Parents Booster clubs, yay or nay?

[coffeebean13]

Now that I've gotten back into the groove of things here on CB and since DD just changed gyms, I thought I would ask about booster clubs. Our new gym has a very active booster club and the gym we left, well, it didn't have much parental involvement to say the least.

Anyways, does your gym have a booster club? What are the pros and cons of it? Any problems that come up often?

I'm very curious... I really want to get involved but there's a lot going on right now outside of the gym so I haven't been able to "jump in head first", thought I would pick everyone's brains so I had an ideal of what to expect, maybe?

Thanks! See you all around!

 

[gymgramma]

I think the easiest way to get really involved in the
booster club is to be the "level rep" for your dd's level.The amount of work you have to do as a level rep depends upon the booster club, but some of your responsibilities might be; being the "go to" person for information about that level (practise changes, party reminders, etc), reminding the parents when a meet fee is due, collecting that level's meet fees and getting them to the treasurer, making "good luck" posters for each girl before each meet and putting them in the area designated by the gym, coming up with the booster club "gift" to the girls going to state meet.

It's a good way to "get your feet wet" in the
booster club and get to know what else you might like to take on.

 

[nettyinpa]

DD's new gym has a booster club. I did join. They pretty much manage all the fundraisers in the gym and the events. Like this Friday they're hosting the annual banquet. Our gym is rather small so most parents are inn the booster club. I think it all depends on how involved they are and how involved they expect you to be. You just joined there so don't feel obligated to something right off the bat.

I think having a booster club is a good idea. DD's old gym didn't have one. Instead, with the annual contract we had to sign, each family was also expected to do $2,000-$2,500 in fundraising. I drove me insane. Nowadays people aren't buying stuff. Budgets are tight and getting to that $2,000 was hard. I'm so glad I'm done with that bs.

 

[bookworm]

I would avoid a booster club like the plague!!! Not that i wouldn't volunteer to "help them out" at meets but the fundraising obligations are as one poster put "insane" ...if i have to make up the delta that i did not fundraise then i might as well pay it to begin with. The last booster club i was in had a group of crazy parents so that only added to my distaste of it all.

If your gym has a parents club that is independent of fundraising, then i would join but not if it obligated me to fundraise. I don't like to ask my friends and relatives to buy stuff because i don't want to be asked to buy their stuff... I think it's tough in today's economy to ask someone to buy (for example) 10 dollar cookie dough...

 

[coffeebean13]

From what I know so far, our booster club is "free" to join, basically if your kid is on team, then you have an account set up. It is then your decision to cover your team fees by fundraising or you can just write out a check each month or lump sums... there are certain times where the gym asks that you "volunteer" (home meets, gym functions, etc.) but not every time.

I guess I should look at it like the PTA... it's based on a great idea (supporting our kids) but it can turn quickly into a gossip session that can just be a mess, lol

But in all seriousness, thanks for the replies so far! I think I'm going to "lay low" for now and help out where I can, but certainly not try and take the president's seat, lol.

 

[Sunobo]

Our gym has a Parents Association. I guess that's the same as a booster club. We have an assessment that we have to pay quarterly and we can choose to pay it ourselves or participate in fundraising events to offset what we owe. We are also required to serve on one committee and work at home meets.

Since we have almost an hour drive from our home to the gym, we don't participate in much unless it falls on practice night. We do work the home meets as required and serve on a committee but we don't do the fundrasing since it always seems to be food related and pick up night is usually on a night we're not at the gym. We have lots of kids in our neighborhood so I refuse to go door to door selling and hubby can only take so many fundrasing requests to work.

 

[Panda-girl's Mom]

Our gym has a parent association I quess it is the same thing. I think you are required to participate to be on the team. Each family is required to run 1 fundraiser but that does not mean you have to participate in that fundraiser you just need to give the information and collect the money. At first it seemed overwhelming when my daughter first joined the team but it really is not that bad you often share the fundraiser with another family. The fundraisers offset your daughters meet expenses and there is a variety of fundraisers so you can do as much or as little as you want.
Every family is required to partcipate when we run a meet, it usually is a crazy weekend but we raise alot of money for the team this also off sets team expenses. I know the first year my daughter competed the parent association used the money to pay for their competition leotards.
Since the head coach oversees everything there really has not been any drama and I have not experienced anything negative with having a parent association.

