Booster Club questions

[Petunia]

Hello!
I'm now starting to get more involved in our booster club and several of us have many questions regarding how things are done but never really get a straight answer. They often say it's "complicated". I'm sure it is though.
Some of things we are wondering and hoping someone can point us in the right direction:
(We are in Texas..not sure if that makes a difference as far as laws).

#1 Our total fees for the season are due before our competition season which I've noticed is pretty common.
Our booster club decided (although we still have to vote on it) that they would move the due date by 1 month. If your fees are NOT paid in full, your child does not compete. They say no exceptions. Some parents are worried that if we have an injury and can't compete we just lost hundreds of dollars. Booster club says they cannot give any money back because it's considered "donated" which I believe is correct right?
They moved up the date because last year there were gymnast that left in the middle of the season and never finished paying their dues so they want to avoid that this year.
Has anyone else done anything that has helped in collecting from parents before they decide to leave the gym or is this pretty much the best bet?

#2 Our levels are split. For example: We have 2 coaches coaching on group of level 7 girls and 1 coach coaching another group of level 7 girls. The group with 2 coaches like to do out of town meets. The group with 1 coach does not feel it's necessary to do out of town meets so they never compete in them.
When coaches expenses are budgeted they include the traveling fees for those 2 coaches and fees etc. with the 1 other coach. It's divided up and then each girl has to pay the same amount. We have always asked why the group of level 7's with 1 coach, that only competes locally have to pay the same amount as the other level 7 group. The answer is always: It's not done per gymnast, it's done per level...they are not going to invest the time into splitting up. Is this really it the only way to do it?
Anyone else have anything similar to deal with or anything that has worked?

#3 Did I read correctly: You cannot pay for coaches gifts (gift cards in our case) from booster club money?


O.K those are my main two questions for now.
Thank you in advance!!!!

 

[wallinbl]

Not that I'm condoning the severity/extent of their decisions, but understand the frustration level the booster club sees when trying to collect from dozens or hundreds of people, many of whom simply don't bother to pay or respond in any way. It's endless trying to track down all the parents that don't pay. When they totally ignore you and don't pay and you try to say their gymnast can't compete because they didn't pay, they run to the gym owner and complain and the gym owner tells you you're hurting his/her business (even though you're doing a lot of his/her work for free by collecting all this money).

It leads to policies that seem a little harsh because they're aimed squarely at all the people that (unfortunately) try to manipulate things in their own favor (delaying payments, hoping people forget to collect, etc).

Again, I don't think the booster club should take it too far, but they're probably trying to do what they can to cut down on all the people that continue to not cooperate.

 

[Petunia]

Thank you for the reply! So technically, they cannot keep you from competing or can they?
Out of about 46 gymnast we had 4 that left without fully paying. We tried to give ideas such as "if you pay after the due date you have to pay more, like a late fee". They said no, that wouldn't work. I'm not sure why.
I know I would be willing to wait and pay even $100 more to make sure my gymnast is going to compete than to pay early, find out she can't compete due to some injury and be out $500.

TIA!!!

 

[MaryA]

I think that if your booster club is a non-profit (which the fact that your fees are "donations" seems to imply) then it would theoretically be "optional" to participate... all money needs to benefit all girls equally, whether they pay in or not. Which is why having meet fees come out of a non-profit booster club account is a bad idea. Non-profit booster clubs can't even require membership fees or participation in fundraisers or anything like that. When you get into the "cans" and "cannots" of booster club spending, it is good to use an accountant because the rules are very complicated and if you are doing it improperly it can definitely come back to bite you (you personally as well as the club itself) on the butt.

As for fees, if the fees are already broken up by level, which it sounds like they are, it doesn't sound like it would be vastly more complicated to have "travel 7" and "local 7" be two different groups, with their $$ figured out accordingly. If my daughter was a "local 7" it would annoy me that I was subidizing the fees of the "travel 7's."

 

[GymBee97]

I just went through this whole thing and have alot of knowledge on this topic feel free to PM me and I'll be glad to share details.

