RMIT University Student Union. For Students, By Students.
- rusu@rmit.edu.au
RMIT University Student Union. For Students, By Students.
Running a Club requires some effort, but with the right processes and procedures, it can be a smooth experience. Knowing what steps to follow will ensure your Club operates efficiently on a day-to-day basis.
There are two components to a Clubs Committee, a Club will always have an executive team who are primarily the ones leading and managing the Club, but Clubs will often also have ‘General Committee Members’ who will assist. See below to understand the difference between these roles.
The Executive team is responsible for the overall management, administration, and governance of the Club. Executive positions are generally elected annually by Club members at the Annual General Meeting. However, executives may be appointed rather than elected in certain circumstances, such as when filling a single vacant position from a resigning executive or when establishing the first Executive team of a newly affiliated or lapsed re-affiliating Club.
Clubs must have a minimum of four and a maximum of seven executives. The following positions are mandatory:
Additional executive positions may vary between Clubs, but common examples include:
Executives are ultimately responsible for ensuring the Club operates in accordance with RMIT and RUSU requirements, manages its finances appropriately, and conducts activities safely and effectively in line with the Clubs Aims.
To better understand these roles and Executive responsibilities, check out the next section ‘Executive Positions’.
General Committee Members are not required but for many Clubs they are vital to keep the Club functioning, the number of General Committee Members, their responsibilities, and the expectations placed on them can vary significantly between Clubs. Some Clubs may have a large General Committee, while others may have only a few or none at all.
General Committee Members may be appointed by the Executive team at an executive meeting, and if the team chooses they can title these positions similar to executive roles – however it is important to remember they are not the same as executives.
The role of General Committee Members is flexible. Depending on the Club, they may:
In some Clubs, General Committee Members function primarily as event volunteers who will mostly work towards assisting in the delivery of events, while in others they may take on responsibilities that closely resemble those of executives.
While responsibilities can be delegated to General Committee Members, certain functions must remain with the Executive team. General Committee Members:
Whilst at times General Committee Members may assist with some of the above tasks, executives are ultimately accountable, they should maintain appropriate oversight of delegated tasks.
To ensure clear and consistent communication, the Club’s assigned Clubs Officer will generally communicate directly with the Executive team rather than General Committee Members.
The following role descriptions are intended as a guide to help Clubs allocate responsibilities and organise their Executive team. Every Club operates differently, and executives should work collaboratively to ensure all necessary tasks are completed.
Executives are not limited to the responsibilities listed under their position – inevitably running a Club require flexibility and many tasks may not align perfectly with any one executive’s role, or may be too much for one role to handle alone. It requires a lot of teamwork to ensure tasks are delegated equitably, but organisation and communication are the key to ensuring everything runs smoothly.
The President provides overall leadership and direction for the Club. They are responsible for overseeing the Club’s operations, ensuring the committee is functioning effectively, and acting as the primary representative of the Club when it comes to dealing with external stakeholders. The President typically chairs meetings, supports other executives in their roles, and helps ensure everything is running smoothly with clear and effective communication between all internal and external parties.
Note: The President is not ‘in charge’ of the Club, all executive roles are equal and have an equal vote on all Club matters. The President is a leader and will often be in charge of delegating tasks, but the team must make decisions together.
The Secretary is responsible for the Club’s administration and record-keeping. This may include preparing agendas, taking meeting minutes, maintaining Club records, managing the Club email, managing the Clubs membership and assisting with compliance and reporting requirements.
The Treasurer oversees the Club’s finances and financial administration. Responsibilities may include budgeting, making payments, monitoring income and expenditure, maintaining financial records, applying for grants, preparing financial acquittals/reports and helping ensure funds are managed responsibly.
The Vice-President supports the President and assists with the overall management of the Club. They may take responsibility for specific projects, provide additional leadership within the committee and act in the President’s place when required. This is a very flexible role that may adapt to the needs of the Club.
The Events Officer coordinates the planning and delivery of Club activities and events. This may include developing event ideas, organising logistics, liaising with venues and suppliers, coordinating volunteers and running events.
Note: Organising and running events is a huge job and can involve many aspects such as planning, budgeting, booking rooms/venues, liaising with stakeholders, getting quotes, ordering supplies and organising catering etc. – not to mention the event delivery itself. An Events Officer is not expected to handle all aspects of an event, tasks will need to be delegated to make it manageable for everyone – an Events Officer may just take the lead in certain areas.
