Monthly Archives: February 2015

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3 Best Practices to Recruit Qualified, Trustworthy Financial Officers for Your Booster Club

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In my past three posts, we examined the attributes of highly effective booster club presidents, vice presidents, and secretaries. Today, let’s take a look at the financial officers’ roles.

Thriving booster clubs separate financial duties between two officers: the treasurer and the bookkeeper. I have outlined the division of their responsibilities in my post, 5 Proven Ways to Insulate Your Booster Club from Embezzlement.

The treasurer and bookkeeper are vital to a booster club’s success. They are responsible for:

  • Operating according to sound accounting practices
  • Complying with school board requirements
  • Complying with IRS requirements
  • Interfacing with the booster club’s banker and financial advisor
  • Reporting financial performance to booster club officers, instructors, and school administrators
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Nine Attributes of a Highly Effective Booster Club Secretary

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When it comes to communication, we live in an unprecedented time. Never before have there been so many media outlets vying for our attention. Today’s media “noise” has created a distracted audience that has little tolerance for lengthy and unclear messages.

This environment creates significant implications for your booster club as well. When communicating internally, you must be clear, to the point, and right on time or else your members will ignore you. When communicating externally, you’ve got to compete with other extracurricular programs in your school and community just to be heard. Therefore, well-written communications are vital to your booster club’s livelihood.

The secretary is a booster club’s chief communicator, and holds one of the most influential roles in the organization. Effective communicators are hard to come by, so you must be intentional in recruiting the right person for the role.

Here are nine attributes of a highly effective booster club secretary:

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Four Ways to Increase Your Booster Club Vice President’s Influence

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In last week’s post, we examined five attributes of an effective booster club president. Now, let’s take a look at the vice president’s role in a booster club.

The vice president’s role is often ambiguous and commonly misunderstood. The booster vice president typically:

  • Presides at meetings in the president’s absence
  • Performs administrative functions delegated by the president
  • Performs other specific duties as outlined in the organization’s bylaws

Now, vice presidents, are you ready to go to work? You know exactly what to do, right? Well, maybe not.

Thriving booster clubs prepare their vice presidents to become future presidents. During their tenure, vice presidents learn the responsibilities and expectations of the organization’s senior leadership role. They see first hand the issues that face the president, and learn the rationale for addressing those issues. This on-the-job training helps to ensure continuity in leadership year after year.

While preparing for the role of president, the vice president usually takes on a special leadership assignment. Here are four suggestions:

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Five Attributes of an Effective Booster Club President

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When I became president of the Blackman High School Band Boosters, I was beaming with enthusiasm. However, I had never led a student support organization. There were many aspects of a nonprofit where I simply did not know what I didn’t know. So I quickly became a “student of leadership.” Here’s what I learned.

The booster club president is the chief executive officer and sets the tone for the organization. He or she oversees the organization’s operations and is accountable for its actions. The booster president typically:

  • Presides over all meetings
  • Oversees all aspects of the organization
  • Appoints committees
  • Chairs the executive team
  • Enforces the organization’s bylaws
  • Resolves problems in the membership
  • Regularly reviews the organization’s finances with the treasurer
  • Schedules an annual or special audit of records

While all of these tasks are necessary, what really sets an exceptional president apart from the rest? What skills are required to inspire and lead the organization toward a common purpose?

Five Attributes of an Effective Booster President