 

[nettyinpa]

Just wanted to follow up by saying in dd's new gym, the boster club is totally voluntary. I paid a $40 fee but with that dd will get a gym bag at the beginning of the season plus her cost for the banquet tomorrow night is paid for. Also, as part of it, fundraising is optional. Any fundraising you do is up to you. 70% of whatever you raise goes into an account for your dd.

The "insane" thing at my old gym was that you were required to fundraise. If you didn't want to do it you had to pay out of pocket to get out of it. I think they subtracted 20% so we would've had to pay $1,600. Um, no thanks. So I did a lot of work, a lot of running around, time off, phone calls, e-mails. It was like a part time job for a while. We also had to sign a contract, committing our girls to meets, our family to working 12-16 hours at all the meets the gym hosted (anywhere between 3-5 per season). Looking back on it I can't believe we lasted as long as we did there.

That said, look into what they're all about. Give yourself some time to settle in. You can always sign up next year.

 

[gymjoy]

My experience with booster/parent organizations is more like what Netty described - and add on mandatory work at the bingo hall. That was nasty - smoke, rude people, late into the night - sometimes before a meet or after a meet. Just awful.
And I was never sure they used the money for anything. We still had to pay meet fees, coaches fees, and other fees.
I'm happy not to have that now. We just pay as we go, and have luckily been able to manage it.

 

[AGM78910]

Now that I've gotten back into the groove of things here on CB and since DD just changed gyms, I thought I would ask about booster clubs. Our new gym has a very active booster club and the gym we left, well, it didn't have much parental involvement to say the least.

Anyways, does your gym have a booster club? What are the pros and cons of it? Any problems that come up often?

I'm very curious... I really want to get involved but there's a lot going on right now outside of the gym so I haven't been able to "jump in head first", thought I would pick everyone's brains so I had an ideal of what to expect, maybe?

Thanks! See you all around!

Better check out all the facts with the booster clubs. If they do fundraising for meet fees and coaches fees, they need to be designated as a 501c3 by the IRS. Otherwise there can be tax implications.

Be prepared for some of the families to do none of the work. That means more work for the rest of the families.

Be very careful about buying equipment for the gym. If the gym goes out of business the equipment can belong to the booster club. This happened in a nearby town and the booster club ended up with bar sets, beams, and vaults in the member garages until it could be sold.

 

[NotAMom]

From what I know so far, our booster club is "free" to join, basically if your kid is on team, then you have an account set up. It is then your decision to cover your team fees by fundraising or you can just write out a check each month or lump sums... there are certain times where the gym asks that you "volunteer" (home meets, gym functions, etc.) but not every time.

I guess I should look at it like the PTA... it's based on a great idea (supporting our kids) but it can turn quickly into a gossip session that can just be a mess, lol

But in all seriousness, thanks for the replies so far! I think I'm going to "lay low" for now and help out where I can, but certainly not try and take the president's seat, lol.

I think by providing more information, you and the others have just said pretty everything that I was going to say about our booster club (all inclusive club, mandatory fundraisers, volunteering, etc.) and what I have to contribute to this thread (how to get your feet wet, how all the work is done by the few, etc.).

I would add this though... It's best to stay on the sideline and do all your work there unless you really want to be in the middle. Otherwise, expect politics (not just gossip) and nasty politics at times. If not at first, it will come eventually. It can be worse than a business because the club is volunteer based. If you're friends with the other board members then things are a bit better. But, issues do come from the floor (so to speak) as it should. It definitely helps to have people's skills.

Politics is lessened if you have a "closed" booster club where all info is virtually concealed and the whole club amongst to just the 2-3 people in charge. I am not sure if that is a good alternative.

 

[Gymdad2]

As with all things, there is good and there is bad. Previous posters have hit most of the points, high and low. My experience (11 years now) has mostly been positive. I have made a lot of good friends and had lots of fun at events and meets we put on, but as you point out, you can only sell so much cookie dough or magazine subscriptions to your family and neighbors. Also, I have made it a rule to stay out of the politics.

