Seeking advice on the best structure for, and way to run a successful

[pomsaleius]

Hello

I'm one of the founder members of a very new homebrew club based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. After some discussion, and an online poll, we've ended up calling our club the Merri Mashers. So far we've had two fairly successful meetings, and our third is planned for next month.

So this is a question for those of you out there who have been involved with other homebrew clubs for some time, and have more experience in what makes a successful club:
There are two competing schools of thought in our club right now. On one side are those who think we should keep this very informal, and not get hung up on things like having an elected committee, a constitution, or anything like that. On the other are those who think that's exactly what we do need to ensure the club's future, and we should even consider becoming incorporated.

So what are your experiences. What's the best advice the established clubs can give a newcomer like ourselves?
Anything else you would recommend or warn against when it comes to running a successful homebrew club?

Thanks very much. I and the Merri Mashers appreciate your help and advice.

 

[AndrewQLD]

My thoughts are,
What are your membership numbers
What fees are the members willing to pay?
How many of your current members are willing to spend the time over and above having a beer with other members on a casual basis for time at committee meetings.
Who will hold treasurer rights including bank account details
Getting a club incorporated is VERY expensive and insurance costs can become prohibitive.

I'd start out small and look at going bigger as your membership increases.

 

[BlueMutt]

I've been part of setting up a Cycling club over the last year for different reasons to a brew club, but the out comes of being incorporated or not would be similar. Our Cycling club has been able to apply and receive funding for events etc.
At $35 or so an incorporation is an easy setup which will allow you to have a recognisable voice and identity with insurance, funding and banking. Worth the effort IMO..

 

[1974Alby]

Sorry for digging up an old thread, but this topic is very relevant to me right now..basically we have a long established successful club that has in recent times experienced a bit of decline/stagnation. Some of us are keen to reinvogorate it and impleent changes to attract and retain new members. We are looking at the potential of incorporation as one of the measures we might take in our new direction.

I agree with Bluemutt that incorporation is relatively easy and cheap, but question its value to a club such as ours. Incorporation itself does not provide public liability insurance, though it is a prerequisite for such insurance. However the costs for insurance given the nature of our activities are prohibitive.

The other benefit of incorporation is that groups can apply for funding/grants....again I question how realistic this is given the nature of our club. Certainly the usual funding streams of health/sport/arts etc would be unlikely to give us funding.

Interested in other thoughts on the pro's/cons of having a formal club structure and experience of what's worked well.

Regards

Al

 

[mje1980]

The success of our brew club has been the total lack of formality.