Swim England and GoCardless announce new four-year partnership

Swim England has joined forces with bank payments company GoCardless to offer clubs a stress-free solution for collecting membership fees.

The national governing body for swimming, diving, artistic swimming and water polo has signed a four-year agreement with the global fintech.

Any of Swim England’s affiliated clubs which sign up to GoCardless will be able to collect instant, one-off payments – or offer members the chance to pay via Direct Debit.

The partnership, effective from 1 August, will see London-based GoCardless become official payments partner for Swim England as well as the headline sponsor of its national events.

It is the first sports sponsorship for GoCardless, which is used by more than 85,000 businesses around the world – processing more than $35 billion of payments annually in more than 30 countries.

Jane Nickerson, Swim England chief executive, said: “We’re thrilled to have agreed this partnership with GoCardless.

“Collecting membership fees can be an incredibly stressful time but GoCardless can help reduce administration time, making it a much simpler process for both club officials and their members.

“By becoming a headline partner for our national events, GoCardless is also making a significant commitment to our sports and our work to champion a healthy and successful nation through aquatic activity.”

Perfectly suited

GoCardless now works with more than 7,000 customers and 75 partners in the sport, health and wellness space, providing organisations a convenient, safe, and cost-effective way to collect recurring fees and dues. 

More recently, GoCardless added the ability to take instant, one-off payments powered by open banking, ideal for top-ups and extras that fall outside of regular payments.

Members that pay with GoCardless can improve the financial health of their club. 

Because Direct Debit is a cheaper payment option compared to methods such as cards, the organisation gets to keep more of its dues – which means more money gets reinvested into the club.

Hiroki Takeuchi, co-founder and CEO of GoCardless, said:“We’re excited to be the official payments partner and headline sponsor for Swim England national events, a move that will not only help us raise brand awareness in sectors that are perfectly suited for bank payments, but also brings us back to our roots. 

“For more than a decade, we’ve helped organisations win and retain more members, save time and money, stress less and get paid on time. 

“We look forward to taking the pain out of getting paid for even more clubs and operators so they can focus on what they do best.”