The Communications Officer manages the Club’s communications and promotional activities. This may include maintaining social media accounts, creating promotional content, communicating with members and helping increase awareness of Club activities.
Clubs are free to create additional executive positions beyond those listed above to suit their specific needs and activities. Clubs may determine the responsibilities, titles, and focus areas of these positions as they see fit.
Note: If the Club wishes to add any additional executive positions they must be elected at a General Meeting – if you are interested in doing this please reach out to your Clubs Officer.
Executive meetings are essential for Clubs to be organised, run effectively and to meet governance and record keeping requirements.
Executive meetings, as the name suggests, are generally just attended by the executives managing the Club (and if the Executive wants, the General Committee Members as well), and are used to make decisions, delegate tasks, approve spending and handle any other Club business.
Executive Meetings are not to be confused with General Meetings (AGM/SGM/IGM), which are full Club meetings that all Club members are invited to, see the General Meetings page for more information on these.
Below is a guide on Executive Meetings, along with some templates that can be used – these can be modified to fit the Clubs needs or preferences provided the basic information is still present.
If you are new to meetings and some of the terminology used, we recommend first watching the three short videos below to get a brief introduction.
If your Club has completed it’s affiliation with RUSU a Rubric account will be created for it.
You can use Rubric to sign up members, apply for grants, create events, communicate with your members, customise your page and much more.
All Clubs public facing Rubric pages can be found here.
Each executive will be added to the Clubs Rubric account, once added you can check your Student email for an email from Rubric with a login link to manage the backend of your Clubs’ page (check your spam/junk folder if you can’t find it).
If you did not receive the email or just want to log in manually, follow the below steps:
If you are an executive of more than one Club, be sure to select the correct Club you need to work in.
This series of videos will help to introduce Rubric and some of its core features, note that we have our own requirements and policies we must adhere to so make sure you are following these. If you are unsure you can always reach out to your Clubs Officer. Some of our requirements to keep in mind whilst watching these are:
Videos:
You can also refer to this page for more comprehensive step-by-step guides on the different systems within Rubric.
All Clubs have the opportunity to have an RMIT ‘Shared Mailbox’ assigned to the Club with a ‘@rmit.edu.au’ email address, if your Club already has one see this guide on how to access it. Note: you do not ‘login’ to a shared mailbox, your RMIT student Outlook account is given permission to access and use it.
If your Club does not have an RMIT email but would like one, please talk to your Clubs Officer.
Decide who among your Executives (could be multiple people) will manage the Club’s email, note that this doesn’t mean they’re the only ones who respond to emails. The most important thing is that someone is checking it regularly and then any actions/tasks that arise can be delegated as required.
In your shared mailbox you can go to Settings > Account > Signatures to access this.
Find out more here.
Using Folders
Folders help keep the inbox organised and tidy, find out more on setting them up here.
How you use them is up to your team, but common approaches include:
Note: too many folders (especially subfolders) can become hard to manage, start small and you can find what best works for your team.
Pinning, Flagging, and Categories
These can be used alongside folders, instead of folders, or any combination of them all – whatever works best for your team.
Rules
‘Rules’ can be used in Outlook to automate tasks, they’re a great tool especially for automatic sorting. Make sure to check if you have any Rules already set up on your Clubs email!
To create or edit rules you can go to Settings > Mail > Rules.
Find out more about Rules here.
There is a formal process to follow if an elected Club executive member wishes to resign.
Please refer to the documents below for instructions and a template to conduct an Executive Meeting to fill a casual vacancy. It is especially important to follow these instructions if the resignation requires an update to the Clubs bank account.
Building Support for Your Academic Club
Support from faculty and administration can be key to your academic club’s success. This includes backing from the various levels – your Program (teachers and coordinators), your School (there are 16 Schools), and/or your College (e.g., STEM, DSC, or CoBL).
To help, RUSU has created a guide on building strong relationships with your Program, School, and College (PSC). Please read it and share it with your PSC contacts.
Looking for Support (Especially Funding)?
If you’re interested in seeking support—especially financial—from your PSC but aren’t sure how to start, follow these steps:
As a Club leader, you may encounter situations where students seek help or guidance. While you don’t need to have all the answers, it’s important to listen and direct them to the appropriate services. You may also need support for your own self-care and wellbeing. RUSU staff are here to support you. Please read the attached info sheet to understand the resources available for both you and the students you serve.