Sustain Your Midwest CTA

Quick Links: Volunteers | Fundraising | Partnerships | Marketing/Communications | SWOT Analysis | Succession Planning | Serve Tennis

Volunteers

One of the biggest long-term problems that face Community Tennis Associations (CTAs) is volunteer attrition. Over time, your most valuable resources move, change jobs, have family obligations, or simply change priorities related to your CTA. Your organization may be a long way from having paid staff so the solution for this potential loss of human resources is to create a strategy to address this issue every year. The following link should help (CLICK HERE), but the answer probably rests with your existing volunteers. Here are some ideas:

1. Start by reviewing your current human assets and expertise and what you might be missing. Do you need someone with accounting or finance experience? How about legal or marketing backgrounds? A “gap analysis” can go a long way to shore up needed expertise.
2. Reach out to potential volunteers in Education. School athletic directors, PE teachers, tennis coaches, and even school counselors and play an important role in your CTA’s month-to-month operations.
3. Parent-Teacher Organizations. While “education” is the primary focus of these associations, student health and activity is always an underlying emphasis. Try to present at a PTA/PTO meeting to outline the value your CTA adds to the child and the need for parental volunteers to implement success.
4. City Parks & Recreation Departments. While these are very busy individuals, they all share the same goal as your CTA – to create and implement recreational “value” to the community.  While city employees may not be able to play an active role with your CTA, they can play a consultative role as a member of a task force to help implement programming in the community.
5. Donors. Those who financially support your CTA often want an opportunity to “steer” the direction those finds take.  This is no different from major donors to colleges and other non-profits wanting a say in how funds are used. Reach out to these donors to ask for a bit of their time to support your cause.
6. Affiliated Organizations. Who do we mean by this?  These are both non-profit and for-profit organizations that promote health, activity, social wellness, and diversity. Think healthcare organizations, athletic organizations, event organizers, and city/county health advocacy groups. Their employees and volunteers are passionate about the health and well-being of community members and can be a great source of volunteers for your CTA.
7. USPTR Members. The US Professional Tennis Registry is the largest global organization of tennis coaches. Its mission is simple: to educate, certify and serve tennis teachers and coaches around the world in order to grow the game. You can find a coach/pro and possible volunteer in your area by following this link (CLICK HERE).
   
   
   

Fundraising

Fundraising is an integral part of your nonprofit CTA. Whether it’s for programming, marketing, paying for tennis pros, or filing your annual report and taxes, it’s critical your CTA has a plan for sustaining its annual income budget.  Here are some ideas for maintaining working capital to run your CTA:

1. USTA Grants (national, sectional, district funding for a variety of programming)
2. Individual Donations (key individuals and advocates who see the value of tennis)
3. Corporate Donations (many companies set aside dollars each year for community non-profits)
4. Foundation assistance (community, professional sports teams and corporate)
5. Retail (i.e. grocery stores, restaurants, sporting goods stores, etc.)
6. Tournament fundraisers (a variety of fundraising efforts can be attached to tennis tournaments)
7. Social fundraisers (combine social tennis with a funding component to grow CTA income)
8. Get your CTA listed on AmazonSmile (a percentage of all sales from signups go to your CTA)
9. Use an outside fundraising service for funding large projects or events.
10. Modest annual CTA member dues
    
    

Partnerships

Developing community partners with your CTA is critical to its success. Why? Because it makes your life as a CTA in promoting tennis easier. Think about the needs and limited resources your CTA may have – funding, local government support, volunteerism, marketing, advocacy, diversity, programming, etc. All these can be improved by identifying and aligning with community partners for assistance. Here are a few examples:
 

• Schools – PE teachers and tennis coaches, Parent/Teacher Organizations, school administrators
• Parks & Recreation Departments – Summer programming assistance, marketing and advocacy
• YMCAs – Programming, tennis coaching, social events, advocacy
• Boys & Girls Clubs – Youth programming, joint fundraising, advocacy
• Chamber of Commerce – Advocacy, building relationships with local business and Foundations
• Parent Organizations – Volunteers
• Health & Fitness Organizations and Events – Co-sponsorships, funding, advocacy, marketing, especially with healthcare companies.

Working With the USTA - In addition to the partners listed above, your CTA should develop a relationship with key personnel within your District/State and Section. Each offers a number of resources available for your CTA’s organizational and operational improvement.  Check with your local Executive Director or Tennis Service Representative or Section CTA Coordinator for help but start with available CTA webinars from the USTA for assistance (CLICK HERE).

Marketing/Communications

It is important for a Community Tennis Associations to have established channels of communication with periodic messaging to promote your programs and successes. These communication channels should be both internal and external as well as in-person and online. This would include regular CTA Board and/or management meetings, documentation of those meetings, and communication to providers, participants and community partners.

Examples of CTA communication methods: 

• CTA Newsletter (email or direct mail)              
  
• Email Programs                                              
• Other Sporting Events                                      
• Parent/Teacher Associations                            
• Posted Notices (banners, yard signs, etc.)        
• Radio/TV                                                          
• Social Media 
• Text Blasts
• Third-Party Newsletters
• Trade Shows
• Webinars
• CTA Website including links to others

SWOT Analysis

As a leader of your CTA you might ask yourself, How do I even know what my CTA’s needs are?” That’s where a SWOT Analysis comes in handy. It stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is a useful tool to identify strategic operational and organizational needs as well as competitive (Yes, your CTA has competition) advantages and shortcomings.  This link  (CLICK HERE) will be useful in both understanding and setting up a SWOT analysis to put your CTA on the right track.

The end result is to assist your CTA in developing an action plan to support what works, change what doesn’t work, seize opportunities to help your CTA grow and succeed, and minimize the impact of threats from internal and external sources. Inherent to any non-profit organization is the constant tug-of-war between its mission and resource and capacity constraints relative to its working environment.

As the old saying goes – If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. A SWOT analysis is the roadmap to strengthen your path to success.

SWOT example 1

SWOT example 2

Succession Planning

It’s only a matter of time before your CTA starts losing members, for a variety of reasons. And likewise, it’s only a matter of time before the organizers and/or leaders of your CTA also move on.  How do you plan for this so your organization does not fall apart?  A succession plan is a strategic document that not only lays out what to do in the event a key member, volunteer or staff, leaves the organization but also how to prepare for the departure.

Hopefully, your CTA has a Board of Directors who makes succession planning and risk management a priority for your CTA. The National Council of Nonprofits website has suggestions for successfully preparing for this event. CLICK HERE for details.

Serve Tennis™

Serve Tennis is a unique software application that automates administrative processes easily and quickly with online payments, registering players and more. It’s a great tool that will assist with the success of your CTA. Serve Tennis combines an automated registration system for your programs, oversees court bookings, connects with your participants, and provides your CTA with easy email marketing and a free custom website. For more information CLICK HERE.