Resources for Clubs

Welcome to the wonderful world of clubs!

The Clubs Team is a La Trobe University department dedicated to supporting clubs across all campuses. We have staff based on the Bundoora and Bendigo campuses and we travel to support clubs on other campuses. Currently we have 88 clubs across four campuses, with over 5,000 registered members.

We are funded through SSAF and all our clubs are run by elected student executives (known as Club Execs). Our clubs cover the following areas: Academic, Creative & Fun, Cultural & Faith, Political & Social Justice, Special Interest and Wellbeing & Community. If you're interested in a Sports Club, you can reach out to our friends at La Trobe Sports.

So far this year (as of 1 August 2024):

• Clubs have registered over 1,500 events to take place in 2024, with over 36,000 expected attendees
• The Clubs Team have delivered over 360 development and celebration activities for our wonderful Club Exec
• The Clubs Team have distributed over $200,000 in grant funding to clubs!

You can quickly access all our forms, resources and guides at:

• Key Links & Forms: linktr.ee/ltuclubs
• Key Resource Documents: linktr.ee/ltuclubsresources

Staff looking to learn more about the Clubs Team and how the Clubs Program works can contact us by email.

How we help

The Clubs Team is here to help your club be the best it can be and support you to do what you do! We provide: support and advice; training, mentoring and development; celebration activities and rewards; promotional events and activities; funding and grants; events, governance, leadership, financial & risk guidance; in person & online meetings at times that suit you; regular club catch ups, for you to meet other clubs; mediation and support; room bookings; and facilitation across campus. We are your gateway to La Trobe - we facilitate and support engagement with other teams, departments and academics!

Need support? Got a question?

Don't worry - we've got your back! We run Drop In Sessions on Mondays (11am - 12pm) and Thursdays (2.30pm - 4.30pm) throughout semester. Outside of those times, you can book in at at a time that suits you via our calendly.com/ltuclubs on Monday - Thursday. We hold meetings online and in person at Bundoora and Bendigo.

You can also submit any queries via our General Queries form.  Note that we try and respond to all emails and queries within 7 days.

Getting started & affiliation

If you're thinking about setting up a new club, we'd love to help you! We try to keep it as simple as possible and will hold your hand throughout.

A club needs just six students (Bendigo or Bundoora) or four students (all other campuses/online) to affiliate! And if you're just starting out, we can help you find new members, if you are struggling to reach that! New and re-establishing clubs can choose to pre-affiliate prior to affiliation, which gets you access to support from the Clubs Team to help get you up and running.

The first step towards setting up and affiliation is coming to our monthly "How To Start A Club" Info Session. Check out the dates and book in here to start your club journey! Note: it is a requirement of pre-affiliation and affiliation to have attended one of these sessions.

If you are an established club (running for more than 12 months, with an elected Exec) who would like to look into affiliating with the La Trobe Clubs Program, please submit a General Query to discuss the best next steps for you.

Affiliation rounds for 2024:

• 1 - 31 January
• 17 May - 17 June
• 7 August - 6 September
• 1 November -  15 December [Affiliation for 2025 only]

Being an Exec (the basics)

There are many perks to being an Exec, including: being part of a vibrant University community; making friends; gaining experience in a leadership role; supporting your community; networking; meeting potential employers (volunteering is very attractive on a resume!); representing a student voice; receiving the Career Ready Advantage Award; professional and personal development opportunities and... having fun! You'll also get experience in running a wide range of events, activities and projects!

The first thing all Exec should do is read our Exec Handbook. It contains a brief intro into all the important key elements to being an Exec, including:

• Club Requirements
• Governance
• Finance
• Events
• Grants
• Clubs Team support

Training & Exec events

Club Execs do such an amazing job at developing your communities and running your clubs. To support you, we run a number of events and training sessions throughout semester to bring you all together, so you can meet, learn, get to know each other, share experiences and celebrate your hard work!

We provide dates and information for these via the Clubs Newsletter.

Templates & guidance docs

Check out our templates and documents at linktr.ee/ltuclubsresources. This includes templates for your Constitution, Minutes, Membership List, Emergency Contacts and Grant Budgets.

What happens when?

It's all happening in Clubs Land - so we manage different tasks and requests on different days:

• Mondays: Event Regos processed, Semester Drop Ins (11am - 12pm)
• Tuesdays: Bendigo Market Days (Weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10)
• Wednesday: Governance requests processed
• Thursdays: Bundoora Market Days (Weeks 1  - 10), Semester Drop Ins (2.30pm - 4.30pm)
• Friday: Finance requests processed

Note that standard Event Regos and Finance Requests take a minimum 2 weeks to be processed. Governance requests take a minimum 3 weeks and larger or more complex Event Regos take a minimum 4 weeks.

Basic requirements

Clubs are a huge part of the University experience, creating community and connection, and supporting students to get the most out of their time at La Trobe. Clubs are given a lot of freedom to self-govern and design their own events, projects and activities.

In line with the freedom, there are requirements that all clubs must meet, in order to stay affiliated and run activity on campus, as detailed in the Exec Handbook. A key thing to remember is that you must undertake all activity and spend in line with the Constitutional aims of your club and act in good faith on behalf of the club and La Trobe.

