Parents Let's talk boosters...

[Gymmommy71]

In the gym with the booster club, monthly tuition was $550 per kid (I had 2 there) , leos every year $400 (x 2); warm ups every year $250 (x 2), assessments for meet fees $3000 per kid ( x 2), AND we were charged EXTRA for States $65 (x2), Regionals $100( (x 2) and Nationals ( ranged from $550-850, told the amount on a Thursday and "due by Monday" ...4 days later...and both my girls qualified ) ...the fees alone were over $8000 and on top of that, I had to work endless shifts at their meet (x 2 because I had 2 girls) and they had the balls to try to charge me admission for the session they competed in, that I wasn't working....I saw about 300 bucks from that endeavor. I could work at my regular job for the weekend and make more. Our HC decided that the gym ( read: him) would get " the profits from the meet if we wanted the gym's name associated with the meet and the booster club could get the profits from the concessions"...and the booster club officers agreed to this!!...the profits from meet fees, and admission fees were huge, the concession stand didn't hold a candle to that...and the parents did all the work! HC took a percentage of all booster club profit as basically a "fee" for having the gym's name associated with it. Sorry, but that didn't work for me...

We moved to a gym with no booster club....tuition 350 a kid, 200 for a leo, assessments of 1200, and no extra fees for states, regionals or nationals...we paid what we owed, period and weren't slaving at meets for pennies. Give me this gym anyday.

Your post is very similar to my area in a booster vs. non-booster club. Booster clubs so expensive and so much work... Owners have to be profiting off of them and members don't have a choice.

 

[twinmomma]

There is a booster club in my area that fines its members $400 per meet if they do not work.

If the booster club is a non-profit, this violates IRS rules.

 

[Gymmommy71]

If the booster club is a non-profit, this violates IRS rules.

Yeah - that's what I thought - I guess they figure they can get away w/ it as long as no one reports them... They are definitely 501c3...all these clubs that do these crazy forced meet working and fundraiser participation rules are.

 

[Madden3]

Not sure if this was answered before... The reason families at a gym that has a booster pay the booster club (or the gym I guess) an assessment for meet fees (and the many other costs of sending a gym team to meets) is if the booster club is not raising enough money through fund raising alone to cover the costs of all the meets the coaches want to go do. This is how it is at our gym as well.

Once upon a time, the booster club at our gym was not compliant with non profit tax exemption rules. I do not want to get into all that went on, but there were many problems. Due to these issues there was lots of resentment among parents who were sick of being pushed around and nickel and dimed by the booster.

After an audit, those non-compliant practices stopped. Around the same time, the major fundraising activity had to be dropped as it was no longer making money. These changes hit the booster hard from a financial standpoint. On the other hand, for several years now the booster has been run legally and separately from gym owner influence and seems fair and transparent, and that makes everything much healthier overall. So, there is a difference between a healthy, legal booster and an unhealthy, illegal booster. I am very much opposed to having anything to do with an unhealthy, illegal booster no matter how much money it saves me. Not worth it!

For healthy, legal boosters, whether it is a net positive or not comes down to mathematics. Does the fundraising offset costs enough to be worth it? Different families are going to view this differently, because it comes down to how you value your own time and labor. Also worker bees usually do less overall work than organizers, for the same "compensation."

As far as a booster increasing parent involvement... that depends on what "involvement" means! If the gym ownership is asking the parents to start a booster, I would want to know exactly what they are expecting to get out of the booster. Funds raised by a booster club might mean the teams can do more competitions and I guess that would be a marketing plus for the gym. But if they are expecting direct benefits beyond that, that would concern me.

 

[jenjean70]

Your post is very similar to my area in a booster vs. non-booster club. Booster clubs so expensive and so much work... Owners have to be profiting off of them and members don't have a choice.

We fought for a booster club at our gym because the meet fees were going up so much each year and there was no transparency about why the same meets would cost $500 more each year. Now the booster club is in charge of meet fees so that we can bring down the cost.

 

[VanessaJV]

We have no booster club and I absolutely love it. We were at a gym for seven months that had a booster club and I hated it. At our gym with no booster club, I worked one of our meets all weekend, made over $300 and it went directly into my daughters account. What is great is I dont have to wash cars, sell Christmas reefs, flowers, butter braids, or any other things I dont want to that I ended up having to do at the gym with the booster club. I have no family in the area that can buy those things. And I surely am not asking my friends to pay for my childs sport when they have their own kids activites to pay for.

