Stuart Macdonald in Adelaide, South Australia | Entrepreneur

Stuart Macdonald

Locality: Adelaide, South Australia

Phone: +61 475 846 853

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Sport & recreation
• Business service
• Business consultant
• Entrepreneur

25.01.2022 Im not feeling like theres enough information coming from our peak bodies at the moment. I get it, theyve been decimated financially so they have very few staff left. And there seems to be almost no one who was connected to grassroots sport left. If youre keen to put your club on the right track, send me a message and I will put you into my free community of like minded volunteers who are working with me to make good things happen.

24.01.2022 Spent a fair bit of time running through the AIS guide for getting back to sport. Firstly, that's a power of work... No small undertaking to provide what is essentially a guide for all sports at all levels in Australia. It's also really clear and concise when you get into the Exec Summary - it prescribes the level of contact and measures you need to undertake to meet your obligations, and it covers professional and amateur/participation sports separately.... Check out the document at the link below, if you're feeling brave have a look at the full document. I am most interested in the guidelines that show "Resumption of community sport and recreation activity should take place in a staged fashion with an initial phase of small group (<10) activities in a non-contact fashion, prior to moving on to a subsequent phase of large group (>10) activities including full contact training/competition in sport. Individual jurisdictions will determine progression through these phases, taking account of local epidemiology, risk mitigation strategies and public health capability. This includes the resumption of children’s outdoor sport with strict physical distancing measures for non-sporting attendees such as parents. This includes the resumption of outdoor recreational activities including (but not limited to) outdoor-based personal training and boot camps, golf, fishing, bush-walking, swimming, etc" I suspect junior sport will be the first place many of us begin to socialise under 'new world' conditions, it will be interesting to see how it plays out and whether the individual sports, associations or clubs accept their new responsibilities. Time to recruit a new volunteer at your club, someone who can judge 1.5m with their eye is a necessary skill for the role! If you're daunted about your club's role in this, feel free to message me and I will send you an invitation to my Facebook group where we can work together on how it plays out for you. https://ais.gov.au/health-wellbeing/covid-19

22.01.2022 The raffle. The last few years I reckon Ive had the most fun you can have whilst having a positive impact on my club. Raising $6k per year that goes back to the club, directly, plus plenty more indirectly through bar takings at our functions.... Before I get into what we do now, I should tell you what we did when I started. It worked, dont get me wrong, but it was a grind and far less lucrative for the club. The social club had been run by the same guy for 29 years, which is a stellar effort, phenomenal even. He raised thousands for the club and thoroughly earned his life membership. Without change. A handwritten ledger for memberships. No change in membership price. No change in raffle ticket price. Or prizes. Raffle ticket sellers were needed each week, usually about 3 to get around the room quick enough to sell out of tickets. Not allowed in to the half-time function or annual marquee day without a membership. Club benefit sat at around $3k, max. $200 in raffle ticket sales each home game. Tomorrow I will begin to unpack the changes we made that increased our fundraising 100%.

22.01.2022 So were on day 3 of the raffle story. To recap quickly, the raffle worked, but it wasnt very efficient. So we opened up for anyone to join in, which cost us some memberships but increased our overall raffle income by more than wed lost. We also changed the environment, it was more fun, people wanted to be part of it.... 2 more changes were made to give the end result - a doubling of our total funds raised from $3k per annum to $6k. We changed up the prizes a little bit. We offered less. A carton of beer, split into 6 packs (donated), a meal voucher at the club (donated), a bottle of wine or two, if they were donated. Plus 3 meat trays. Wed always had meat trays, but we stepped it up. We had a new sponsor for our social club, who is a great club person and sponsored the footy club. He provided massive meat trays of great quality meats. 3 of them, for the price of 2. So we spent some money, $1k per season, but we were getting $1.5k in meat trays. People actually wanted to win the meat trays. Not the normal half time prize where if you won, it was nice, but not great. Winning these was great. People were increasing their raffle spend. But we still maxed out our ticket sales and had reached a cap. So we doubled our ticket prices. From 3 for $1 to 3 for $2. If you spent $10, you probably still spent $10. If you spent $5 you spent $4 or $6, there was no push to sell more. But people bought more. And there were more people buying. It was something people enjoyed being part of, even when the team wasnt playing well, wed fill our room up and sell all of our tickets. The queues start about 10 minutes before half time to buy tickets. We dont have to leave the raffle table to sell. We sell out of tickets in plenty of time to draw the raffle. And thats how we doubled our fundraising with a simple raffle - we doubled our prices, offered less prizes and cancelled our push for memberships. Makes perfect sense!