Being an Exec

As an Exec, you take on responsibility for the overall development and operations of the club. You are a key member in ensuring the club achieves its aims during the year, meets its governance and administration requirements, and provides a democratic, inclusive space for members. In relation to your governance, Execs are responsible for:

• Reading the club’s Constitution and ensuring the club meets the requirements set out within in, including that all decisions, events, financial spend and activities are undertaken in line with the club’s Constitutional aims;
• Ensure that the club is democratic, inclusive and open to all members and that you listen to members want;
• Understand and abide by the Club's Teams processes and timelines;
• Planning for succession, including identifying and training members to run for Exec positions at the next AGM;
• Organising Exec Meetings (and showing up!), taking minutes, and saving all your documents in an accessible shared drive;

Day-to-day, all Exec must: submit forms and requests on time (meeting deadlines); update the Clubs Team on club activity, plans and changes; check your Club Email Address (even outside of semester); read the Clubs Team Newsletter and any other comms sent by the team; and attend at least one Clubs Team training session and one clubs community event per semester.

You can read more about Club requirements and the basics of Being an Exec in the Blue Section of the Exec Handbook.

Governance

Club Governance is a vital part of your role as a Club Exec and helps ensure your club is properly managed, supported and transparent for your members. Understanding your Constitution, working with the Clubs Team, and maintaining membership communication are all key to good governance.

Learn more about Constitutions, Meetings, Membership and Elections in the Yellow Section of the Exec Handbook.

Events

If Clubs are the heart of student experience, club events and activities are absolutely the soul of student life! Clubs run over a thousand events and activities each year and we’re here to help you with them! The Clubs Team supports you with everything from room bookings and equipment hire, to risk assessment, budgeting, planning, payments and expert advice to promotion, ticketing and more.

The Events Rego

As a Club Exec, you'll become good friends with the Events Rego - as it needs to be submitted for all your events and activities (no matter how big or small, on campus, off campus or online). You use this form to tell us about your events, submit your risk assessment (vital to ensure you're covered by La Trobe insurance!) and ask for support (such as room bookings). Events should be registered at least two weeks before your activity takes place (or four weeks for bigger events!)

Learn more about Events and the Events Rego, plus get ideas for activities you could do in the Green Section of the Exec Handbook.

Finance

Clubs funding comes from your SSAF and sits within the University.

When you successfully affiliate, we assign you an account line with a unique reference code (known as a 'WBS'). This account line will remain the same for however many years you choose to affiliate with us. Students do not have access to University Finance or the WBS system and so we provide you access to it, facilitating payments, income and account reviews (‘WBS reports’).

Accessing your funding

There are three avenues for accessing and spending your funds:

• Payment via invoice (where the La Trobe Finance Team pays for you) [preferred option]
• Payment via the Clubs Team corporate card (where we pay for you)
• Payment via reimbursements (where a member pays and claims the costs back)

You can submit invoices and credit card payment requests via the Clubs Finance Form. Reimbursements can be claimed via the Reimbursement Portal. Note: it must be the member who spent the funds who claims the reimbursement - you should not claim a reimbursement on someone else's behalf.

Read more about Finances, including income (such as ticketing and invoicing for sponsors), expenditure and how we work with you to access your funds in the Pink Section of the Exec Handbook.

Note that all Finance Requests  (outside of Reimbursement) take a minimum 2 weeks notice to be processed.

OneStop

OneStop is the University's fee-free payment platform. Clubs can use this for membership, ticketing, merch and other payments and the funds go directly into your WBS.  You can request a payment page be set up via the OneStop Form. You'll need to include a completed OneStop Template, which you can download at linktr.ee/ltuclubsresources.

Grants

We love supporting clubs to do all your great work - and we love giving you money to make it all happen! Affiliated clubs get access to our two main Grants Funding Schemes:

• Activation Grants - designed to support the activation, publicity and general running of clubs. These are automatically allocated upon qualification.
• Activity Grants - designed to support club activity and ensure successful delivery of events and projects. Clubs apply for these, through the grant applictation process.

Affiliated clubs can received grants ranging from $50 - $5,000. Pre-affiliated clubs get access to $500 Start Up Funding.

To apply for our Activity Grants, you need to submit an application and a grant budget (template available at linktr.ee/ltuclubsresources) within an official grant round. Note: grants should be finalised before your project/event date.

Grant rounds run:

• Friday 23 February - Friday 28 March
• Tuesday 9 April - Friday 17 May
• Tuesday 4 June - Friday 5 July
• Friday 19 July - Friday 23 August

Find out more about grants (including application requirements) in the Purple Section of the Exec Handbook.

Guidance videos for Club Execs

To help you engage with the Clubs Program, we're building a bank of video info sessions, which you can access at a time that suits you!

As we make more, we'll add them below!

Finance 101

Training for Club Execs

We've partnered with the Student Experience Network to provide you with intro level guidance on how to undertake your roles and support the governance of your club.

We also offer training sessions throughout the semester - keep your eyes on your Club Email for updates and invites!

Exec roles

Running Your Club | Videos

Running Your Club | Guides & worksheets