Managing your association: a complete guide and software to ensure your association runs smoothly (and prospers)

Even if running an association is simpler than running a business, you need to be organised, rigorous and even legally compliant.
The credibility and longevity of your organisation depend on it.

Are you the president, secretary, treasurer or an employee managing an association?

Accounting, taxation, administration and association life, follow our complete guide to :

• Discover the basics of association management training,
• set up and run your association properly over the long term,
• focus on your tasks!

As a bonus, we present a selection of tools to help you find the online association software best suited to your needs.

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Setting up an association under the 1901 Act: administrative formalities

Good management starts with good foundations, right from the moment you set up your association, draw up its articles of association and elect its representatives.

Drafting the articles of association

Although there are no compulsory forms or content, it is advisable for the founders of the association to draw them up, indicating :

• the name of the association
• the purpose of the association (its raison d'être),
• its duration, if fixed
• its registered office
• the rules governing its organisation and operation (general meetings, etc.),
• the powers granted to the members responsible for its management,
• the conditions :
  • election of the Board of Directors and/or the Executive Committee,
  • admission and striking off of members,
  • amendment of the Articles of Association
  • dissolution of the association.

Election of representatives to manage the association

The members of an association are often represented by volunteer members elected in the form of :

• a Board of Directors (BD):
  • its members are elected by all the members at the General Meeting (GM);
  • They meet several times a year to ensure the smooth running of the association;
    
    
• a select committee:
  • Its members come from the Board;
  • They meet more frequently, to ensure more regular monitoring of the association's activities.

These bodies are optional, but compulsory if they are included in the articles of association, or in the case of charitable organisations, for example.

At the head of the Board, and the Executive Committee where applicable, are the people responsible for managing the association:

• the president: although his/her powers depend on the articles of association, he/she is generally given the role of representative and legal manager of the association;
• the general secretary: this member is responsible for general administrative management;
• Treasurer: manages the tax and financial aspects of the organisation.

☝️ As an association grows in size, it may take on employees to take on roles in administration, accounting, development and communications.

The various administrative tasks

Administrative tasks include

• Association correspondence,
• management of membership files
• publication of the official journal and amendments to the articles of association,
• keeping registers and archives,
• drafting internal regulations,
• organising general meetings, etc.

General meetings

☝️ General meetings are not compulsory under the 1901 Act, unless they are provided for in the association's articles of association.

There are two types of general meeting

• Ordinary general meetings (AGMs): more concerned with day-to-day management, these meetings are held on a predefined basis, once a year for example, to
  approve the accounts, elect the new officers and generally discuss the life of the association;
  
• Extraordinary General Meetings (EGMs ): these are convened on an exceptional basis to deal with specific events or obligations, such as a change of purpose, a change of registered office, dissolution or merger of the association, etc.

The association's officers have to deal with a number of formalities to organise and conduct these meetings properly:

1. before the general meeting: draw up the invitations and send them by post, email or SMS. To ensure that all members are aware of the date of the meeting, they should be sent out at least 10 days beforehand;
   
2. during the general meeting: draw up the attendance sheet to ensure that the quorum is met, i.e. that the minimum number of people required to approve resolutions is present;
   
3. after the meeting: Write up the minutes, a document setting out the various aspects of the meeting, such as the quorum, the agenda, the decisions taken, etc. The minutes will then be sent to everyone at the meeting. These minutes will then be sent to all the members of the association.

How do you manage your association's accounts?

An association's accounting obligations

Although a large proportion of voluntary organisations are small, keeping accounts is essential, even if the 1901 law does not set out any legal obligations in this area.

It allows you to :

• compare results from one year to the next and obtain subsidies (economic purpose),
• report transparently to the treasurer and then to the general meeting of members (democratic purpose),
• to present evidence in the event of a request from the public authorities (legal purpose).

Accounting management is also necessary for drawing up a provisional budget and applying for public subsidies!

On the other hand, it may be mandatory as a result of :

• specific rules set out in the association's articles of association, or at the request of the general meeting,
• the monitoring of associations recognised as being of general interest or of public utility, whose budgetary management is scrupulously supervised,
• an application for approval or a grant from a public authority,
• a secondary or ancillary commercial activity, whether taxable or not,
• the hiring of salaried staff.

What are the two types of accounting?

Depending on the size of the association, two types of accounting are possible:

• cash accounting: keeping and monitoring a register of expenditure and income,
• commitment accounting: drawing up annual accounts, generally including a balance sheet, income statement and notes.

Setting up a bank account

When an association is set up, the question often arises as to whether it should open a dedicated bank account. And for once, the law of 1901 allows a great deal of freedom.

However, the use of a dedicated bank account is still recommended:

• it greatly simplifies financial management
• It provides a means of payment (bank card or cheque book),
• it makes it easier to pay membership fees.

An association's tax obligations

By its very nature, an association must be non-profit-making.