20.01.2022 There's been some discussions I've been part of/have heard about that indicate some parents are reticent to allow their kids to be involved in sport in the near future. The concerns stem around uncertainty of parents being able to watch and their kids being in close contact with groups of people they don't know the background of. They're valid concerns and need to be considered by clubs as part of the transition back to playing.... I have the planning tool ready and it includes these aspects as well as others, if you need a guide reach out with a message or click below. https://rebrand.ly/exit_hib

19.01.2022 Today Ive launched my website, its a bit exciting. Theres free resources for clubs in my library. A free invitation to the Virtual Volunteer Community to link up with other club volunteers.... Theres other stuff there too that will help you manage your club. Are you ready to come out of isolation? Check it out www.stumac.co

18.01.2022 Communicate. The simple key to unlocking your club potential. Talk to your members.... Your sponsors. Your athletes. Your coaches. Your suppliers. Most importantly, your volunteers. Half of them are probably at home bored and will welcome your distraction if you give them a call. Theyll probably thank you if you give them a job to do. Build a plan and find them a job.

14.01.2022 Yes, there's free stuff too! Each month I will add a new web guide to the collection - if you have a request for a topic comment below. http://www.stumac.co/downloads_web_guides_1/

14.01.2022 Sporting club volunteers... What are you up to? In all the uncertainty, we know our clubs arent allowed to play right now. No better time to do club development activities.... What else are you going to do?

14.01.2022 For a short time, I am offering my Exit Hibernation Plan for a 1-time price of just $99 (Normally $198). http://www.stumac.co/cfs/hibernation-call/ Ensure your club is ready when were given the green light to play sport again.... Take advantage of more than 20 years in sport at all levels from volunteer to CEO of a peak body.

13.01.2022 Right now is the opportunity youve been waiting for. An opportunity to reset. To go after the dream.... The vision. Cut the bloat and the fat of the things you should be doing. And do the things you NEED to be doing. Be deliberate about your decisions. Put yourself in the right environment. Invest your resources wisely. If youve been dreaming of change, it just found you. Embrace it.

12.01.2022 I dont have time to get organised and apply for that stuff. Ive heard that a lot over the years and now I can call bulldust on it. No longer are we too busy cooking bbqs or finding players at the last minute, we have the time to work on our clubs.... I can help you out, for free. Recently the South Australian Government announced a funding package for grassroots sporting clubs. The Grassroots Football, Cricket, and Netball Facility Program is facilitated by the Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing and has a budget of $5m (this is the third round of the program). This is a great opportunity for clubs to improve their facilities, particularly targeted at increasing inclusiveness at your club. If you need a hand to get organised for an application, schedule a free 30 minute planning session with me at the link in the comments.

11.01.2022 Who am I to tell you what to do with your club, I hear you ask? Fair question. I first volunteered as a little kid, though I didnt realise it.... Dad was chairman at the footy club and my brothers and I were always given jobs to do. Mum was in the canteen most weekends and we helped out there too (for 10 or 20 cents worth of cobbers if we did it quietly). Consciously, I began volunteering around 25 years ago and since then I have been a runner, umpire, scorer, linesman, coach, assistant coach, secretary, director, chairman, treasurer, timekeeper, team manager and first aid officer. In 4 different sports. Ive also spent over a decade working in sport, having been a club General Manager as well as Development Officer, Regional Manager and CEO of State Sporting Organisations. 2 different sports there. You name it, Ive seen it. Politics, Parents, Volunteers, Finances... I get regular requests to join committees in senior positions to help clubs out, but I have always felt like I could do more, help more clubs. So thats what I am doing. We have heaps of cool free stuff like guides, courses and support groups and would love to see you there. Comment below and I will hook you up.

11.01.2022 Yes, theres free stuff too! Each month I will add a new web guide to the collection - if you have a request for a topic comment below. http://www.stumac.co/downloads_web_guides_1/

11.01.2022 So we're on day 3 of the raffle story. To recap quickly, the raffle worked, but it wasn't very efficient. So we opened up for anyone to join in, which cost us some memberships but increased our overall raffle income by more than we'd lost. We also changed the environment, it was more fun, people wanted to be part of it.... 2 more changes were made to give the end result - a doubling of our total funds raised from $3k per annum to $6k. We changed up the prizes a little bit. We offered less. A carton of beer, split into 6 packs (donated), a meal voucher at the club (donated), a bottle of wine or two, if they were donated. Plus 3 meat trays. We'd always had meat trays, but we stepped it up. We had a new sponsor for our social club, who is a great club person and sponsored the footy club. He provided massive meat trays of great quality meats. 3 of them, for the price of 2. So we spent some money, $1k per season, but we were getting $1.5k in meat trays. People actually wanted to win the meat trays. Not the normal half time prize where if you won, it was nice, but not great. Winning these was great. People were increasing their raffle spend. But we still maxed out our ticket sales and had reached a cap. So we doubled our ticket prices. From 3 for $1 to 3 for $2. If you spent $10, you probably still spent $10. If you spent $5 you spent $4 or $6, there was no push to sell more. But people bought more. And there were more people buying. It was something people enjoyed being part of, even when the team wasn't playing well, we'd fill our room up and sell all of our tickets. The queues start about 10 minutes before half time to buy tickets. We don't have to leave the raffle table to sell. We sell out of tickets in plenty of time to draw the raffle. And that's how we doubled our fundraising with a simple raffle - we doubled our prices, offered less prizes and cancelled our push for memberships. Makes perfect sense!