The other thing I did not like at the gym with the booster club was all of the discussion about what we would allot for the coaches for spending money at meets and what hotels we would pay for. This made me highly uncomfortable. The coaches know what they need to be comfortable and able to be in a good place to coach my child. I trust they will make reasonable choices about finances. If I cant trust them... I need to find a different gym. Our coaching costs are reasonable at our gym with no booster club determining how much money the coaches can have. From what I understand, our gym may have had one a very long time ago but it didnt work and it was gotten rid of. So glad it was!

 

[jenjean70]

We have no booster club and I absolutely love it. We were at a gym for seven months that had a booster club and I hated it. At our gym with no booster club, I worked one of our meets all weekend, made over $300 and it went directly into my daughters account. What is great is I dont have to wash cars, sell Christmas reefs, flowers, butter braids, or any other things I dont want to that I ended up having to do at the gym with the booster club. I have no family in the area that can buy those things. And I surely am not asking my friends to pay for my childs sport when they have their own kids activites to pay for.

The other thing I did not like at the gym with the booster club was all of the discussion about what we would allot for the coaches for spending money at meets and what hotels we would pay for. This made me highly uncomfortable. The coaches know what they need to be comfortable and able to be in a good place to coach my child. I trust they will make reasonable choices about finances. If I cant trust them... I need to find a different gym. Our coaching costs are reasonable at our gym with no booster club determining how much money the coaches can have. From what I understand, our gym may have had one a very long time ago but it didnt work and it was gotten rid of. So glad it was!

That sounds like a great deal! At our gym the meet fees kept increasing each year without an explanation as to why so the parents fought for a booster club so that the parents would know what the expenses were for. Many parents felt that the gym was overcharging for meet fees and then pocketing the extra. We also worked a meet that our gym was affiliated with but the money never went for the team kids that we knew of. The parents wanted more transparency from the gym and help with rising costs (our gym is the most expensive in the area) so the booster club was started.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

Our booster club is much different from what I’m reading. We are separate from the gym and membership is optional. The money raised goes towards our competition fees and gym tuition.

We are also not nonprofit, that way, only those who work the fundraisers benefit from the money raised. If we were nonprofit, every kid would have to receive an equal amount, whether they worked the fundraiser or not. Also when we do direct sales (Chick-fil-A calendars) the profits from what I sell goes directly to my daghter’s account and are not equally distributed. We only pay an annual registration fee of $25, and that’s to cover taxes and provide some petty cash.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

Also our coaches make their own travel arrangements and our assessment fees cover their expenses and our competition fees.

 

[twinmomma]

Our booster club is much different from what I’m reading. We are separate from the gym and membership is optional. The money raised goes towards our competition fees and gym tuition.

We are also not nonprofit, that way, only those who work the fundraisers benefit from the money raised. If we were nonprofit, every kid would have to receive an equal amount, whether they worked the fundraiser or not. Also when we do direct sales (Chick-fil-A calendars) the profits from what I sell goes directly to my daghter’s account and are not equally distributed. We only pay an annual registration fee of $25, and that’s to cover taxes and provide some petty cash.

I believe this is still in violation of the IRS rules for a non profit. You can't have the funds going towards just one gymnast or not spread equally. Even if membership is optional. Proceeds must benefit all members equally.

 

[Gymmommy71]

Also our coaches make their own travel arrangements and our assessment fees cover their expenses and our competition fees.

Our assessments also include paying the coaches while they are at a meet. I feel we should only pay for time above and beyond the time they'd already be working at the gym (most work full days on the weekends anyways)...but owner said no. Also seems a little wrong for a non-profit to pay the employees of a for profit business, but whatever. No choice.

 

[TumbleTimes4]

I believe this is still in violation of the IRS rules for a non profit. You can't have the funds going towards just one gymnast or not spread equally. Even if membership is optional. Proceeds must benefit all members equally.

I think you misread my post. We are NOT a nonprofit so that we don’t have to spread profits equally.

 

[raenndrops]

Our assessments also include paying the coaches while they are at a meet. I feel we should only pay for time above and beyond the time they'd already be working at the gym (most work full days on the weekends anyways)...but owner said no. Also seems a little wrong for a non-profit to pay the employees of a for profit business, but whatever. No choice.

Think of it this way... if they are at a meet with your child, they are NOT at the gym doing their work for the for profit gym.
The gym pays them to coach practices. Meets are separate.
Instead, they are working for your child, so you need to pay them.