Our best fundraisers, by far, have been holding seveal meets each year and if you are lucky enough to get a state meet then your money woes are over for that year. As somebody mentioned, you can become a 5013C organization with the IRS and thereby be tax exempt, BUT the laws says that all income must be shared equally among members. As a non-profit 5013c you are not allowed by the IRS rules to allocate different amounts to individuals even though some may work many more hours than others. I know lots of clubs try to find ways to reward those families that do the work, but if IRS were to audit your books you could have a problem. Good luck with that.

 

[IrenicMom]

Like many others, membership in our Booster Club is automatic.

They handle all the USAG registrations, meet registrations, etc.

We are required to work our home meet.

Fundraising opportunities are available, but are not required. Our quota payments are due 3x/yr and you're just as welcome to write a check as you are to fundraise - as long as you pay your payments.

 

[gym law mom]

To us the booster club is a necessary evil. Our primary fund raiser is bingo(no smoke filled bingo halls due to new laws) and that money pays meet/coaches fees and most travel expenses for our optional girls. To be in the booster club, you have to work bingo which is 1 night/month. Yeah, its a pain to give up 6-7 hours to do it, but we'd be really strapped if we had to pay for all the optional meet fees, coach's fees and travel. Booster club also pays for USAG fees and some of the mysterious "team fee."

Families that don't want to work bingo, pay an opt out amount(the gym gives them the numbers on that) and we usually only have 1-2 families opt out per year(usually compulsory). Anyone can participate in the other fundraisers that are run through booster club. Booster club also runs 2 meets/year with the gym.

 

[cathiann]

We have an active booster club--in order to be a team parent (levels 5-10) you have to join the booster club--the head coaches make that a requirement. Yes, we do require fundraising--you have to work any meets we host (1-2 a year) as well as 6 hr fundraising beyond that (we do bagging groceries, selling a variety of things, etc.). BUT, parents do get a lot out of it--for the past several years all meet fees for all gymnasts have been paid by the booster club. In addition, coaches travel expenses are paid, so team parents don't have to pay that. It's over $1000 a year (close to $2000 for Optionals).

Since not all families do it, we do have each family write a check to the booster club--that we cash if they don't do their hours. This year it's for $450--which is still a great deal considering they get over $1000 back.

If we didn't require people to work, many people wouldn't--and it would be a handful of people doing all the work to benefit everyone (our booster club is a 501c3 and it's set up so that all benefit equally--I know you can set it up otherwise, but it's far more bookkeeping work).

 

[MamaofEnS]

Our booster club is also mandatory, or your child doesn't compete. As a parent, each member has all sorts of requirements, including: Paying all assessments and fees on time; working at the home meet(s); working on a booster club committee; doing additional fundraisers; attend meetings, and optional fundraisers. Other requirements are thrown in all the time. One of the most time consuming is the booster club committee. I am a committee chair, so I do my volunteer "job" 3-4 hours a week. Other "jobs" may only require less than 20 hours a year.

That said, the booster club is the only way I know how it works, since it was never optional. Some parents are hardly involved, and some are there all the time. I think there is a penalty, both financially, and to your child, if you don't participate.

MamaofEnS

 

[BlairBob]

Many times with booster clubs it can become select parents doing most of the work. However, they end up not having to pay for all their meet fees and costs which can work out.

Bingo sucks. Meets are typically the biggest fundraiser but our Booster Club pulls plenty from a fireworks stand during the week of the 4th. I hear crab/chili/pancake/spaghetti feeds can make a lot, especially if you can sell beer and wine.

the points system is novel but as you said illegal.

I'm kind of torn between what the funding should go to. Some booster clubs are required to pay an equipment fee per year which also means their teams can benefit from equipment. They also will send the coaches to Congress and training. This is where it blurs whether the gym or Boosters should pay for this.

 

[bookworm]

[

QUOTE=BlairBob;122777 Some booster clubs are required to pay an equipment fee per year which also means their teams can benefit from equipment. They also will send the coaches to Congress and training. This is where it blurs whether the gym or Boosters should pay for this.[/QUOTE

]

This should all be paid for by the gym...use my tuition money however you want on the equipment or training but I shouldn't have to fundraise extra for this stuff. ...this is a gym responsibility.