Royal Navy and Royal Marines Mountaineering Club – Admin Down 70%

Royal Navy and Royal Marines Mountaineering Club

The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Mountaineering Club (RNRMMC) exists for the promotion of military efficiency through mountaineering. Their primary aim is to foster recreation through a variety of disciplines including sport climbing, bouldering and traditional climbing which is an exclusive outdoor affair and one of the purest forms of climbing. RNRMMC has over 500 members and dates back to the end of the second World War when it was originally known as the Royal Navy Ski and Mountaineering Club.

The Challenge - Before LoveAdmin

RNRMMC predominantly used a paper-based system in the past. New members filled out a joining form and direct debit mandate acquired from their local sports centre or by photocopying this from the club’s annual magazine. These were posted to the club’s secretary who logged this information into spreadsheets.

Club Official, Dave Barrett initially joined RNRMMC as a member in the early 80s, and before LoveAdmin he was managing their direct debit system. When direct debit mandates accumulated, these were sent off to respective banks, and then the club waited for acceptance before allowing new members to join. Payment reconciliation was another “mandraulic” task for Dave. Statements issued by their direct debit provider displayed only the number of direct debits to be collected and not who these direct debits were from which meant a whole lot of time spent manually matching up sort codes and account numbers against member records.

Seeking improved processes, communication and modernisation

Dave said, “The management nature of the club was geographically dispersed volunteers which meant things were very protracted”. Sometimes people who had applied to join the club wouldn’t know anything for months because of various direct debit or postal delays. These processes were also laborious and costly. In essence, RNRMMC were seeking a new system to “speed up process times for new members and improve communication flow between club officials and the live membership because that’s where the club started to fall quite badly”. They also wanted to utilise newer technology and modernise.

The club invested in a new direct debit system which enabled direct debits to be set up and collected much quicker. Before this was rolled out, Dave looked into online membership management systems, and LoveAdmin came out on top because it was “best suited to a membership organisation”, “better priced” and “offered the right level of service”. Not only that, but their new direct debit provider was already integrated with LoveAdmin!

The Solution - After LoveAdmin

Firstly, some positive words from Dave, “LoveAdmin has revolutionised the way we manage our members’ information, how we communicate with them and vastly improved our speed of response in terms of dealing with prospective members.” Members interested in joining the club now register using an online membership form connected to LoveAdmin. There are no wait times, and the club assesses membership eligibility when applications come through.

As members have online accounts which they can access from the mobile app, they are accountable for keeping their personal information up to date which means there’s much less room for error. In previous years, typos were made, names transposed, and the club was sometimes left wondering whether they had the latest contact details for their members. With LoveAdmin, membership groups are quick to set up, and the club can trust that they’re always emailing the correct group of members with the most accurate details.

Out of the dark ages and into the light

Payment collection and reconciliation are completely streamlined and have taken RNRMMC “out of the dark ages and into the light”. Most of their members pay via direct debit and it’s much simpler to see what’s been set up, what’s gone through and what’s bounced. The club tracks non-payers with automated payment reminders and can see who’s opened and click on their emails. On a similar note, LoveAdmin’s automated renewals have reduced the club’s manual input into the system every year – and again, the big benefit here is the ease around chasing outstanding payments.

RNRMMC also use the events feature for mountaineering meets – they currently host 12 every year in various locations from Scotland to Cornwall and they love how quick it is to set these up in LoveAdmin as well how simply members can sign up. From a GDPR perspective, there’s no longer the need for expensive secure postage costs, password sharing or keeping spreadsheets hidden away. With LoveAdmin everyone has individual accounts and the club’s “information is secure in the cloud and encrypted in a way that no one unauthorised can access it”.

The Results

On a final note, Dave commented – “LoveAdmin hasn’t just reduced my admin as a treasurer, but it’s also reduced the admin of our membership secretary and meet secretary. In total, we’ve experienced a 70% reduction in admin time and our overall workload.”

“LoveAdmin is really intuitive – you just log in and the system takes you through the steps you need to do. Even if we have a problem, the beauty of the team is that they’re very solution-focused. I just fire a support ticket and within a day someone always comes back to me.”