumps to reduce overall energy demand.
You may be able to access funding to support these improvements through Sport England’s Movement Fund.
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Using technology

While some new technologies can involve an initial cost, it can deliver long term savings, helping your organisation work more efficiently, reduce administrative time and limit the need to pay for external support.
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Examples include:
- Run meetings or training online. Hosting virtual meetings and training sessions for your volunteers can reduce or remove the need to travel or hire a venue.
- Using free or low-cost digital tools for communication, bookings and administration to help reduce time commitments and cut spending on manual processes such as membership renewals, the collection of subs or purchasing of supplies.
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Utilising free or low-cost support

There are a range of organisations that offer free advice, guidance and support on topics such as financial planning, safeguarding, legal support and volunteer recruitment.
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Making use of these can help your organisation save time, build knowledge and confidence and reduce costs. These include:
- CVSs can provide support on a wide range of topics, including volunteer recruitment and management, legal advice, governance and organisational development.
- NGBs offer a variety of support and resources, including insurance, safeguarding training, coach development and guidance tailored to specific sports.
- Active Partnerships (AP) provide a range of support, training and development opportunities for organisations delivering sport and physical activity. Find your local AP.
- The Sport Welfare Officer network promotes safe practice in sport and provides safeguarding advice, guidance and training.
- The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) offers extensive resources and support on topics such as governance, finance and volunteering.
- The Sports Governance Academy (SGA) provides free resources, tools and guidance to help organisations understand the principles of good governance and embed effective practices.
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How can my organisation generate income?

We understand that finding the time and resources to raise funds can be difficult. It’s likely you’ve tried hosting fundraising events, exploring sponsorship, or applying for grants. But there are alternative methods:

Diversify your offer

Expanding the activities that you provide not only creates more opportunities for participation and volunteering but can also generate more income and create partnership opportunities.
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You could:
- Introduce new activities. Consider offering different sessions or activities that appeal to a wider range of ages or abilities.
- Build partnerships. Work with schools, community groups and other organisations to access different facilities and new resources, volunteers and potential funding opportunities.
- Identify individuals or communities who don’t currently engage with your organisation and explore how you can create inclusive, accessible opportunities to encourage them to get active.
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Review membership options

When reviewing your membership options, it's important to strike a balance between providing affordable opportunities and covering your costs.
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Regularly reviewing your membership structure and offering a range of options can help make your organisation more accessible. You could consider:
- Pay-as-you-go, or flexible membership options to reduce upfront costs.
- Family or couple memberships to encourage participation among households.
- Discounted rates for students, older adults or volunteers.
- Half-season memberships for those joining partway through the year.
While these options can help increase participation, it may also affect your cashflow. Before making any changes it's important to assess the potential financial implications, plan accordingly and ensure that any changes remain sustainable for your organisation.
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Maximise the use of your facilities

If your organisation owns its own facility, consider if you’ve got the capacity to hire it out for community use.
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Opening your facilities to external bookings can be a valuable way to generate additional income.

Clubs and community groups can maximise the use of their facilities in creative ways by using the venue for events such as birthday parties, weddings, funerals, business meetings, community events, corporate functions or by renting the use of any car parking or spare storage space.
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Assess your legal structure

Some legal structures have certain benefits, including tax reliefs and access to wider funding opportunities; you can explore the different legal structures and benefits.
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If your organisation operates on a not-for-profit basis and has a charitable purpose, it may be worth exploring whether you are eligible to charitable tax relief.

If you’re already registered as a Community Amateur Sports Club (CASC), it’s also worth reviewing the tax reliefs available to you to ensure you’re fully utilising them and not overpaying.

Before making any changes to your organisation's legal structure, it’s important to seek appropriate professional advice, to help you understand the implications, assess whether a different structure is right for your organisation and ensure any transition is managed effectively.

To learn more about the different types of legal structures available to clubs and community organisations, watch our Exploring Legal Structures webinar.
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Claim Gift aid

Depending on how your organisation is structured, you may be eligible to claim Gift Aid.
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Gift Aid is a government scheme that allows registered charities and CASCs to increase the value of eligible donations from UK taxpayers at no additional cost to the donor.

Through Gift Aid, organisations can claim an extra 25p for every £1 donated, helping to generate additional income.
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Sell unused goods and materials

There may be opportunities to generate additional income by selling any unused kit and equipment your organisation already owns.
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Other organisations are often looking for affordable second-hand resources, so it's worth considering whether you have any unused, surplus or outdated items that could be sold.

This might include furniture, sports equipment, kit, technology, or other materials that are no longer being used. Selling these items can generate additional income, free up valuable space and ensure resources continue to be used within the community.
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There’s a lot to consider when trying to reduce your costs and generate income, while remaining open and inclusive to everyone within your community.

This therefore requires significant planning before you make any big financial decisions, so to help get you started and make the financial planning of your organisation that little bit easier, please use the free templates created by Buddle:

Business planning template Word Download the file - 266.52 KB

Monthly budget template Excel Download the file - 30.04 KB

Quarterly budget template Excel Download the file - 27.04 KB

Financial planning workbook

Reducing costs and generating income

Chapters in this topic

Introduction

Top tips

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