Creating a new West Virginia booster club can be very confusing. You may be asking yourself, what do I need, where do I start, how do I know I have everything? Lucky for you here at Booostr, we are ready to help you with an easy to read guide! We will walk you step by step through the entire process, while providing you with resources that have the most accurate and up-to-date information. Together we will get have your booster club up and running in no time flat!
The West Virginia Secretary of State website is one of your greatest resources in the process of creating your booster club. The site has all of the detailed information about creating a West Virginia booster club as well as an in-depth guideline to easily manage all of this new information. We will be referencing it multiple times here on out.
The first step in the creating your West Virginia booster club is to determine the name of your organization. In West Virginia, it is important to note that your corporation name must contain the word “corporation,” “incorporated,” “company,” or “limited,” or the abbreviation “corp.,” “Inc.,” “co.,” or “ltd.” You also need to be sure you don’t choose a name for your West Virginia booster club that is already registered. Choosing a unique name for your club will help in avoid accidentally copying another businesses name. Another way to avoid copying a business name is to create a list of several unique names, and then check those names against the list of existing West Virginia businesses on the West Virginia Secretary of State website.
Next, you should plan to review the West Virginia Secretary of State Forms and Fees page on their website. Here you will find an organized list of all of the form and fees associated with creating your West Virginia Booster Club. From here you can do some further exploration of the Secretary of State website to make sure that you have completed all of the forms and information you need to move the process forward with the state of West Virginia smoothly.
Now that your West Virginia booster club has a name, the next step is to create your club bylaws. This step must be completed prior to filing your articles of incorporation. So, what are bylaws and why do they need to be completed now? Your West Virginia booster club bylaws contain the rules and procedures your corporation will follow for holding meetings, electing officers and directors, and taking care of other corporate formalities required in West Virginia. While your bylaws do not need to be filed with the state — they extremely important as they are your internal organizational operating manual.
Now it’s time to pick the group of people who are actually going to oversee your West Virginia booster club. When determining who would be the best fit for your board, it is important to choose individuals who are business minded with strong management skills. It is also important to note that a common issue with booster club boards is that when the board members kids are approaching graduation, those board members begin to become careless with their role. In order to avoid this, choose members who are in it for the long haul and who may even be interested in helping even after their kids graduate or simply have a strong tie to the school and activity your West Virginia booster club is supporting.
Your board of directors may now call your club’s first meeting. During the meeting the board of directors will vote on the club’s officers, the bylaws, appointing officers, setting an accounting period and tax year, and approving initial transactions of the corporation, including the opening of a corporate bank account.
The officers of your West Virginia booster club fill the role of managing the every day needs of club’s departments. The officer nominees need to be volunteers that have the background, the willingness to take care of the booster club and treat the organizational responsibilities as a professional. Not only do you want experts in your West Virginia booster club officer positions, but they should also be able to easily interact with parents and kids with the goal of helping the club grow.
With the state paperwork out of the way, you can now hold the first meeting of your West Virginia booster club! Once your meeting is called to order your first task should be to approving the club bylaws. With the approval of your organization’s bylaws your should move on to decide your club’s accounting period and tax year. Typicall a West Virginia booster club’s fiscal year will coincide with the associated activity’s season and if you can, the school’s fiscal year. Next on the meeting to do list is nominating the club’s officers for board of director approval. Last, depending on whether your West Virginia booster club is ready, your team can approve opening a booster club business bank account and any initial transactions.
Once you have completed the state level legal information the next step is to begin filing your documentation with the federal government. There are several federal forms that you will have to fulfill in order to assure that your West Virginia booster club is fully legal. Some of the important information and forms that you need are.
Both the EIN process and submitting your West Virginia booster club nonprofit paperwork is pretty self-explanatory. All of this information can be found on the IRS website. Specifically here is a link to obtaining your EIN number and HERE is a link for applying to the IRS as a nonprofit organization.
While being tax-exempt is not necessary, we do recommend it. The main reason it is important is that your organization will be able to save on sales tax, provide writes offs for any donations or purchased made through the club, and gain access to other monetary benefits.
While filing for tax exemption itself is a fairly simple process, it is important to understand your organization will need to be much more careful with it’s financial management. Once you have your EIN number you can simply complete and submit IRS Form 1023.
The final step in creating your West Virginia booster club is to open a business bank account. Creating a bank account for your West Virginia booster club will make everyday business transactions much easier. To open your new business bank account you need to follow these steps:
With your business bank account it will be easier to manage transactions and donors’ money. Having a bank account will also make online donations possible and allow your West Virginia booster club to conduct business to business transactions with ease!
If you have reached this far, you most likely have created West Virginia’s newest booster club! While the steps to create your booster club are not difficult, navigating them in the correct order can be confusing and tedious. Now that you are up and running , be sure to register you West Virginia booster club in the Booostr Booster Club Index!. Be sure to bookmark us as well for more helpful articles related to running and the management of your booster club. Happy fundraising!
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