When it comes to organizing boosting clubs and picking booster club officers, there isn’t a magic formula that ensures success. However, strong leadership & management has an important effect on whether or not your booster club will successfully achieve its goals. Whether you fill the Booster Club Officer role of President, Secretary, or Treasurer, your level of commitment and care directly impacts the culture and progress of your Booster Club. Therefore, it is important that the your booster club officers are individuals who will stand up for your organization in both challenging and fruitful periods and not waver in their commitment.
Booster Club Officers Are Leaders That Determine Mediocrity vs Success
When seeking candidates to fill booster club officers positions, you should choose individuals with positive characteristics and experiences that will contribute to the organization’s growth and success. Individuals with a growth mindset and strategic thinking skills are ideal. You want leaders who self-evaluate and take the time to reflect and examine their work in order to support the organization’s sustained success. Your Booster Club Officers need to be inspiring and able to motivate volunteers in order to continually garner the support so necessary for any booster club’s success. The right people for your leadership team will foster every member’s engagement and motivate your students.
If your organization holds elections for booster club officers positions, post openings along with their corresponding responsibilities on your website and social media channels. For example, Reeds Spring High School’s booster club has a detailed list of booster club officers positions and their responsibilities on their website. This clarity allows members to manage their leadership and allows leaders to understand their specific responsibilities. Another example is Piedmont Hills High School’s booster club’s website. This organization posted a list of booster club officers positions and responsibilities, as well as the busiest time of year for each position. This information is quite important and can help individuals who choose to run for specific booster club roles to decide if they can realistically commit to the club leadership. To help you begin selecting leadership roles and determining each position’s responsibilities and expectations, Booostr has compiled a list of common booster club leadership positions and their typical responsibilities.
Common Booster Club Officers Roles and Responsibilities
When forming your new booster club, there are a number of common booster club officers roles that you should consider filling to help ensure you get off to the right start. These typical roles are normally key management positions that will help ensure your success.
Booster Club President:
A booster club president is the chief executive of the club and, in most cases, the individual with the most leadership experience and availability. She or he sets the foundation for your club’s mission, oversees its development, and is expected to attend every meeting, event, and function. This individual also deals with membership issues, appointment of other leadership positions, enforcement of rules, organization of booster club meetings, and the productivity of all operations. The club president also acts as a liaison between the booster club and school administrators. Your booster club president should be an individual who is inviting and willing to listen to others to sustain success. The club president should know how to make suggestions or express disapproval respectfully.
Booster Club Vice President:
Not all booster clubs have a vice president. However, for large booster clubs, club presidents, secretaries, and treasurers may quickly become overwhelmed with all of the responsibilities of a large organization. Having a second leader may help reduce the burden of work on all executive booster club members. A booster club vice president has a range of responsibilities. They are an executive “floater” and help with the responsibilities of other members as needed. The vice president is also known as the “back-up-president.” If the president is unavailable, they are expected to fulfil all of the expected duties of the president.
Booster Club Secretary:
Your booster club’s secretary is the individual who all club members will contact if they need to discuss an issue. The secretary is expected to record what was discussed during meetings and to keep a digital documentation of all events. This is also usually the individual who keeps the website and social media up to date for your booster club. Your booster club’s secretary’s main goal is managing information, communication, and publicity via the website, social media, and other outlets. Most secretaries also have a strong skill set in marketing, promotion, and fundraisers. Some booster clubs might also appoint a “marketing secretary” who works with the board leadership to on marketing and promotion alone.
Booster Club Treasurer:
Your booster club’s treasurer deals with your organization’s finances. It is helpful if your booster club treasurer is experienced with accounting and fundraising as they are also expected to create revenue streams and to keep a neat record of finances. Additionally, the treasurer is expected to release funds for individual activities and to award monetary scholarships, if available. When selecting a treasurer, you need to make sure they meet the legal requirements to handle financial transactions for a non-profit and to manage your booster club’s bank account. Your booster club treasurer can also double as the booster club operations coordinator and be expected to organize and execute fundraising events and devise fundraising strategies. However, if you have a rather large booster club, and if organizing these events is too much for one or two individuals, you could create a separate officer position titled “Operations Coordinator.” The operations coordinator would work with the treasurer and be expected to organize all events, including fundraisers, award nights, and club trips. Finally, if your booster club makes and sells products, your booster club’s treasurer may also act as the merchandising coordinator and oversee all aspects of your booster club’s products and their sales. Or, if your booster club is rather large, a separate officer position titled “Merchandising Coordinator” could be created.
A Short Note About Teamwork
When the elections begin, keep in mind that no booster club is successful if their leaders cannot work together. When your booster club officers and general members have good rapport, the outcome is greater than the sum of all the individual efforts. As you assign booster club officers positions, it is goes without saying that all potential volunteers need to have a good work ethic and demonstrate solid commitment while having the character and willingness to work with other people.
Begin your elections by posting booster club officers positions and their roles on your website, social media, and other outlets. Then decide how you would like to elect officials–would you like each candidate to make a speech, write an essay about their qualifications, send in their resume, or something entirely different? Regardless of the election method, if you look out for those striving and inspiring individuals, your booster club management team will have no problems fostering that close-knit community that booster clubs are known for while also being productive. Happy electing!
HELLO I AM A BOOSTER CLUB PRESIDENT HOW DO I MAKE BYLAWS FOR A MIDDLE SCHOOL
Hi Tammy, thank you for the comment, and a GREAT question! It really depends whether the club is a new club that you are establishing or if it is one that is pre-existing. If it is a new club that you are establishing, I would point you to our article that gives examples of non-profit bylaws which you can use as a reference for your booster club bylaws: https://www.booostr.co/booster-club-management/free-nonprofit-bylaws-example-for-booster-clubs/
However, if you are coming into a previously established club as a new president, then you will have to jump through some extra steps. First you will need to review any of the current bylaws that the club has created in the past. This should be something that was transferred to new management as they (you) took over. Depending on the current bylaws that you have access to, there might already be steps in those bylaws for creating new bylaws. Generally speaking though, new bylaws are proposed and voted for at club meetings. Depending on how the club is structured, this could be a vote by all volunteers, but normally is a vote carried out by the board and club officers.
In the event that you took over management of the club, and there were no bylaws passed to you, then you will most likely need to create completely new bylaws for the organization. You would create and approve these as you would new bylaws through a simple voting approval process at the booster club meeting.
If you are still in doubt, perhaps you can find a parent that has a legal background that can offer more detailed perspective given your specific situation. Hopefully this helped and feel free to reply here!