However, to meet its growing financial needs, an association may carry on an ancillary commercial activity to finance its main activity.

However, surplus income must not be redistributed among members.

☝️ If the association exceeds the annual threshold of €72,000 in income from an ancillary commercial activity, it becomes liable for commercial taxes (VAT, corporation tax).

Tax receipts

Finally, donors can request a tax receipt from the charity.

This receipt can be used to claim a tax deduction (up to 66% of the amount donated, subject to a limit of 20% of total income).

Please note that only the following associations are entitled to issue tax receipts:

• associations of general interest
• associations recognised as being in the public interest.

Day-to-day management of associations

Managing members

The life of an association depends on its members, so you need to ensure that you manage :

• memberships and subscriptions
• renewals
• subscriptions and preferences
• newsletter subscriptions, etc.

Managing activities and events

Finally, it should be noted that the life of an association depends to a large extent on the organisation of events, to :

• present the association
• promote it
• attract new members
• obtain funding, etc.

In certain cases (reception of the public, occupation of a public place, chargeable event, drinks outlet, lottery, etc.), it is compulsory to :

• declare the event to the town hall or prefecture,
• provide security for large events,
• find out about the rules for displaying posters and distributing leaflets for your publicity,
• set up a ticket office,
• comply with health and licensing regulations, etc.

As you can see, running an association is a complex business. The good news is that there are software packages specifically developed to meet the needs of non-profit organisations.

What software should you use to manage your association?

Even if it's tempting to opt for free association management software, Excel can sometimes be a relative bargain compared with the time spent on it.

Why not try an association software package tailored to your activity and your budget?

And while there is open source association management software for the more experienced, we suggest a selection of online software in SaaS mode, which is more intuitive and easier to learn.

Comparative table of association management software :

Assoconnect, for global management and communication

👉 Assoconnect, with more than 50 functions, provides real support to all members of the office for :

• reminding members to collect their membership fees,
• creating and managing your donation campaigns
• facilitate communication with your members by sending emails synchronised with your database,
• create and maintain your association's website, in your own image, etc.

💰 Prices :

• Liberté package - 100% free
• Sérénité package - From €24/month
• Professional package - From €99 / month

Jamespot Associations, collaborative management of your association projects

👉 Jamespot Associations is an intranet and social network that helps members of an association to streamline your processes and communicate internally thanks to :

• task allocation
• collaborative working on the same project,
• interacting and sharing comments,
• planning ahead for an event.

💰 Price: €3/month/user

Joinly, for managing your contributions

👉 Joinly (formerly E-Cotiz) saves you precious time at the beginning of the year, when you collect all your members' subscriptions, thanks to :

• online registration or re-registration of your members,
• the possibility for your members to pay in instalments, and to register at any time,
• secure payment and data,
• manage payments for all your other events or sources of income (courses, online shop, etc.).

💰 Prices :

• Training package: 100% free
• Performance package: €180 / year

OHME, for managing your associative communities

👉 OHME is a scalable CRM solution, suitable for all types of association, allowing connection to your emailing tool and your payment solution, and including :

• managing contacts, including members and donors, and updating their personal data,
• categorisation and segmentation by creating labels to personalise your interactions,
• manage payments and tax receipts,
• track the loyalty and commitment of your communities using statistics.

💰 Prices :

• Discovery offer: free
• Customised offer: from €20/month

Pep's Up, managing your association from A to Z

👉 Pep's Up is THE all-in-one software package that helps more than 8,500 associations manage all their day-to-day tasks via a collaborative, secure interface that can be accessed via computer, smartphone or mobile from anywhere:

• online management of membership applications and files, including receipt of payments and automatic integration into the membership database;
• accounting processing with automatic entry of accounting entries, cheque cashing alerts, printing of accounting documents and monitoring of the financial situation in a dashboard;
• quickly create a website in your association's colours that you can update regularly to communicate with your members;
• organising events made easy by inviting members, tracking participation and chasing up non-responders, and promoting them on your social networks in just one click.

💰 Prices:

• Basic package: €10/month
• Pro package: €25/month
• Premium package: €35/month
• Serenity package: on quotation

Yapla, simplifying your accounting

👉 With Yapla software, you can save time on low added-value tasks and concentrate more on meaningful tasks, thanks to :

• online membership management,
• setting up and collecting donation campaigns,
• automating the creation and sending of invoices,
• management of several charts of accounts,
• accounting dashboards and reports.

💰 Prices :

• Take-off package: free
• Takeoff package: €19 / month / user
• Orbit package: €49 / month / user
• Galaxie package: €99 / month / user

Find the right management software for your association with this quiz:

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Good management means success for your association

Don't hesitate to use specific software.

Specially developed for the needs of all types of association, they will be an invaluable aid in providing you with the framework you need to get your message and actions across effectively.

So, are you ready to make your association rhyme with solid management?