Mary A is correct if you are non-profit you can NOT say only people who "donated" can benifit every girl has to get equal benifit. Now the exact amounts don't have to be the same just the benifit for example if you are paying for states for all the L4 fee might be $25 but the Optional levels might be $35. The benifit is considered equal as both get the states paid for even though the dollar amount is different. The money amounts can be different if the benifit received is the same. Another example might be compulsory leos if paid for by boosters might be $125 where optional leos might be $175. The money is different but the benifit is the same they all get on competition Leotard.

You can also pay for a specific type of meet for example like all the L8 and above will get the regionals/nationals paid for. Now the compulsories don't have this but it can be considered equal if its worded correctly. So it would have to be any gymnast who qualifies for Regionals will have their meet fee paid for. when the compulsories get to that level then they would have access to that same benifit.

you can't have seperate individual accounts for each gymnast either where the money they earn goes into an account that is used for just that girl. the money a booster has must be use to benifit all the team members.

You can't say you can't compete because you didn't pay your "donation" you cant require someone to "donate money". You can say that only "active members" of the booster club receive benifits. then somewhere in the bylaws you outline what an active member is. And there are regulations as to what you can use to determine an active member.

Your gym should be doing the competition fee collections not the boosters. this is the job of your gym not the boosters to say they can or can't. No one should be required to pay dues, fees or any money amount for any reason to get the benifit of a booster club.

What the boosters are going to pay for in a given year should be outlined before that competion year starts so you know how much money needs to be raised for each thing the boosters are going to pay for.

As far as coaches gifts - nope boosters can't pay for that. booster money has to be for the benifit of the team members not the coaches or staff of the gym. You can pay for a coaches expense for a meet as the coach NEEDS to be there for the team. You can pay for a judge to come in and assess the gymnasts to give them pointers on their routines and mistakes, you can pay for coaches training as that will benifit the team but you can't pay for coaches gifts.

You can pay for a fun day at a local amusement park for the team members as that can be listed as promoting team spirit

it is complicated but once you figure it out its not as hard as it seems at first.

 

[fruitcake]

One thing you need to remember for meet fees is those are due weeks before the actual meet. For bigger meets that may fill up you may need to pay your entries even earlier. Hence the booster club needs the families to pay fees early. Unfortunately many meets won't do refunds for last minute injuries so you may pay for meets that your gymnast can't compete in. However if you don't enter on time you also won't compete. We can disagree with how it is done but in our area this is the norm.

 

[bflipngym]

I would also watch out for demanding parents to fundraise and volunteer. Under 501 c3 status booster clubs can't do that. My gym's booster club is being audited by the IRS because someone turned us in. They filed a complaint with the exempt org. office of the IRS. I guess it was an unhappy parent. The IRS is saying that if we tell a parent that the must fundraise a certain dollar amount or pay that amount in cash, then that is considered taxable income because that parent is working in exchange for cash benifits. Same goes for if we make a parent volunteer a certain amount of hours or pay a fine. He also said that if the gym owner is involved and doesn't let the child compete if these fines/fundraising or volunteer work isn't done then the gym owner can be charged for tax evasion. He said each child has to get equal benefits no matter if they fundraised or volunteered. This is what a non-profit org. is. If a child is excluded then they take it to mean that individual accounts are being set up and the money going into these accounts has to be taxed. They say its a cooperative org. between for profit gym and non profit charity and this is illegal. I'm just warning anyone out there that might be doing what we have been doing for years. We told parents that they had to volunteer 6 hours at in house gym meets or pay 500 dollars. We said booster fees are 200 (also a no no because we said if you don't pay this then your child can't compete.) We also had each family fundraise 300 or pay that amount. This was all to make gym cheaper on parents. We said if families don't do this then they would be inactive members of the booster club and would be turned into gym owner and not allowed to compete. Now we are being audited and are scared our 501c3 will be revoked . Then we'll have to pay taxes on our profits and that would hurt us a lot. Plus who knows how much back taxes and fines we'll be charged by the IRS. I remember reading about booster clubs in KY being fined a lot of money because they weren't doing it right either.