10.01.2022 Is your club ready? We are all getting itchy feet, we think were ready to get back into our local sport. But if youre not ready, youll be left behind.... Comment below and Ill send you a link to a group of people working together.

10.01.2022 Dont waste your isolation, your club needs you.

09.01.2022 Ive started a facebook group assisting grassroots clubs work their way into a strong position during shutdown. Who wants in? Weve got volunteers from footy, cricket, soccer... we dont mind where youre from, the help is free and ready for you.... Comment below with the 4th emoji in your recently used emojis and I will send you the link.

09.01.2022 Spent a fair bit of time running through the AIS guide for getting back to sport. Firstly, thats a power of work... No small undertaking to provide what is essentially a guide for all sports at all levels in Australia. Its also really clear and concise when you get into the Exec Summary - it prescribes the level of contact and measures you need to undertake to meet your obligations, and it covers professional and amateur/participation sports separately.... Check out the document at the link below, if youre feeling brave have a look at the full document. I am most interested in the guidelines that show "Resumption of community sport and recreation activity should take place in a staged fashion with an initial phase of small group (<10) activities in a non-contact fashion, prior to moving on to a subsequent phase of large group (>10) activities including full contact training/competition in sport. Individual jurisdictions will determine progression through these phases, taking account of local epidemiology, risk mitigation strategies and public health capability. This includes the resumption of childrens outdoor sport with strict physical distancing measures for non-sporting attendees such as parents. This includes the resumption of outdoor recreational activities including (but not limited to) outdoor-based personal training and boot camps, golf, fishing, bush-walking, swimming, etc" I suspect junior sport will be the first place many of us begin to socialise under new world conditions, it will be interesting to see how it plays out and whether the individual sports, associations or clubs accept their new responsibilities. Time to recruit a new volunteer at your club, someone who can judge 1.5m with their eye is a necessary skill for the role! If youre daunted about your clubs role in this, feel free to message me and I will send you an invitation to my Facebook group where we can work together on how it plays out for you. https://ais.gov.au/health-wellbeing/covid-19

08.01.2022 Yesterday I talked about the raffle I run as a volunteer, specifically how it used to be run and that in a few years I had doubled the return our little social club returns to the club - from $3k to $6k each year. First change I made was to open things up. Historically you needed to be a member to be part of things and that is good in theory - we get membership fees for everyone involved - in practicality we were cutting ourselves off from people who would spend a membership ...fee in raffle tickets every week. Our member numbers dropped. Halved, approximately. But we only charge $10 for membership, so it cost us roughly $1k per annum as we went from 200 to 100 paid up members. But that was OK because we made considerably more than that by letting anyone buy tickets. The next change was about how we turned up each week. We made it upbeat, we made people feel welcome and we made sure people knew we were grateful for their support. Simple, obvious changes that are essential - if people feel good about you they want to help you out. It also attracts more people to our raffle. We went from seats full and a few guys at the bar to a full room, people arriving early to get their tickets. We even stopped walking the room selling tickets, we had them queuing up at the prize table. Our return increased up to 50% some weeks by doing these two things, minimum 30% increase. Tomorrow I will outline the last two changes that we made to double our returns. A couple of hints - no technology and it was easier than what we were already doing.

07.01.2022 Theres been some discussions Ive been part of/have heard about that indicate some parents are reticent to allow their kids to be involved in sport in the near future. The concerns stem around uncertainty of parents being able to watch and their kids being in close contact with groups of people they dont know the background of. Theyre valid concerns and need to be considered by clubs as part of the transition back to playing.... I have the planning tool ready and it includes these aspects as well as others, if you need a guide reach out with a message or click below. https://rebrand.ly/exit_hib

04.01.2022 Hibernate your club. Sounds simple. Because it is.... If youre having difficulty then Ive got just the guide for you to ensure youve covered it all. Comment below and I will hook you up with a guide and a group of people working together to ensure their club is the best positioned to escape isolation.

04.01.2022 The raffle. The last few years I reckon I've had the most fun you can have whilst having a positive impact on my club. Raising $6k per year that goes back to the club, directly, plus plenty more indirectly through bar takings at our functions.... Before I get into what we do now, I should tell you what we did when I started. It worked, don't get me wrong, but it was a grind and far less lucrative for the club. The social club had been run by the same guy for 29 years, which is a stellar effort, phenomenal even. He raised thousands for the club and thoroughly earned his life membership. Without change. A handwritten ledger for memberships. No change in membership price. No change in raffle ticket price. Or prizes. Raffle ticket sellers were needed each week, usually about 3 to get around the room quick enough to sell out of tickets. Not allowed in to the half-time function or annual marquee day without a membership. Club benefit sat at around $3k, max. $200 in raffle ticket sales each home game. Tomorrow I will begin to unpack the changes we made that increased our fundraising 100%.

03.01.2022 Ive made a quick guide to make sure your club is covering off everything you need to right now. Its generic and probably not comprehensive, but a good start for you. Comment below for a free copy.