German TSV Oftersheim boosts club management with the Ruum for Good program, offering not-for-profit organizations free access to collaboration tool Ruum by SAP.
Germany counts around 90,000 sports clubs with 24 million members, including top-notch professional clubs like FC Bayern Munich and 1899 Hoffenheim along with many local clubs in smaller cities and villages across Germany.
One special aspect of most German sports clubs is that they are accessible to anyone and do not require members to make a major financial outlay, as is often the case in commercial fitness clubs. The reason? 1.7 million volunteers run the clubs and account for 24 million hours of free work every month.
TSV Oftersheim is among these clubs, located in Southwestern Germany in the municipality of Oftersheim. Founded in 1936 by the merger of two smaller sports clubs, it has grown impressively since then: Today the club has 2,000 members and offers 18 disciplines – spanning classical sports such as volleyball and athletics, but also activities that are relatively new to German clubs like yoga and esports. Known to a larger audience through current European Champion long jumper Malaika Mihambo, TSV Oftersheim relies on more than 100 highly engaged volunteers who help ensure everything runs smooth for its club community.
Keeping the Ball Rolling in Sport Clubs
Besides managing the daily operations, volunteer work includes extra projects such as preparing member and board meetings, organizing events, and purchasing new sports equipment. This requires collaboration among different teams within TSV Oftersheim’s volunteer staff and can become a real challenge.
“For project management before Ruum, we used email and WhatsApp, but that wasn’t working because you don’t know what was discussed and done already,” explains sports club president Markus Lauff.
Intuitive Project Management Experience for Everyone
Lauff, an IT professional himself, decided in 2018 to professionalize the club’s work with a collaboration tool. His requirements included that it be easy and intuitive to use, even for non-IT people, inexpensive, and flexible enough to serve the club’s different needs. The TSV team started trying out several collaboration tools available in the market, but found them complex and not intuitive enough in their usage.
“Then we found Ruum and really everyone, including non-IT people and volunteers of all ages and backgrounds, is able to easily work with it,” says Klaus Donderer, volunteer at TSV Oftersheim since 2017 and responsible for finance.
Lauff’s favorite thing to do in Ruum is to start on a blank canvas and kick off a project from scratch by collecting ideas, adding tasks, and assigning them to team members who are then notified by project bot Ada. Today, Ruum is used by the entire volunteer team and has helped create transparency across all activities.
“Ruum helps us to fulfill our mission and goals in a more efficient way.”
– Markus Lauff, Sport Club President for TSV Oftersheim
The German tradition of volunteer-run sports clubs has been subject to many scientific studies and has proven to play a great role in social cohesion. TSV Oftersheim is aware of this duty and actively engages in projects to help drive integration and inclusion through sports. As stated on TSV’s website, “Sports are the easiest way to get in touch with other cultures. The rules of sports games are global and different languages no impediment to communication.”
SAP is proud to support TSV Oftersheim and its volunteers with Ruum, echoing the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives focused on helping the world run better and improving people’s lives.
Ruum for Good is a program that offers non-profit organizations free access to Ruum by SAP. Find out more at www.ruumapp.com.
To learn more about how SAP supports sports organizations, teams, and athletes all over the world to improve performance and become more efficient, visit the SAP Sports website and follow SAP Sports on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.
Diana Roesner is a strategic go-to-market executive for Ruum by SAP.
