About BoosterClub.org

Who the Guide Is For

The guide is written for volunteer officers, most of them parents who took the job because no one else did. Many are new to the role, serve one or two years, and inherit few or no records from the board before them. They need to know what to do, in what order, and what happens if a step is missed.

Terms of art are defined the first time they appear on a page, and every guide page ends with a checklist of the work in order.

How the Guide Is Organized

The guide has eleven sections grouped into four themes.

Start, Bylaws, and Meetings are meant to be read in order, so their pages are numbered as steps and each page links to the next. Governance, Finance, Taxes, Raffles, Fundraising, and Marketing are reference sections: an officer looks up the topic at hand, and each page points to the nearby pages in its section. Each section’s overview page lists every page in it.

State Pages

The States section has one page for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. All 51 pages use the same template: an At a Glance table, then forming a nonprofit corporation, state tax exemption, sales tax, charitable solicitation registration, raffles and gaming, and an annual compliance calendar. A reader comparing two states finds the same information in the same place.

A visitor can choose a state once. The site remembers that choice on the device, and links elsewhere in the guide that point to “the club’s state page” lead to that state.

Reading Paths

Three reading paths give a new officer an order to read pages that sit in different sections:

• Starting a new club begins at Start and moves through incorporating, getting an EIN, applying for 501(c)(3) status, state registration, and opening a bank account, then to Bylaws, the club’s state page, and the first-year checklist.
• New president begins at Governance and covers officer transition, board positions, fiduciary duty, records, the meeting agenda, and the compliance calendar.
• New treasurer begins at Finance and covers treasurer duties, internal controls, banking, the monthly treasurer’s report, Form 990-N, the compliance calendar, and closing the fiscal year.

Glossary

The glossary collects the terms of art used across the guide, such as EINEINEmployer Identification Number: the nine-digit federal tax identification number the IRS assigns to the club. The club needs it to open a bank account, apply for 501(c)(3) status, and file its annual return.All terms, quorum, and fiscal yearFiscal yearThe club’s 12-month accounting year, set in the bylaws. Many booster clubs use July 1 through June 30 to match the school year, and the club’s filing deadlines count from the day it ends.All terms, each with a short definition and a link to the page that explains it in full.

How Pages Are Sourced

Every fact that could be wrong, such as a fee, a deadline, a dollar threshold, a form number, an agency name, or a statute, is checked against a primary source at the time of writing. Pages cite only government sources: the IRS, state agencies such as secretaries of state, attorneys general, and revenue departments, and the official text of state statutes. The guide’s meeting procedure pages rely on Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, which is named but not linked.

Each guide page shows two things that let a reader check it:

1. The date it was last updated, shown under the title.
2. A numbered list of its sources, shown above the disclaimer, each with its publisher (for example, the IRS or a state’s secretary of state) and web address.

Where a rule differs from state to state, the page says so and links to the state pages rather than stating one state’s rule as if it applied everywhere. Where two official sources disagree, or a rule is unclear, the page says that plainly instead of picking one.

Some facts cannot be confirmed against a primary source when a page is written, for example when an agency’s site cannot be reached or a form’s instructions conflict with the agency’s own web page. Those facts are recorded in an internal list of unconfirmed facts and checked again until each is confirmed or corrected.

Reporting an Error

A reader who finds a fact that is out of date or wrong can report it through the contact page. The most useful report names the page, the fact, and the official source that shows the current rule.

What BoosterClub.org Is Not

BoosterClub.org is an information resource and nothing more.

• It is not a law firm, an accounting firm, or a government agency. Reading the guide does not create a professional relationship of any kind.
• It files nothing on a club’s behalf. Each booster club is its own legal entity. It holds its own 501(c)(3) status, keeps its own books, and is responsible for its own federal, state, and local filings. The site confers no status on any club.
• It is not affiliated with the IRS, any state agency, or any school district.
• It does not give advice for a specific club. The guide explains the rules that apply to booster clubs in general. A question about one club’s facts belongs with the IRS, the relevant state agency, the school district, or a qualified professional.

The full terms are on the disclaimer page.