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

It is critical to fill the roles of treasurer and bookkeeper with qualified, trustworthy volunteers. Here are three best practices for recruiting financial officers for your booster club:

1. Elect financial officers from a pool of volunteers with accounting, finance, or bookkeeping experience. Many parents have financial training or experience in their background. Understanding the “language” of finance is a critical pre-requisite for the financial officer. From this basic understanding, the volunteer will quickly learn your organization’s specific financial operations, and may also recommend opportunities to continuously improve those operations.
2. Know your volunteers before electing them to office. Let’s face it; volunteers are hard to come by. All too often, the majority of a booster organization’s tasks fall upon the shoulders of a core group of volunteers. It is no wonder that organizations are quick to accept volunteers who raise their hands for leadership roles. However, a prudent organization will get to know its volunteers before electing them to office.

   Before you put new volunteers in positions of trust, ask yourself, what skills does the volunteer bring to the role? Does the volunteer work in the field of finance? Is the volunteer a manager within his or her company? Has anyone worked alongside this volunteer in prior extracurricular organizations?

3. Prioritize succession planning to ensure continuity of financial leadership. Identify and develop apprentices who may serve as financial officers in future years.  Not only will the apprentices learn the requirements of the roles, officers, instructors, and parents will get to know them and begin to build trust.

Financial officers fill vital roles within the booster club, and it’s critical to fill those roles with the right people. When you take your time and develop relationships, you’ll be able to fill these roles with qualified, trustworthy volunteers.

To learn even more about financial leadership in your booster club, check out my book, The Booster Leader: 35 Leadership Essentials for a Thriving Booster Organization. The Booster Leader is available on Amazon in Kindle and paperback formats.

Question: What attributes do you look for when recruiting financial officers for your booster club? You can leave a comment by clicking here.