Coaches Booster Club Question/ How do you handle meet profits?

[gralch1]

We host a meet at an outside facility every year. Our booster club gets 80% of the profits and the gym gets 20%.
There has been some grumbling that the total should go to the booster club. I am the gym owner so obvoiusly I am not keen on that idea. Parents volunteer to help with the meet and are "paid" for their time in meet fees, etc.
To be honest they pay most of the costs associated with hosting a meet.

How do I explain the following to them without sounding ungrateful or unwanting of thier support
1. Without a member club you do not get a sanction and the gym is ultimately responsible for meeting USAG and state requirements.
2. If we did not get out there and "recruit" gyms to attend nobody would be there to compete. We have worked for years building relationships in the gymnastics community. We do a lot of behind the scenes stuff year round.
3. We allow you to have a booster club...it is not a right and if we wanted we could choose not to have one. (I know this sounds terrible...that is not coming out how I feel, just a little irked right now. We honestly have great parents and good relationships, just a few that thrive on drama)

 

[Ingymmom]

Is the booster club hosting the meet at your gym?

If yes, this is absolutely the most important reason why the club should benefit financially - you are running a business. Depending on the size of the meet, your gym's equipment is being used, you may have to close the gym from rec classes, camps, open gyms, parent night outs, etc. The booster club is a (or at least should be) a completely separate entity from the gym, and if the BC had to rent space somewhere else, well, it would cost them. They should be putting up all of the money to host the meet. It is their meet; however, your gym is the venue where the meet is hosted .

 

[Deleted member D3987]

We host a meet at an outside facility every year. Our booster club gets 80% of the profits and the gym gets 20%.
There has been some grumbling that the total should go to the booster club. I am the gym owner so obvoiusly I am not keen on that idea. Parents volunteer to help with the meet and are "paid" for their time in meet fees, etc.
To be honest they pay most of the costs associated with hosting a meet.

How do I explain the following to them without sounding ungrateful or unwanting of thier support
1. Without a member club you do not get a sanction and the gym is ultimately responsible for meeting USAG and state requirements.
2. If we did not get out there and "recruit" gyms to attend nobody would be there to compete. We have worked for years building relationships in the gymnastics community. We do a lot of behind the scenes stuff year round.
3. We allow you to have a booster club...it is not a right and if we wanted we could choose not to have one. (I know this sounds terrible...that is not coming out how I feel, just a little irked right now. We honestly have great parents and good relationships, just a few that thrive on drama)

you said it all in ALL 3 bullets. nothing more to say. 20% is getting off reasonably cheap. and you forgot that the gym HAS ALL the risk and liability. that alone is worth more than 20%...and you can tell them that for/from me.

 

[dmytv]

I was president of the booster club at my dds old club and this subject always came up in some form. I just explained it as, being a name usage fee or cost of doing fundraising. After all, we would not have the opportunity to have this fundraising event if we didn't use the club name and connections owner/coach has. Not to mention that we are compt in meet fees even though our dds do enter this event. We also get a "homefield advantage". Anyway, you will always have someone who is not happy. So, just don't let them gang up on you. Deal with each complaint on an individual basis and off to the side not infront of everyone. Most importantly have a booster club liasion who is a bridge/filter for all complaints or concerns to coaches or owners.

 

[bookworm]

We host a meet at an outside facility every year. Our booster club gets 80% of the profits and the gym gets 20%.
There has been some grumbling that the total should go to the booster club. I am the gym owner so obvoiusly I am not keen on that idea. Parents volunteer to help with the meet and are "paid" for their time in meet fees, etc.
To be honest they pay most of the costs associated with hosting a meet.

