Manage an Indiana Booster Club

HOW TO CREATE A BOOSTER CLUB IN INDIANA

Have you ever wondered how to create a Booster Club in Indiana? Where to start? Where to find the resources? Well, if this sounds like you — below is a detailed list of the necessary steps to legally found a booster club in your state!

Creating a Board of Directors for Your Indiana Booster Club

The first step in founding your Indiana booster club is establishing a board of directors. You should focus on bringing aboard directors that will help your booster club function smoothly.  After you develop your board, you must then file articles of incorporation. The articles of incorporation need to include basic information about the booster club, such as your nonprofit’s name, your nonprofit’s statement of purpose, certain provisions required for state and federal tax-exempt purposes, and the name and address of your registered agent (the person to whom legal notices should be sent).

Utilize the Indiana Secretary of State Website For Your Booster Club

All of the resources you need to meet state requirements for building your Indiana Booster Club can be found on the Indiana Secretary of State website. There you will find the necessary forms to fill out needed when building your booster club. Unlike many states, the Indiana Secretary of State website has a specific section for the filing procedures of an Indiana Booster Club.  As you are working through the state processes, you will need to ensure that your booster club name is not already in use in Indiana. This is easily accomplished by using the corporation search engine on the Secretary of State website to find viable name choices for your new club. It helps to have a few options of a club name available in case your first choice cannot be used. One final note on naming in Indiana, your nonprofit corporation name must include “corporation,” “incorporated,” “limited,” “company,” or an abbreviation.

Review the IRS Website for your Indiana Booster Club

The IRS website provides information about federal forms your nonprofits may also need to submit to found a Indiana Booster Club, as well as tax information for nonprofits. It is while reviewing the IRS website that you need to decide if it makes sense to make your booster club a tax exempt organization (see below). Another requirement for any organization at the federal level is establishing its Employee Identification Number (EIN) application. The EIN may be needed to submit certain forms and to open a booster club bank account. You can learn about the multiple ways to apply for an EIN to help ease the booster club creation process..

Obtain Tax Exempt Status For Your Indiana Booster Club

When founding an Indiana booster club, most of the time they are set up as tax exempt organizations. Tax exempt status has many perks and most of the time, a tax exempt nonprofit corporation will put its mission and structure above the financial benefits for any management or associates. Grantspace has a list of other perks, as well as the non-beneficial results of tax exemption. To get started in the tax exemption process, refer to the federal guidelines for tax exemption application on the IRS website.

There are only a few state and federal requirements for tax exemption. At the state level, you need to include the following statement in your articles:  “This corporation is a public benefit corporation.” Your articles also must contain the street address of the corporation’s initial registered office in Indiana and the name of the corporation’s initial registered agent; the name and address of each incorporator; and whether or not the corporation will have members. See Ind. Code 23-17-3-2 for more on what is required in nonprofit articles of incorporation under state law.

In addition to what’s required in your articles under state law, you’ll need to include certain provisions in your articles to meet IRS requirements for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. For IRS purposes, your articles must have:

• a statement of purpose that qualifies for tax-exempt status
• statements that your nonprofit will not engage in prohibited political or legislative activity,
• a dissolution of assets provision dedicating your assets to another 501(c)(3) organization upon dissolution.

Open Your Indiana Booster Club Bank Account

Now that the basic hurdles have been handled, you can begin developing the management structure starting with an organized way of banking for the booster club. Without a systematic way of handling finances, the booster club will most likely fail. Creating a bank account for your Indiana booster club will provide provide structure and reliability to regulate funds. Additionally, a booster club bank account allows for online fundraising, better oversight and easier to pass to new managers when in transition. The legalzoom website provide general guidelines for creating a bank account for a nonprofit organization including:

• Form a corporation with the state in which the nonprofit will conduct business. A nonprofit may apply for tax-exempt status, and this status is granted by the Internal Revenue Service, not the state where the organization is formed. Generic articles of incorporation or organization are created when you form the entity, but you may draft more individualized articles if you wish and file them as an attachment to your business formation documents.
• Apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS. You can apply for an EIN online on the Internal Revenue Service website. After your application is submitted, you’ll receive the EIN instantly.
• Apply for nonprofit status with the IRS. After your corporation and EIN have been established, you may complete and submit IRS Form 1023.This form requires information about the nonprofit’s business structure and formation, its officers and its financial arrangements. You’ll also provide information about who will receive benefits from the organization and the activities of your nonprofit.
• Gather official organization documents required to open your bank account. Standard documents to open a nonprofit account include a copy of your nonprofit’s articles of incorporation, articles of organization or charter, and a copy of the Employer Identification Number issued by the Internal Revenue Service. These documents show when your organization was formed with the state and prove your organization’s tax identification number.
• Gather information about the organization’s officers. These documents include an official list of all officers and government-issued identification for each officer. Official officer listings may be found in your nonprofit organization documents filed with the state. Banks typically require this information for each officer, even if an officer will not make deposits and withdrawals from the account. Providing a photo ID and Social Security card for each officer is standard, but some banks may also require an additional form of ID.
• Select a bank. Most national banks offer accounts specifically for nonprofits, but you may also find smaller local banks or credit unions that offer nonprofit products. Review the websites of banks in your area to get information about fees, minimum balances and benefits available to your organization.

Although these steps are helpful, you will still want to carefully consult the different rules,  benefits, and options of different banks.

Prepare Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws for Your Indiana Nonprofit Corporation

Next on your list should be creating and filing nonprofit articles of incorporation with the Indiana Secretary of State. The Indiana Secretary of State has a fill-in-able articles of incorporation form on its website which you can use to create and mail in your articles. Or, you can write your own articles of incorporation and file your them online. Follow the instructions on the Secretary of State’s website for completing and filing your articles.

As previously noted it is incredibly import to make sure you include the following in your articles:

• Statement: “This corporation is a public benefit corporation.”
• They must contain the street address of the corporation’s initial registered office in Indiana
• They must include the name of the corporation’s initial registered agent; the name and address of each incorporator; and whether or not the corporation will have members.
• See Ind. Code 23-17-3-2 for more on what is required in nonprofit articles of incorporation under state law.

Bylaws are equally important and they mustcomply with Indiana law as well. Their main focus is outlining the rules and procedures your corporation will follow for holding meetings, electing officers and directors, and taking care of other corporate formalities required in Indiana. Unlike your articles of incorporation, your Indiana booster club bylaws do not need to be filed with the Indiana Secretary of State — they are your internal operating manual.

For more information, see Nolo’s article  Nonprofit Formation Documents: Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Organizational Minutes by Anthony Mancuso, and for help creating your bylaws, see Booostr’s previous article on the subject.

Hold Your First  Meeting of the Board for Your Booster Club

The organizational meeting of the board will be your first meeting. The board should start by:

• Approving the bylaws
• Appointing officers
• Setting an accounting period and tax year
• Approving initial transactions of the corporation, such as the opening of a corporate bank account.

After the meeting is drawn to a close, a board member must record the minutes and file them into a folder or system for later reference. If you choose to use folders/binders, these corporate record binders must be organized and safely kept.. For more information, as well as minutes forms, consent forms, and other resolutions, see Nonprofit Meetings, Minutes & Records, by Anthony Mancuso (Nolo).

These guidelines will help you get you started on to the road to creating a successful booster club! By ensuring that you are following state and federal guidelines, you will have your Indiana booster club up and running in no time with much ease! For other articles about running your booster club, be sure to read the Booostr Booster Club Blog!