Completing the RYA Club Membership Census matters more than you think

By now, the annual call to complete the Club Membership Census will have landed in your club’s inbox and, as ever, we’re asking for your support in taking the time to complete it.

While it might feel like just another admin task, its impacts ripple far beyond just numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about ensuring the health of our sailing and boating community.

The census is our most important tool for understanding who you are, the make-up of club membership, how your club benchmarks against others both in your region and nationally – and crucially, how best we can support you in developing targeted activity to continue to grow, or to address recruitment or retention challenges.

In some cases, it can help us to unlock resourcing opportunities from potential funders, partners and local authorities.

Without this insight, we’re navigating blind. But with it, we can make smart, targeted moves that benefit everyone – clubs, members, volunteers and the wider sport.

It’s vital that as many clubs as possible complete their information for us to have confidence that our data is representative and therefore helps properly inform our decision-making.

How we use the data

When you share overall numbers about your club’s membership levels, we’re able to crunch all the data and generate an accurate picture nationally, regionally, and for each club, detailing how their membership stats compare. 

Our team of Regional Managers can also access this information for clubs in their regions, and are available to discuss what it all means, and some strategies to build on success or help address any areas of concern.

Some examples where the census data has helped drive action include a Midlands membership churn project, while another Midlands-based club developed strategies to better attract and engage with female participants and schools off the back of their insights.

Simple to complete

Completing the census is straightforward via a link to the census form. 

This request will have been sent via email to either your Membership Secretary, Commodore, Treasurer or Secretary. If you haven’t seen it, please can get in touch with Victoria.Lenz@rya.org.uk 

When you see the reminder pop up, please take a few minutes to fill it in, and know that you’re helping us build a stronger, more connected sailing community.