How to Build a Booster Club Budget: Process and Template

What a Budget Does and Does Not Authorize

The bylaws decide whether adopting the budget also authorizes spending. Two models are common.

• Budget as a plan. The budget is an estimate. Adopting it does not authorize spending the money; the board or membership approves each expense before plans are carried out.
• Budget as authorization. Many booster clubs adopt a simpler rule: an expense within an adopted line item is authorized up to the budgeted amount, and anything unbudgeted or over the line needs a board vote first.

Either model works if the bylaws or standing rules say which one applies. Problems start when nobody knows, and the treasurer ends up deciding alone.

Who Builds the Budget

The president appoints a budget committee in late winter. If the budget is being built for the next term before new officers take office, the president-elect makes the appointment. A typical committee includes:

• The treasurer or treasurer-elect, who chairs it
• The president or president-elect
• One or two members who are not on the board
• The chairs of the largest events or programs

The coach, director, or advisor gives the committee a written list of program needs. School staff advise; they do not vote unless the bylaws make them voting members, and they do not control club spending. See Working With the School and District.

The Budget Calendar

For a July 1 to June 30 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:

The spring vote should include authority to pay summer bills (camps, uniforms, insurance renewals), or the incoming board will have no approval to spend before the first fall meeting.

How to Build It, Step by Step

1. Pull last year’s actual numbers from the ledger or bank records. Use actuals, not last year’s budget. If no records exist, rebuild totals from twelve months of bank statements.
2. Collect program requests in writing. Ask the coach or director for each item, quantity, estimated cost, date needed, and priority (required, important, nice to have).
3. List fixed costs first: insurance premiums, bank fees, payment processing fees, state filings, the financial review or accountant, and any signed contracts.
4. Estimate income conservatively. Use last year’s actual result for each recurring fundraiser, reduced if volunteer capacity or student numbers dropped. Budget a new event at a cautious figure, not the hoped-for one.
5. Show fundraisers gross. Put each event’s income and its direct costs on separate lines so members see the real return.
6. Set the carryover and the ending reserve. The carryover funds early-season costs before fundraising starts. See Booster Club Reserves and Carryover.
7. Separate restricted money. Donations given for a stated purpose (a scholarship, a trailer fund) go on their own lines and are spent only for that purpose.
8. Balance it. Total expenses plus the planned ending reserve should not exceed carryover plus projected income. If they do, cut the lowest-priority requests.
9. Board review. The board votes to recommend the budget to the membership.
10. Membership adoption. Present the budget at a general meeting with whatever notice the bylaws require. The secretary records the vote and attaches the adopted budget to the minutes.

Budget Template

Copy this table into a spreadsheet. The prior-year columns give members context; the proposed column is what they adopt.

Notes on the template:

• Program lines benefit the whole team, ensemble, or program. Crediting fundraising to individual students’ accounts can cost the club its 501(c)(3) status (its federal tax exemption); see Private Benefit and Individual Fundraising Accounts.
• A contingency line of a few percent of expenses gives the board room for surprises. Spending it still requires approval.
• Payments to coaches or instructors raise tax and district questions. See Paying Coaches, Instructors, and Contractors before budgeting them.

Amending the Budget

Mid-year changes are normal when a fundraiser underperforms or a bus quote doubles. Under Robert’s Rules of Order, changing something already adopted takes a two-thirds vote, a majority vote with previous notice, or a majority of the entire membership, unless the bylaws set a different rule. Some bylaws let the board move money between lines up to a stated dollar amount.

1. The treasurer flags the variance in the budget-to-actual report.
2. The board recommends a specific amendment: which line, by how much, and where the money comes from.
3. The secretary gives notice if the bylaws require it.
4. The members vote, and the minutesMinutesThe official record of what a meeting decided, not a transcript of what people said. The secretary takes them, the next meeting approves them, and the club keeps them permanently.All terms record the amended line and amount.
5. The treasurer updates the budget file and notes the amendment date.

Tracking the Budget All Year

The treasurer presents a budget-to-actual report at least quarterly, and monthly during the busy season. Columns: line, adopted budget, actual to date, remaining, and percent used. Any line above 90 percent with a quarter of the year left gets discussed before more money is spent. See The Monthly Treasurer’s Report.