The only way I see a booster club being run legally with a 501c3 is to list each childs competition cost for the year and this is what is due to the gym owner. Fundraise and ask for volunteers at meets so the gym doesn't have to pay outside workers to do it, and all the profits will be tax free. Then divide that money up between each child equally to offset the gym competition dues. I would hope that parents would volunteer their time and fundraise so that their dues would be less each year. However, I know some parents will be slackers and expect everyone else to do it for them and reap the reward ( probably the parent that turned us in).

 

[Petunia]

This is VERY interesting stuff!! Thank you VERY much for taking the time to type it out!
I'm still very confused though..
We're going to be meeting very soon with the club again and I'm just a nobody really with a lot of questions. Our treasurer has a law degree ..so nobody questions anything haha. We just take it as it comes and pay.

WHERE though do I find these things on paper? This must be written down somewhere right? Or is this information that you have learned through your own lawyers?

I guess after reading all of this now I have questions about the following:

1- Volunteering and purchasing items. For the meets we host, it's always the SAME parents donating items for the concession stand. They put a sign up list and we sign up for the stuff we want to bring.
This year they said because it's not fair for the same parent to ALWAYS be the ones to purchase items, they are going to tag on a $$ amount to our fees to make it fair. So now, everyone pays X amount period. That way, that money will be used to purchase the items and no one has to buy anything on their own.
Does this sound legit?
2- Volunteering. If we don't volunteer for hosted meets, the gym owner will be applying a fine. So we either pay or volunteer.
3- Not being able to compete if you don't pay by the deadline. They made this VERY CLEAR. When we started asking questions they said ALL the big gyms in our area do this...and believe me we have some BIG names in our area (we're not a big name though..haha). So of course, we stopped asking questions.
4. We are not given a breakdown of what we have to pay. We are given a breakdown of the budget as a whole but not for what WE are paying for. Is this what everyone else does?
5. For example, my child did not compete last season due to an injury. We competed in the one meet our gym hosted in March (our comp season is Aug-Dec), injury was better by March. We were asked to pay about $125 on top of the meet fees of course for attending that one meet. They said the $125 was a MIN. that injured athletes have to pay to help with all the other fees during the season that the booster has to cover..one being our annual banquet which our child did not attend. They said it didn't matter, your child automatically pays for it even if she will not be attending. So, this is normal too?

....and if it is..that is fine. I just really want to be able to figure out where our $500 that we have to pay for our level 7 goes to (aside from just getting the BIG amount for the whole team) KWIM?

Anyway, thank you again for all your help!!

 

[GymBee97]

If a booster is operating within the Law there shouldn't be any "must do, must pay" items for any parent or family. Sounds like your booster isn't operating like a booster should. If caught there are some really BIG fine and taxes that will be due.

this site has a great read for any one in a booster

Link Removed

Also the IRS has a great document where a gymnastic club is used as the example (start reading the examples around page 5)
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-tege/eotopica93.pdf

 

[GymBee97]

#1 The sign up list is ok but they can't "tag on a $$ amount" you MUST pay or else - not legal nor can the boosters require you to volunteer your time. Gym owner can but not boosters.
#2 not allowed at all for boosters. Owner can charge you and mandate parents to do things but not the boosters
#3 See answer for #2
# 4 not the job of the boosters - that is the job of the gym owner and those fees are gym fees not booster fees.
#5 See answer for #2

It sounds like your gym owner is using the boosters to do his dirty work and enforec his policies. All of the "must do's" you said the boosters require is not allowed at all ever!! But the gym who should be collecting meet fees, leo fees etc can put those requirements on the parents as a gym not a booster club.

Honestly with policies like you are describing (this are really gym policies even though the boosters are enforcing them) I would be looking around for a different gym.

