‘Help for What Matters’ the Sport for Business and Ulster Bank Rugby Club Roadshows touring the country over the next two weeks got underway in Belfast last night.
We covered areas of sponsorship, fundraising, grant application and financial planning in a two-hour session that gave plenty of food for thought for the clubs present.
“There was a lot to take away from the night,” said Martin Malseed of Belfast Harlequins where the first event was hosted.
Tony Morrison of Otium Leisure Consultants gave valuable insight into the timetable and the process of applying for club grants. That role will be taken by Dennis O’Connor of 2 Into 3 as we move south towards Galway this Thursday, Limerick and Cork on Monday and Tuesday, April 23rd and 24th and back to Dublin at Lansdowne on Thursday, April 26th.
Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business gave a presentation on how clubs can go about effectively understanding their portfolio of assets that can be of interest to sponsors and the importance of managing and cultivating relationships once they are formed.
Sandra O’Rourke of Ulster Bank spoke of the importance of planning, of budgeting for the inevitable seasonality of club finances and stresses the importance of using the resource of your local bank teams to help arrive at the best decisions for the clubs.
Amy Power then outlined the different methods of fundraising available to clubs and interesting data ion the respective cost and return of each kind, providing a valuable understanding of where energy and effort can best be deployed.
We rounded out the evening with a Question and Answer session with Alan Quinlan who spoke of his own experience at club level with Shannon and then Munster, and now back involved with his local Junior Club in Tipperary.
He shared his insight on the Grand Slam, the upcoming Champions’ Cup fixtures for Munster and Leinster and his own personal belief in the importance of club rugby as the foundation for everything else that is built upon it all the way up to the Rugby World Cup.
Admission to the remaining roadshows is free but we do ask that clubs register those who are attending.
“There are really valuable lessons to be learned from this exercise, ones we will be bringing back to our club and which will make us stronger,” added Ian Wray from Portadown RFC.
Galway Corinthians RFC Thursday, April 19th
Young Munster RFC Monday, April 23rd
Click to Register for Limerick
Cork Con FC Tuesday, April 24th
Lansdowne FC Thursday, April 26th
Sport for Business and Ulster Bank will bring the ‘Help for What Matters’ Rugby Club Roadshow to Galway Corinthians on Thursday, April 19th; Young Munster in Limerick on Monday, April 23rd, Cork Con on April 24th and Lansdowne in Dublin on Thursday, April 26th. Admission is free for clubs but registration is required at www.helpforwhatmatters.com
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