<p>S1’s team has a new, enthusiastic coach. We’ve never had a booster club for this sport before (well, not a good, functioning one!), and I’m trying to decide whether I should step up and lead it. I need pros and cons, please …</p>
<p>Personally, my pro is that I’m organized, know a lot of people and think I can get buy-in.
My con is that I HATE to ask people for money. Segments of the population are quite poor, and I would really feel uncomfortable feeling like I was putting the screws to people.</p>
<p>We had an expensive club sport with an amazing booster club, the big fund-raiser was one night a week in a local bingo parlor- a little scary at times, especially if you had to work the smoking section, but a huge money maker. Also, a fireworks booth was a huge fund raiser. Both of these allow fund raising without asking friends for money all the time.</p>
<p>One caveat, if the funds raised will lower costs for players, then either every one must participate or only those who participate a certain minimum amount benefit; we always had a few who did not want to spend their time volunteering, some were content to pay for that privilege.</p>
<p>Are you talking about a high school sport? What sport? Our small district has a very active Booster Club so I may be able to give you some ideas.</p>
<p>high school baseball? i’ve been in charge of that booster club a time or two!</p>
<p>we did very minimal fundraising, but we did have a nice little parent group. we would sign up to feed the kids at away games–long travel times home after school night games made this almost a necessity.</p>
<p>we had a teeny concession stand at each home game. gatorade, water, pop, crackers, candy…etc.</p>
<p>we organized a senior night cookout.</p>
<p>at most home games, i would take a little portable grill and cook and sell hotdogs–always made enough to cook hotdogs for the players, too (free to the players!) If we were hosting a team from far away, we would usually feed those players, too.</p>
<p>wbow, I didn’t even think about feeding players. That’s a great idea. Right now, they’re on their own, and sometimes that means a mad scramble to get rides from kids who have a car; inevitably, some get left behind, which isn’t good for team cohesion!</p>
<p>I think I’ve got a mom willing to handle the fund-raising part (told you I was persuasive and could get buy-in!). If she does, I told her I’d help a lot.</p>
<p>The concession is a good idea for JV games at the school, but varsity games are at district fields that have their own concession stands.</p>
<p>I think the main goal of the coach is fund-raising to avoid having to go through the mandated vendors required if we use the $2,000 he has in the student activity fund. It’s very limiting. For instance, there’s only bid procedures for buying a first-base glove or catcher’s mitt. Tough luck if you want a second-basemen’s glove.</p>
<p>He has some great ideas but needs help getting us off the ground. I was intimidated about the prospect because I know one local HS baseball program has a $27K annual booster fund!</p>
<p>Anyone who has other ideas, please contribute! I’m now thinking our first job is to set priorities: fund-raising, team-building, name awareness, etc …</p>
<p>The school is very socioeconomically diverse; $50 wouldn’t be a hardship for some, but it would for others, so I’m reluctant to do that. But, again, I’m chicken when it comes to asking for money.</p>
<p>What were the other costs to the parents, blueraindrop, besides the $50?</p>
<p>We had a booster club for ALL of the sports as well as fundraising efforts for individual sports. The big club would support items that more than one team could use (scoreboards, etc) but would also consider individual team requests. Even people who did not have kids on teams would contribute to the big club (school spirit and all that!). Support for individual sports included car washes, raffles, silent auctions, t-shirt sales, etc.</p>
<p>As an aside re: feeding the kids - ours really appreciated sandwiches for the bus rides home from away games - they could be on the bus up to an hour before getting back to the school and were always hungry after the game.</p>
<p>My wife and I and another couple formed a booster club for Cross Country and Track for son’s high school. To do it right and to be legal, it takes a lot of organization and some money. I incorporated the booster club into a non-profit 501 (c)(3). We had articles of incorporation and by-laws. Once we got the Tax ID, we were able to open a bank account. We started fund raising and the best fund raising is a letter campaign to the atheletes friends and family. It is important to make sure that the non-profit gets non-profit status from the IRS. This takes a major effort in supplying many forms and documents in the Non-profit status application. I was able to get this done and get the letter from the IRS. This enables your contributors the ability to get a charity tax write off for the contributions. The biggest mistake booster clubs make is not having a clear succesion plan. It is important to bring new parents into the mix as soon as possible. You want to see the boosters go on well after your kids have graduated. I have seen some booster clubs still have the same parents running them well after their kids have graduated.</p>
<p>Our booster organization at school covers all sports. You join Boosters, not baseball boosters or football boosters. You can join at any level between $25 and $500 for a lifetime membership. The lifetime membership comes with a team flag that you can display outside your home. We sell ads for the sports program which is printed twice yearly. Other ways we raise money are concession stands, spirit clothing sales, and 50/50 raffle ticket sales (not my favorite). We also sell a community discount card for $20 which has the names of area restaurants, sporting goods stores, computer repair stores, hair salons, etc. that give 10 % discount when you present the card. The individual teams put on a summer camp for elementary school children every year.</p>