 

[gymgal]

The first question you need to ask the bc reps is "is the bc set up as a non-profit?" If it is not, then they can technically set up any rules they want. But as gymbee said, either way, it looks like the bc is doing the gyms dirty work. As for the gym requiring you to pay fees even if your dd doesn't compete, that is pretty common. She is still part of team the gym, regardless of whether she attends events.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[Petunia]

But the fees we are required to pay are given to us by the booster club. Not the gym. We paid our fees to the gym for entry fees and coach fees for the one meet we participated in that was out of season. This might not change anything..but I just wanted to clarify.

I will be PM'ing you - I did read all the articles but there are some terms (explanations) I'm not sure I understand.

Oh and we are non-profit.

Thank you!!!!

 

[Moxiegrl83]

So when you make payments, whether it be monthly tuition, meet fees, etc. who do you pay? The booster club, gym, or both?

 

[Petunia]

Tuition is always to the gym only. The booster "assessment fees" are supposed to include:
Team meet fees
Coach's traveling fees (food, gas, session)
Social fees (banquet, Christmas party, goodie bags for gymnast).

I have spent probably about 2 days reading so many websites and info from the IRS regarding what is legal for non profits - my head hurts!!

I have come across several things that we do that from my understanding we are NOT supposed to be doing. However, I'm not sure if they have found a loophole, it's filed a certain etc. so that we "comply" to all laws. BUT this is what the parents are told:

- The gym owners require you to be members of the booster club when you sign up and become part of the USAG team.


- If you don't pay your fees in full by the due date, the gym owner will not allow you to compete.

- You can fundraise all of your fees if you want to (in our case about $500).. The booster club puts on several fundraisers and gives you an opportunity to participate. What is made from the fundraisers is divided: A percentage is for the general booster club fund and a percentage goes to those individual families that participated (it gets deducted from their fees). Whatever you don't fundraise, you have to pay before the start of your meet season.
We also use grocery cards for example. When I load the card to make our purchases, half goes to the general fund, half is deducted from my total fees that I owe for that season.

- The booster club pays for coaches gifts (gift cards of about $50) that are given at the end of the season.

- If you pay your "assessment fees" when they are due (1 month before your season starts) and your child is injured and is not able to compete, they say you can not be refunded because non profits do not give refunds ,they are "donations".

Any input on any of these would be appreciated!!!
TIA!!!

 

[bflipngym]

Sounds to me like the gym owner can get in trouble for tax evasion. This is exactly what the IRS is auditing at my gym. The gym owner is having parents make "donations" to the booster club, when really they aren't donations if they are forced. This money should be considered "Income" and it is taxable. The gym is getting out of paying taxes, since fees are being payed through a tax exempt organization. It's a no no. If being an active member is required to be on team, and an active member is required to fundraise, volunteeer, or pay fines it is an illegal set up.

 

[GymBee97]

everything you posted about your boosters is just so Illegal and if caught there are some really heafty fines for both the boosters for not operating illegaly and for the gym as much of the activity is supposed to be that of the gym not the boosters.

I think I would be out of that gym if it were me.

 

[Gymdad2]

Gymbee97 and the others are correct. This bc is NOT in compliance with IRS rules regarding 501 (3) (c) non-profits. Major fines and penalties are due here if they get reported to the IRS. Also, allocating funds to individual accounts is absolutely illegal. There is no loophole for this. All funds must be shared equally among all members of the bc, no matter what there actual participation in fund rasing activies.

 

[MaryA]

And it's not just the gym that can get into trouble here. Let's say you raise $500 through fundraising to pay your own daughter's fees. That's $500 income for you that you didn't pay taxes on. I'm not sure if there's a comfortable way to bring this up with your gym. Maybe there's a gym parent who is an accountant or a lawyer that you could discuss this with and maybe the discussion would have more weight with him/her on your side. As for not staying at that gym, this is such common practice that's it's possible that every gym in your area is in violation of this particular law.

 

[Petunia]

...that's what I thought...=(
You see the catch here is that our treasurer IS an accountant AND he works for a law firm!!! LOL
So, that is why I'm thinking there HAS to be something in the filing that is being done differently...but it might be why we are always told "it's too complicated to explain".

