WAG Everyone Pays Same Amount - Booster Fees

[MaryA]

and we guess the rest goes to the gym.

I suspect that coach travel, lodging, and food is a pretty significant expense. I know that, last year, this ended up costing MORE than the GO had charged each family and so she went without pay herself for the meets so that she could pay her coaches. I wouldn't assume that the gym is using this as a "cash cow."

 

[sevenatenine2]

I think it all depends on what the gym owners decide to do. I have been on both sides (Head coach AND paying travel for my gymnast) and the travel fees parents pay FAR exceed meet fees and travel for coaches. I doubt it's like that everywhere, though. It just depends on the owners.

 

[cbifoja]

It is not a lot of money so I just rationalize it as part of the cost of being in the program, but the principle of it irks me.

cbifoja, I wouldn't mind so much if I knew exactly what the money was used for, but preteam parents don't get any of this information and are not allowed to participate in the booster club in any way other than paying our assessments.

I always make it a point to introduce myself to the pre team parents when it is fundraising season and explaining that we exist and that we raise money. I make it a point to tell them the tangible ways they will benefit but explaining what we were able to do the previous year.

 

[vagymmomma]

Can someone explain this system for me...

http://www.cggbc.com/

It seems to me that everything is individual looking at this...

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I think the Tax Court agrees with you based on their recent decision.

Why have any detail like this on a public website? This would bother me as a parent.

 

[aileenmaryf]

My old gym doesn't have a booster club(and is not a USAG gym), but there is a membership fee which you pay once per year (I have no idea what it is). On top of that, each family must complete 30 "volunteer" hours per month and any hours leftover you have to pay for. Additionally, meet fees are NOT included in any of this and are extremely high compared to other teams in the association (3-5 times higher than others).

 

[JBS]

I think the Tax Court agrees with you based on their recent decision.

Why have any detail like this on a public website? This would bother me as a parent.

It looks like this is a new system...the decision looks to be old...

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[aerials]

I suspect that coach travel, lodging, and food is a pretty significant expense. I know that, last year, this ended up costing MORE than the GO had charged each family and so she went without pay herself for the meets so that she could pay her coaches. I wouldn't assume that the gym is using this as a "cash cow."

I just roughly worked the numbers and it comes out to around $30K/year for coach travel. This is for 3 coaches with no flying, 7 meets and only one meet out of state. Only 2 - 3 meets require an overnight stay. I think they are covering their costs.

Sorry I screwed up on quoting MaryA above

 

[LMV]

We do not have a Booster Club. We do have a Parents Association. For this competition year, 90% of our competing gymnasts have one or more family member who paid association dues [which were $50/person for 2013-2014]. Participation in the Parents Association is recommended but not required. I do not believe that our HC has any idea who pays dues and who doesn't. He probably does have a sense of what parents are more involved in the association because he sees them working and or organizing events.

Currently our parent association:
-Provides competition bags [with a few nice gifts inside] to new team members
-Provides competition leotard (annually) and warm ups (every other year)
-Arranges routine retreats. Provides food for gymnasts and coaches attending. Arranges parent chaperones for overnight event which follows.
-Arranges and hosts end of season banquet/awards dinner. Competing gymnasts, coaches, and members of the parents association attend for free. Others can purchase tickets at slightly over cost. Corporate sponsors also receive [and often use] tickets to the banquet.
-Provides scholarships to gymnasts and families with documented need to help defray tuition costs.
-Pays gymnast travel/fees for gymnasts who qualify for nationals and semi nationals
-Coordinates National Gymnastic Day events
-Organizes Coach Appreciation Day
-Organizes community service projects
-Sends two representatives to our Community Youth Council
-Solicits Corporate Sponsors for the Team Program (part of how those bags, leotards, and warmups are purchased)
-Writes/submits grants
-Reviews and decides on scholarship requests. [via a subcommittee]
*There is also probably more I'm not thinking of.

Coach salaries are paid by our gym owners. They also reimburse the coaches for their travel expenses for meets or arrange for their travel and lodging. I believe that they also receive some additional pay in addition to their regular salary for every meet session they coach. There is also some kind of a "CME like" benefit for coaches so I believe if they attend congress or some other educational event they can use their funds to pay for some or all of the cost. I presume that there are some requirements for what counts as an educational event and what is a reasonable expense. We certainly have those for CME.

Parents pay:
-Tuition directly to the gym
-USAG membership fee (which our gym processes as a courtesy)
-Meet entry fees (which our gym processes without markup as a courtesy)
-Meet travel expenses for their gymnast and any attending family. Often the parents association will arrange for group discounts on hotels or arrange group travel for further away meets. Families can still travel independent of the group unless coaches request otherwise.

 

[shelovestoflip]

We are "required" to work about 8 hours at our home meet. However, none of the profit from that meet goes to the booster club. Ticks me off.

where does the profit go??

 

[shelovestoflip]

We do not have a booster club (the tax reported kind, forget the number). We have a Parent's Association. We run an invitational once a year that raises about $35K.