How do I explain the following to them without sounding ungrateful or unwanting of thier support
1. Without a member club you do not get a sanction and the gym is ultimately responsible for meeting USAG and state requirements.
2. If we did not get out there and "recruit" gyms to attend nobody would be there to compete. We have worked for years building relationships in the gymnastics community. We do a lot of behind the scenes stuff year round.
3. We allow you to have a booster club...it is not a right and if we wanted we could choose not to have one. (I know this sounds terrible...that is not coming out how I feel, just a little irked right now. We honestly have great parents and good relationships, just a few that thrive on drama)

Could you staff it without the booster club? I don't think gyms particularly need booster clubs...to me they are a huge source of drama and frustration and unless I am forced to, I would never join one again. I guess I don't see why the booster club has to give 20% of their fundraiser (which is what this meet is supposed to be ) to the gym that they are trying to raise money to afford...do you take a percentage of ALL their fundraisers or just this one? My feeling on this is I'm already paying a (steep) tuition to the gym and if I am in a booster club to defray my other costs, why am I again "paying the gym" with part of my fundraised money? I understand the whole liablity thing but I think that this is probably what those who have brought this subject up are thinking....because if I were at a gym where a percentage of every fundraiser went back to the gym (as opposed to 100% to the boosters) I would just say, just tell me what I owe and I'll pay that, period.

I have been in two gyms with booster clubs...one that was very successful and all moneys raised by those in the booster club went only to the booster club...had 100% participation...the second one was a disaster...minimal participation (<40% of gymnast families and mostly compulsory level girls, no participation from levels 9 and above) and this gym took a large percentage of all fundraisers so the families figured "why bother?"..there was/is so much turmoil in this particular booster club that participation for next year is project to be less...something to think about , I guess.

 

[gymcoach34]

I 100% agree with Dunno- just share those 3 points with all of them. Then, I would also make sure a few trusted members are "gently reminded" again that if the boosters get greedy- you will pull the plug. I think most booster clubs need that gentle reminder every now and then-whether they want to reduce coaches fees, get more $ from meets, think the booster club is a forum for complaining about gym logistics, etc. That parent can pass on the info to those that are "stirring the pot" (its usually just a few).

We host a meet at an outside facility every year. Our booster club gets 80% of the profits and the gym gets 20%.
There has been some grumbling that the total should go to the booster club. I am the gym owner so obvoiusly I am not keen on that idea. Parents volunteer to help with the meet and are "paid" for their time in meet fees, etc.
To be honest they pay most of the costs associated with hosting a meet.

How do I explain the following to them without sounding ungrateful or unwanting of thier support
1. Without a member club you do not get a sanction and the gym is ultimately responsible for meeting USAG and state requirements.
2. If we did not get out there and "recruit" gyms to attend nobody would be there to compete. We have worked for years building relationships in the gymnastics community. We do a lot of behind the scenes stuff year round.
3. We allow you to have a booster club...it is not a right and if we wanted we could choose not to have one. (I know this sounds terrible...that is not coming out how I feel, just a little irked right now. We honestly have great parents and good relationships, just a few that thrive on drama)

 

[bookworm]

I 100% agree with Dunno- just share those 3 points with all of them. Then, I would also make sure a few trusted members are "gently reminded" again that if the boosters get greedy- you will pull the plug. I think most booster clubs need that gentle reminder every now and then-whether they want to reduce coaches fees, get more $ from meets, think the booster club is a forum for complaining about gym logistics, etc. That parent can pass on the info to those that are "stirring the pot" (its usually just a few).

I'm sorry but I disagree..a booster club is a fundraising organization and the gym is (usually) run for profit and i don't think the two entities should be mixed....if as a gym owner you feel you are not making enough, you are free to raise you fees but I think what a booster club does should be separate from contributing to the operating expenses of the gym. I think the 2 groups can work together in running a meet if they wish but to mandate that a portion of the profits be handed over seems like your are starting off by saying "we're only getting 80 cents on the dollar" .. if the 2 parties , by mutual agreement, decided to share the profits, that's one thing, but that doesn't sound like this is the case.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

try to see that gyms keep their fees down knowing they will receive that 20%. it's another way of looking at saying the same thing.

 

[iluvgym]

Also remember that a group of parents can't just get together and run a meet. You need usag pro members to staff it and take responsibility for it. And the gym has almost all the legal liability - if someone gets hurt it's on their dime AND their name and reputation is on the line should a meet be run poorly. That is why IMO a gym staff member should ALWAYS be the meet director. The gym could run the meet without the booster club at all though, and just hire workers and pay them. Been there, done that, and from a gym owner's perspective it was great and relatively easy. They would make WAY more money that way. It's pretty nice of them to give 80% of the profits to the BC.