...and you are correct....this is NICE compared to what other gyms in our area do. I'm talking BIG NAMES like I've said before.
They WILL NOT let you compete. You MUST BE part of the booster club to be part of the their gym (and compete USAG)..you WILL HAVE do to volunteer hours etc. and that is something that gets quoted at meetings all the time "IF YOU GO TO x, YOU WILL HAVE TO DO x AS WELL!".

So, that's when you shrug your shoulders and go...WELL, then I guess I'm stuck...

I will be calling a meeting with our treasurer and bringing all this up. I just need to be sure before I make a fool out of myself questioning the accountant! Haha

Let me say though that this might be why she can do it this way:
When she shows us what we owe (it is per level..the higher level the more you owe)...but she says she DOES NOT break it down BY gymnast...that what we pay is not the EXACT COST of what it will cost MY child to compete that season.
SO when I'm fundraising my share (half goes to me half goes to the general pot)...maybe because what I'm paying into the booster club is NOT for MY gymnast only - since she says she does not break it down that way. I'm STILL paying the fee that would normally come out of my pocket...but that fee is not to JUST benefit my child in this case.
Does that make sense? I wonder if that is how he is able to do it that way?


THanks again!!

 

[kayjaybe]

I would also watch out for demanding parents to fundraise and volunteer. Under 501 c3 status booster clubs can't do that. My gym's booster club is being audited by the IRS because someone turned us in. They filed a complaint with the exempt org. office of the IRS. I guess it was an unhappy parent. The IRS is saying that if we tell a parent that the must fundraise a certain dollar amount or pay that amount in cash, then that is considered taxable income because that parent is working in exchange for cash benifits. Same goes for if we make a parent volunteer a certain amount of hours or pay a fine. He also said that if the gym owner is involved and doesn't let the child compete if these fines/fundraising or volunteer work isn't done then the gym owner can be charged for tax evasion. He said each child has to get equal benefits no matter if they fundraised or volunteered. This is what a non-profit org. is. If a child is excluded then they take it to mean that individual accounts are being set up and the money going into these accounts has to be taxed. They say its a cooperative org. between for profit gym and non profit charity and this is illegal. I'm just warning anyone out there that might be doing what we have been doing for years. We told parents that they had to volunteer 6 hours at in house gym meets or pay 500 dollars. We said booster fees are 200 (also a no no because we said if you don't pay this then your child can't compete.) We also had each family fundraise 300 or pay that amount. This was all to make gym cheaper on parents. We said if families don't do this then they would be inactive members of the booster club and would be turned into gym owner and not allowed to compete. Now we are being audited and are scared our 501c3 will be revoked . Then we'll have to pay taxes on our profits and that would hurt us a lot. Plus who knows how much back taxes and fines we'll be charged by the IRS. I remember reading about booster clubs in KY being fined a lot of money because they weren't doing it right either.

The only way I see a booster club being run legally with a 501c3 is to list each childs competition cost for the year and this is what is due to the gym owner. Fundraise and ask for volunteers at meets so the gym doesn't have to pay outside workers to do it, and all the profits will be tax free. Then divide that money up between each child equally to offset the gym competition dues. I would hope that parents would volunteer their time and fundraise so that their dues would be less each year. However, I know some parents will be slackers and expect everyone else to do it for them and reap the reward ( probably the parent that turned us in).

I don't know if our gym is a 501c3 or not, but our parents' club does ALL of these things. We have a quota for fundraising that we must meet or pay out of pocket. We are required to work meets that we host for a certain number of shifts (and then we get some sort of credit toward our quota) and we are required to do setup and breakdown. We sign a contract agreeing to all of this. If you leave the gym mid-year, you are still required to meet the quota.

The one that I hate the most is that we have fundraisers that have "required participation." For example, if we have a pig roast, you are required to purchase 4 tickets. You can sell more if you want and get more money toward your quota, but you must fork over the money for 4 tickets, whether you actually use them or not. (Frankly, this is the one that chaps my ***. I'd just as soon write a check for the profit we would make than to pay for something I'm not interested in purchasing or selling.)