To found a booster club, takes booster club management know-how along with a lot of paperwork to legalize it and get it up and running.
On paper, setting up a booster club doesn’t seem hard. In reality, it isn’t; it’s just a lot of paperwork. The IRS requires booster clubs to follow specific guidelines for maintaining nonprofit status as well as submitting special tax reviews yearly.
It won’t matter if you are a sports booster club, orchestra booster club, or a ski club booster club, the pattern still follows the same path. The only difference is tha t you’ll shift your booster club management focus and mission statements to be in-line with the school program that you are supporting.
Once you’ve got the legal stuff down, you can move on to the booster club management and getting it up and running with the help of like-minded volunteers.
Setting your booster club up for success starts with solid booster club management and is how you can build it up in a short period. Choosing the right people to be in control of the booster club management is an essential step.
You want to find people that possess excellent leadership skills and are motivated enough to be self-starters and team players.
The IRS requires a minimum of 3 board member seats to be filled at any time, but the length of each term is up to the nonprofit group’s Bylaws. All persons appointed to fill these seats should know in advance how long they will be serving the position, and a detailed description outlining their duties while they are installed.
You may find that while in the beginning stages of getting your booster club off the ground, it is easier to appoint the leadership roles rather than hold an election. This is fine, so long as those that are appointed to it understand:
These rules and guidelines for appointed leadership positions should be included in the booster club Bylaws to help any future occurrences when new members may need to be appointed to the board of directors to help fill in any unexpected gaps. This also helps to keep the booster club management fair both now and in the future.
Attracting volunteers to your booster club is very similar to how an employer would seek out new employees.
With Booster Club Management, you have to:
Once you’ve got the growing membership, it’s time to manage them. Help them to learn what you expect from them and how they can help.
Things that could be expected from volunteers would be any roles you may need to be covered or filled. Showing up to meetings and participating in fundraising events can be sufficient as well, so long as the booster clubs, basic needs are met.
When recruiting members, you can start by:
Sharing your mission statement with them and what you hope for the group to accomplish can help to give them a firm understanding of what you are looking for from them.
You can also use some booster club management tools to help gain volunteers. These include:
While this seems like a lot of effort, nonprofits benefit from volunteers because they can:
Having more volunteers and members can also help to take some of the tasks necessary during meetings.
Booster clubs hold regular meetings because a meeting is when everything necessary happens.
One of the major topics discussed during a booster club meeting is the finances because they are so prominent in the day to day management of a booster club.
Booster club financial management is something that should always be taken seriously. Not only does proper financial management help the students that the booster club is supporting, but it also helps when it comes to the IRS.
Having financial documents, properly cared for, and organized can save a lot of time, headaches, and penalties around tax time.
While most booster clubs may rest all of the financial management on the shoulders of the group’s Treasurer, some of the jobs may be delegated and shared with other members.
Sometimes, a job can come with too many responsibilities for a single person to handle. In these cases, handing off leadership can really help. Delegation is a great asset to booster club membership because it not only helps to release stress on some members, but it also gives non-board member booster club volunteers a chance to participate at a higher level.
Another part of booster club management is the managing of the parent relationships you’re building. As with all relationships, they require nurturing. Things that should be done include:
By continuing to nurture the relationship between your booster club and parents, your booster club will reap a lot of benefits.
Children are more successful when all of the important people in their lives can be on the same team. When parents can see the booster club supporting their kids, they’ll feel more inclined to help, and both sides can work together to aid in student success.
Due to the “community” nature of a booster club, it’s also essential to develop local partnerships. The community created between the parents, student body, and booster club volunteers and donors is one that should be taken seriously with booster club management.
By having a great partnership with your local community and businesses, you can increase:
Being out in the community and getting local businesses to partner with you is beneficial to you and them. You can get the financial aspects for your group, while they get the tax write-off for helping a nonprofit.
Booostr is the first booster club software platform with a connected set of tools designed to help booster clubs and nonprofits better manage their organization. From Communication, to Management, to Fundraising, Booostr's connected software improves booster club efficiency and allow them to focus on surpassing their goals.
