The how-to guide to becoming a TTV Affiliate

(Incorporated Association - INC)

1. Get the process started .....

Firstly, you need a group of at least 5 players, wanting to become a part of the TTV family. We'll use an old favorite of TTV's as an example :)

They need to have a meeting (with minutes) to make the following resolutions:

• "Albert Park Table Tennis" resolves to become an affiliate of Table Tennis Victoria and take all steps to ensure this outcome.
• "Albert Park Table Tennis" resolves to register for an ABN, TFN and register as an incorporated association in accordance with the ATO and CAV
• "Albert Park Table Tennis" resolves to adopt the "Model Rules For an Incorporated Association" as set out by Consumer Affairs Victoria under the "Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012"

A vote will need to be taken to for these resolutions

More in-depth instructions can be found on the Consumer Affairs Victoria website, Ultimate Frisbee https://afda.com/starting-a-new-club, and www.ourcommunity.com.au

I have also attached to the bottom of this page a copy of the Model Rules from CAV - There is also a wizard to help create a constitution that has been put out by Justice Connect, it's a much easier way to step by step create a constitution: https://apps.nfplaw.org.au/vic-rules-tool/

Work out amongst yourselves who is going to do what - who is going to be the treasurer, who will be the 'company secretary' to do all the below paperwork, who will be the president, etc. Work out how you are going to pay for all of this. Annual affiliation fees to TTV, bank fees, lodgment fees, other admin fees that you could incur, like accounting software, hall rental for your matches/coaching/training. Make sure you have a good idea of all this before going forward with the process.

2. Sign up for an email account .....

DO: Make it relevant to the club, easy to identify and remember. Use a web-based email service like Gmail, Live, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc so that you don't lose the email address if someone switches ISP's or jobs

Examples of good email addresses used by current TTV affiliates:

• aintreetabletennisclub@gmail.com, 

• secretary@awtta.org.au, 

• ballarattabletennis@gmail.com, 

• secretary@coburgtabletennis.club, 

• info@tabletennisgeelong.com.au, 

• leongathatt@hotmail.com, etc

DON'T: Make it something hard to remember or associate with your club or a personal address or linked to a certain internet provider or workplace

Examples of bad email addresses:

• gocipt46@hotmail.com, 
• dave9654827@gmail.com, 
• kevin@ncable.com.au, 
• jackie@bigpond.com, etc

Note: this email address should stay with your club and belongs to the club, not a personal email address or something that could be lost when you change jobs or internet service providers. Also, the ones provided by ISP's tend to have an inbox data limit, whereas Gmail and Hotmail have 15GB, which means there won't be emails bouncing back when getting too many!

The reason for this is for continuity of contact - when someone moves on from the club or someone new becomes involved, having a 'club' email that is used as the main point of contact saves a lot of hassle of having to constantly keep everyone up to date with who to send emails to. An email address is listed on the National Club Finder, and also on brochures that TTV produces from time to time. Vital information gets sent out from the TTV office via email all the time, so having a constant email address no matter who is in charge of it at the club end will maintain the lines of communication between TTV, your club, and your members.

3. Register as an incorporated association

One of the steps in becoming Incorporated is to have a constitution. There is a wizard to help create a constitution that has been put out by Justice Connect, it's a much easier way to step by step create a constitution: https://apps.nfplaw.org.au/vic-rules-tool/

https://afda.com/incorporation-constitutions

https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/clubs-and-fundraising/incorporated-associations/become-an-incorporated-association/register-as-an-incorporated-association

The manual process is where you have to print and fill out a form from CAV, and post it in with accompanying payment (cheque, money order, or filling in credit card details). If your club is adopting the Model Rules, then the fee is $35.60, if you want to have your own constitution, then the fee is $206.20. 

4. Sign up for a tax file number for business

Once you are incorporated, next you sign up for a Tax File Number:

https://abr.gov.au/For-Business,-Super-funds---Charities/Applying-for-other-registrations/Apply-for-a-TFN-for-business/

5. Sign up for an ABN

Once you are incorporated, you sign up for an ABN

https://www.abr.gov.au/business-super-funds-charities/applying-abn

6.  Open a clubs bank account

A very good summary of different accounts on offer from the banks can be found at "Starting a Club Bank Account"

When you do this is up to you, when first starting the club you could use your own personal bank account, but long term a club bank account would be needed

Note: To get a business account you need an ABN and incorporation number

https://afda.com/money-talk

7. Fill out the 2024 TTV NEW AFFILIATION APPLICATION FORM

Optional Extras:

Register your domain name (URL)

TTV provides each of its Affiliates with its very own revsport portal. The address for these portals is https://www.revolutionise.com.au/CLUBNAME

If you would like your own URL, you will have to register it and then have the URL pointing to the revsport portal.

Note: to get .com.au or .org.au you need an ABN

Some hosting companies, give you the ability to use the URL as an email address (like info@tabletennisvic.org.au). You always run the risk of having the email address tied to the hosting company (like what I said earlier about having an email address that is tied to a particular ISP), but there are ways of using Google Business to get around that if you wanted to explore that option.

Accounting Software

Depending on your budget, something other than excel will help in the long run.

https://www.freeaccountingsoftware.com.au/

http://www.xero.com

Xero is an excellent choice and has the option to apply for not-for-profit status where you get a discount on a monthly subscription.

Side note: For those who are interested, this is the last document TTV sent out as a guide back in 2005. Some things have changed, but others haven't.