 

[BachFlyer]

Love our booster club! We host at least one meet a year for our major fundraiser, which we are "required" to work a certain number of sessions which for me last year amounted to about 28-30 hours of (easy) work in the course of a season. They can't technically enforce this due to 501(c)3 status, but we've not had issues with people not working. We also do passive fundraising.

My dds competition "dues" were just over $600 for the season, paid to the booster. I just went and added up the meet entry fees (individual and my part of team entry), and without adding any coaches expenses, the total would be about $950. So already a savings. Plus, our booster club covers national entry (and gymnast flight if necessary) if they qualify, region camp cost (mandatory for our gym), and USAG annual membership fee. This year they also covered our new warm up jacket and team t-shirt. We don't pay tuition that is any higher than any other gym in the area, and I've heard that our competition expenses are much more reasonable than others. It's all very transparent what the costs are and we can view a balance sheet and expense sheet upon request. So I'm on board with the booster club. I give thanks (and props) to the board members who do a TON of work on a volunteer basis, and I'm happy to help out when I can.

 

[sce]

Our booster club is much different from what I’m reading. We are separate from the gym and membership is optional. The money raised goes towards our competition fees and gym tuition.

We are also not nonprofit, that way, only those who work the fundraisers benefit from the money raised. If we were nonprofit, every kid would have to receive an equal amount, whether they worked the fundraiser or not. Also when we do direct sales (Chick-fil-A calendars) the profits from what I sell goes directly to my daghter’s account and are not equally distributed. We only pay an annual registration fee of $25, and that’s to cover taxes and provide some petty cash.

If you are not a non-profit do you then pay taxes on the money raised?

 

[TumbleTimes4]

If you are not a non-profit do you then pay taxes on the money raised?

I am not sure about the details because I am not on the board, but I do know that they pay taxes.

 

[gasrgoose]

It's odd to me that parents believe they are entitled to transparency. Most gyms are a for profit business. They provide a product, coaching Susie in gymnastics and at meets. And they decide the charges for their services. If you don't like the product, do not buy it or buy a similar product some where else.

We do not have a booster club. We are at a very successful gym. Our owner/coach would not tolerate being questioned about his travel expenses or other business expenses. It is his only income and supports his family and he has worked hard for years to build up the reputation that allows him to charge for his premium services. And he would not allow his gym's name to be used to profit other people. We do have some parents who organize fundraising selling popcorn, calendars, etc. but no one is required to participate and it is not associated with the gym.

Our gym is not perfect and our coaches are not perfect. There are things I would change if I owned the gym or if I was the coach, but i am not the coach or owner.

 

[BachFlyer]

It's odd to me that parents believe they are entitled to transparency. Most gyms are a for profit business. They provide a product, coaching Susie in gymnastics and at meets. And they decide the charges for their services. If you don't like the product, do not buy it or buy a similar product some where else..

For the record (and not in direct response to this quote), I only expect transparency from the separate, non-profit booster club. It is my understanding that it is required for non-profit organizations to report financials to their members in order to keep their exempt status.

I agree that as a for-profit business, the actual gym can charge what they want and spend their revenue as they see fit. It's not my business and they are not publicly traded!

 

[jenjean70]

Our booster club is much different from what I’m reading. We are separate from the gym and membership is optional. The money raised goes towards our competition fees and gym tuition.

We are also not nonprofit, that way, only those who work the fundraisers benefit from the money raised. If we were nonprofit, every kid would have to receive an equal amount, whether they worked the fundraiser or not. Also when we do direct sales (Chick-fil-A calendars) the profits from what I sell goes directly to my daghter’s account and are not equally distributed. We only pay an annual registration fee of $25, and that’s to cover taxes and provide some petty cash.

We would like it that way but people were saying that it violated something with NCAA...not sure....so we went the nonprofit route where everyone gets an equal share no matter how hard one person works and another person DOESN'T work- we all get the same amount. How exactly does it work if you are NOT nonprofit? Doesn't it make you ineligible for NCAA?

 

[skschlag]

From my conversations with the NCAA eligibility center, they do not care where money comes from as long it is not from a
1. College or college booster
2. Agent
3. Payment for doing the sport.

Now with the IRS, it can only be the actual expenses need to participate. This might go to NCAA as well, because anything over the actual expenses needed to participate in the sport is considered payment.