<p>I’m currently the treasurer for our high school boys lacrosse teams. Our Booster club was started about 6 years ago when parents from the youth lax league promoted adding lax to the high school varsity sports and the school district required the parents to front $25000 to start and commit to contributing $$$ for each of the next four years. Now that we have varsity and jv lax teams as part of the athletic department, the Booster club supplies volunteer and financial support to supplement the money the team receives through the school.</p>
<p>Typical activities:
Assist coaches with coordinating lax league teams for off-season practices
Concession sales at home games
Annual theme T-shirt orders and sale (to public, as fund-raiser)
Order and coordinate team practice clothes (Ts and shorts just available to team)
Spiritwear: jackets, sweats, Ts, equip bags (optional for team and public)
Volunteer and coordinate Senior Night program
End-of-Season Banquet
Coordinate coaches’ gifts
Major Fundraiser is a Raffle (flat-panel TV, laptop, game console etc.; $10 tickets)
Also hold a spring Car Wash where team members volunteer
Distribute funds for supplemental team equipment not covered in school budget
Arrange and pay for game filming
Busses for state tournament games
Coordinate sandwiches for afterschool away games
Research and coordinate registration for summer camps and leagues
Coordinate a team community service project
Lots of communication between parents and coaching staff</p>
<p>We have bylaws, have incorporated with the state and are in the middle of applying for 501(c)3 tax exempt status. Annually we elect a pres, vp, secretary and treasurer and also have committee chairs to coordinate fundraising activities and the major activities listed above. Family participation in fund raising or other activities is NOT required in order to be on the team, but almost everyone participates in some way.</p>
<p>EEk. Didn’t think about 501(c)(3) status. There is a local organization that has the non-profit status and acts as a fund manager, so we could use them. And I’m friends with the football booster prez; I’ll ask what she and her dh do.</p>
<p>Baseball definitely is a lower-tier sport at our school. It’s all about football, basketball and swimming. I’ll make some calls and see how they handle stuff.</p>
<p>Check the regs, but if I remember correctly, if your booster club raises less than $5000 a year, you will be able to claim tax-exempt status without the time and expense of attaining IRS 501(c)3 status (state laws, both income tax and sales tax, may vary). Most fundraising organizations I have been involved with do not incorporate or file for tax exempt status until they have been organized and active for a couple of years.</p>
<p>Also, your school or school district may have requirements of their own for parent organizations. Our district is now requiring all groups to obtain their own sales tax exemption from the state, where we used to be able to use the school district’s.</p>
<p>Also, be careful about feeding the players, check the regulations in your state. </p>
<p>In Texas, the UIL (University Interscholastic League), which is the the governing body of high school athletic, band competition, etc. has specific rules that have to be followed. As for team members, if the booster club (or parents) provide food/products/etc. the players have to pay for it or risk being ruled ineligible. </p>
<p>Here’s the link to the Booster Club rules for the UIL - basically (re food) the “school” has to provide it, the booster club first has to donate the money to the school. I think they have this rule to keep amateur status (although it seems like overkill - a hot dog is not like giving someone a car, but they are covering all contingents).</p>
<p>Bumping with more info. Here are five questions the coach would like each parent to answer at our meeting tomorrow. Here’s what I’m thinking, but what are some other things I might be leaving out:</p>
<ol>
<li>What would your sons like to have, wear or do that they haven’t been able to do? Letter jackets. Replenish the stolen gear – batting helmets, bats, balls. Pregame meals. Win more games!</li>
<li>What would you like to have, wear or be able to do that you all just haven’t been able to do? Raise money. Put baseball at same level as other sports on campus. Sell shirts to parents/whoever so we show support in the stands.</li>
<li>What are some ideas for gathering money and fund-raising? Thankfully, someone else has lots of ideas, but I’d like to see the boys with a vested interest in the success.</li>
<li>What could we use the money for? Gear, food.</li>
<li>What could we use the booster club to do in the community and school as a whole? Good program further raises profile of the school.</li>
</ol>
<p>One more idea for you…Every time our boys have a home game, they put out a baseball-shaped sign that reads, “Game Today” in front of the school.</p>
<p>You got lots of good info from posters already.
Our booster club also named someone to be in charge of press relations. We had someone writing stories, taking pics and submitting scores to our local papers. Of course, we were a low profile sport so maybe the higher profile sports don’t need that.
We did a couple of pasta dinners.
Did snacks at all games.
A year-end banquet.
A community service event.
We handed out awards at year end (coach decided who got them of course)
Someone took pics all year and did a collage or yearbook.
I was the treasurer and I HATED hounding folks for their fees. Some never paid. </p>
<p>All in all, it was fun, but lots of work. And sometimes, I thought, WOW, why are we doing so much here? Do they really need all this? The coaches and the boys did seem to appreciate it though. And it’s a fun bonding experience for the parents. </p>