The treasurer who did everything for fifteen years
Your treasurer has decided this is her last season. For fifteen years she has done the job from her own laptop: a spreadsheet for the accounts, a folder of scanned receipts, the online banking on her phone, the league affiliation renewal in her personal email, and a mental calendar of when the insurance, the pitch hire invoices and the grant reports fall due. She is happy to help her successor, but she is moving away.
The new treasurer is keen but has never done it. He receives a memory stick, a box of paper and a list of passwords, some of which work. Two months later, the club's insurance lapses because the renewal notice went to the old treasurer's email address. The website domain almost expires for the same reason. Nobody is to blame. The job just lived inside one person.
Why officer roles leave with the officer
- Club accounts (bank, league, governing body, website, suppliers) are registered to personal email addresses.
- Files live on personal laptops and phones.
- Each role's yearly calendar of tasks exists only in the officer's head.
- Passwords are shared by text or written down, if at all.
- There is no written description of what the role actually involves.
Which accounts the club holds, who may sign, and how bank mandates change are for your committee and your bank. We set up the tools that make the change manageable.
What a bad handover costs
Lapsed insurance, affiliations or domains, which can be expensive or embarrassing. Missed deadlines for grants, league registration or accounts. A new officer who feels thrown in the deep end and gives up after a season. And roles nobody will take on, because everyone has seen how much work the last person carried alone.
Club-owned accounts, shared files and a role calendar
Most of this needs no custom software. It needs the right free or low-cost tools, set up once, owned by the club rather than a person. We set that up, and build small pieces only where they help.
- Role email addresses on the club's domain (treasurer@, secretary@, welfare@) through Google Workspace or Microsoft 365, many of which are available on free or reduced plans for non-profit and community organisations, subject to their eligibility rules.
- All club accounts (league, governing body, suppliers, website, domain, insurance) moved to role addresses, so notices reach whoever holds the role.
- Shared drives per role, holding the files, templates and records, with access given to the officer and passed on at handover.
- A password manager for the club, with shared vaults per role, so logins are handed over properly.
- A role calendar for each officer, listing what happens when across the year (affiliation, insurance, AGM notices, grant reports, pitch hire renewals), with reminders to the role address.
- A short handover checklist per role, reviewed at each AGM, recording what has been passed on and what is still outstanding.
| Role | What moves to the club | Calendar examples |
|---|---|---|
| Treasurer | Accounts, receipts, bank contacts, supplier logins | Insurance renewal, annual accounts, affiliation fees |
| Secretary | Minutes, constitution, league logins | AGM notice, league registration, fixture deadlines |
| Welfare officer | Restricted records and policies | Check renewals, policy review |
| Fixture secretary | League system access, pitch contacts | Fixture submission, pitch bookings |
The AGM after next
When the secretary steps down, she changes the password on secretary@ and hands the vault to her successor. The new secretary logs in and finds the minutes, the constitution, the league logins and a calendar showing what is due this month. Renewal notices keep arriving where the club will see them. The outgoing officer can go without worrying about what they forgot to hand over.
Could your club survive an officer stepping down?
- Club accounts are registered to officers' personal email addresses.
- Club files live on personal laptops.
- Nobody else knows when the insurance or affiliation renews.
- Passwords are shared by text or on paper.
- Roles are hard to fill because they look too big.