We then use this money to pay for a holiday party and banquet, gymnast year end gifts along with year end awards and something special for graduating seniors.

We also pay for various team special programs throughout the year (ie: nutritionist, sports psychologist, yoga instructor).

New leotards are subsidized by the Parent's Assoc.

These are just some of the things we pay for.

I think it would be unfair for everyone to pay the same amount.

 

[wgymmom]

Everyone's BC membership fees are the same at our gym, except I think the L2's (there were only 2) paid $100 less. Meet fees were separate. This covers L3-L10. Everyone in those levels does 5 meets.

 

[cbifoja]

I actually had a parent of an optional tell me that she had already put in her time and now that her daughter was an optional, she could basically rest on her laurels and leave the grunt work to the lower levels.

 

[Quadqueen]

where does the profit go??

Back to the gym.

 

[bookworm]

My bigger problem with that document is the "6 month notice" if a level 10 ( or elite) leaves their gym....seriously if I have to move my level 10 gymnast because of issues that can't be resolved, no way would I give a 6 month notice...nor would I pay for 6 months of training that she wouldn't be receiving in those 6 months...that's a bit high handed and not comparable to the "gym membership" they cite...

 

[raenndrops]

Can someone explain this system for me...

http://www.cggbc.com/

It seems to me that everything is individual looking at this...

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Ok, I read it all. They are a 501c3, so they can't earmark fundraising $ to individuals. They split their team into sub-teams of Compulsory and Optional and split those into further sub-teams based on how much they fundraise (%wise based on their assessment due) in the given period. They do not allow anyone to get credit for more than 100%, but do allow a carry-over to the next assessment period.

They take each of the sub-subteams and add up the COUNTED fundraiser money. They divide each groups money by the number of gymnasts in the group and apply that amount against the assessment and the family is responsible for the remaining amount.

Technically, they are dividing total money raised by total assessment due and then applying it to each group member based on amount of the individual assessment (to account for different assessment amounts per level).

 

[newtogymnastics]

I'm helping with our booster club. Just to clarify, the GYM may require membership in the booster club for any gymnast who will compete on the team. The BOOSTER CLUB then could require financial and time requirements on the members. Fundraisers could only benefit the entire team -- not individual gymnasts. Is that correct?

 

[JBS]

Can someone explain this system for me...

http://www.cggbc.com/

It seems to me that everything is individual looking at this...

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All right...we have another post going about a similar topic here...

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I still have the basic same questions though. Is the booster club above using a valid and legal 501(c)(3) model for a booster club? It looks to me as if they are pushing profits to individuals.

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Also...there are only a few reasons for a 501(c)(3)...

• charitable*
• religious
• educational
• scientific
• literary
• testing for public safety
• fostering national or international amateur sports competition
• preventing cruelty to children or animals

*The term charitable is used in its generally accepted legal sense and includes relief of the poor, the distressed, or the underprivileged; advancement of religion; advancement of education or science; erecting or maintaining public buildings, monuments, or works; lessening the burdens of government; lessening neighborhood tensions; eliminating prejudice and discrimination; defending human and civil rights secured by law; and combating community deterioration and juvenile delinquency.

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If a booster club is fostering national or international competition...wouldn't it be reasonable that the breaks would go to the high level athletes?

If everyone pays the same amount...the lower end gymnasts would help pay for the higher level gymnasts the have a better shot at national level competition. Seems the reason for the 501(c)(3) would be more valid???

 

[raenndrops]

Is the booster club above using a valid and legal 501(c)(3) model for a booster club? It looks to me as if they are pushing profits to individuals.

They are just dividing the team into sub-groups. If you noticed, there was a gymnast that fundraised OVER $1000 in that time period. Her assessment was Less than $500, but she still had to pay an assessment fee... so that money does not directly affect an individual.

Also, any gymnast on the lower end of any sub-group would be getting more of a benefit than the gymnasts on the higher end of a sub-group.

And (at least for YMCA gymnastics teams), even lower level gymnasts have the possibility of competing on a National stage. Other gyms may have meets that cross state lines, making them National too (since, technically anything INTERSTATE is considered to have National implications). I think THIS is where BCs get the 501c3 designation

 

[wgymmom]

I'm helping with our booster club. Just to clarify, the GYM may require membership in the booster club for any gymnast who will compete on the team. The BOOSTER CLUB then could require financial and time requirements on the members. Fundraisers could only benefit the entire team -- not individual gymnasts. Is that correct?

In order to entice parents into running fundraisers and participating in them, our BC kicks back a certain (small) percentage of the profits into individual accounts. Say, I volunteered for an event and I get 5% of the proceeds into my DD's account. In practice, we're talking maybe 5 bucks though!

 

[gymgal]

It looks like this is a new system...the decision looks to be old...

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The decision was upheld in Sept 2013. The decision basically means that these bc's cannot distribute money based on participation. And they cannot force participation in the bc.