Not trying to sound harsh but BCs should remember that they are a privilege not a right. Now a non gym fundraiser - bake sales, garage sales, wrapping paper sales, etc., is 100% a BC event and they should keep 100% of the profits, but running a meet is a different ball game.

 

[funflips]

We don't have a "parent group" at our gym. When we have a meet (and other special events) all of the profits go toward new equipment for the gym. Parents have generally been pretty supportive and happy to help. We hire staff to help where needed. They usually know what the next piece of equipment is that we are working toward together. They know our tuition is lower than gyms close by partially because of this.

 

[bookworm]

Also remember that a group of parents can't just get together and run a meet. You need usag pro members to staff it and take responsibility for it. And the gym has almost all the legal liability - if someone gets hurt it's on their dime AND their name and reputation is on the line should a meet be run poorly. That is why IMO a gym staff member should ALWAYS be the meet director. The gym could run the meet without the booster club at all though, and just hire workers and pay them. Been there, done that, and from a gym owner's perspective it was great and relatively easy. They would make WAY more money that way. It's pretty nice of them to give 80% of the profits to the BC.

Not trying to sound harsh but BCs should remember that they are a privilege not a right. Now a non gym fundraiser - bake sales, garage sales, wrapping paper sales, etc., is 100% a BC event and they should keep 100% of the profits, but running a meet is a different ball game.

Sorry I disagree again...having run a big meet, one of our parents got their Meet Director credential and there was a rider to our parents association/booster club insurance policy that said the BC had the liability for the meet so we didn't "need " the gym for any of the above ...and i would like to see where you got the people you hired to work your meet....posters up at colleges and HS? It would seem to me if you could hire people to work the meet then you're right, you wouldn't need the booster club to run it and the profits would be that of the gym alone....but if the BC is doing as we did with our meet ( our own meet director, insurance and staffing it), I would think that the BC would get all the profits there too.

 

[AmandaLynn]

but if the BC is doing as we did with our meet ( our own meet director, insurance and staffing it), I would think that the BC would get all the profits there too.

I don't think that this is the "norm".

 

[iluvgym]

Sorry I disagree again...having run a big meet, one of our parents got their Meet Director credential and there was a rider to our parents association/booster club insurance policy that said the BC had the liability for the meet so we didn't "need " the gym for any of the above ...and i would like to see where you got the people you hired to work your meet....posters up at colleges and HS? It would seem to me if you could hire people to work the meet then you're right, you wouldn't need the booster club to run it and the profits would be that of the gym alone....but if the BC is doing as we did with our meet ( our own meet director, insurance and staffing it), I would think that the BC would get all the profits there too.

We got our meet staff from our gym staff, we had a very large number of coaches. And we never allowed a parent to be a meet director as we felt it blurred the lines of what everyone's responsibilities were to make the gymnasts and gym successful. The gymnasts had their place, coaches and owners had their place and parents had theirs- each one being equally important for success!

 

[bookworm]

We got our meet staff from our gym staff, we had a very large number of coaches. And we never allowed a parent to be a meet director as we felt it blurred the lines of what everyone's responsibilities were to make the gymnasts and gym successful. The gymnasts had their place, coaches and owners had their place and parents had theirs- each one being equally important for success!

Well we were actually forced to have a parent get their meet director credential because the gym didn't want anything to do with the meet, including that.

 

[iluvgym]

Well we were actually forced to have a parent get their meet director credential because the gym didn't want anything to do with the meet, including that.

Wow! What the heck kind of gym would be like that?

 

[bookworm]

Wow! What the heck kind of gym would be like that?

They felt that if the BC was running the meet then the BC should assume all the responsibility if we were getting all the profits...they were available as a resource but didn't want to be involved in the nuts and bolts of the meet so that's how we did it. They are actually a very large gym with 1100-1300 gymnasts (rec included) so they're successful but they have their fundraisers and the BC had theirs...I was actually more comfortable with this "line in the sand" so to speak ...and it's not as if the BC didn't help them out with their in-house meet fundraisers, we did... and they actually do stuff for our meet (the gym donated a month of free tuition as a raffle prize; some of the coaches staffed our head table as volunteers) so it is a system that worked for us...