Booster Club Committees: Types, Charters, and How They Report

Standing vs Special Committees

The bylaws usually name the standing committees and say who appoints their members. Special committees are created by a motion that states the task, the members or how they are chosen, and when the committee reports. See How Motions Work in a Booster Club Meeting.

Board Committees vs Advisory Committees

State nonprofit law may limit what a committee can do on the board’s behalf. California’s Corporations Code section 5212 is an example of how these rules work:

• A committee that exercises the board’s authority must consist of two or more directors and be created by a resolution adopted by a majority of the directors.
• Such a committee may not, among other things, take actions requiring member approval, fill board or committee vacancies, set director compensation, amend or repeal bylaws, or appoint other board committees.
• The board may create other committees that do not exercise board authority, and those advisory committees may include people who are not directors.

Rules vary by state; see the club’s state page. In practice, most booster club committees are advisory. They plan, investigate, and recommend; the board decides and the treasurer pays. A committee that needs to spend money does so within a budget line the board has approved.

Executive committees. Some bylaws create an executive committee (often the officers) with authority to act between board meetings. Form 990 filers must describe on Schedule O any committee with broad authority to act for the governing body, including its composition and whether any members are not on the board. A small booster club rarely needs one; when it has one, its actions should be reported to the full board at the next meeting.

Committees Most Booster Clubs Need

Financial review committee

District guidance sets clear independence rules for this committee:

• California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT), a state agency that advises school districts, calls for the annual review to be performed by at least two people independent from the club’s day-to-day financial activities, with the report signed by the reviewers and the president.
• Some districts call for an audit committee of at least two members who are not the president or treasurer.
• Some districts state that committee members should not be check signers or related to the signers.

See Annual Financial Review or Audit for Booster Clubs.

Nominating committee

The nominating committee works best when it starts at mid-year, not a month before elections. Many bylaws exclude the president from it so the slate is not hand-picked by the current leader. See Running Booster Club Elections and Succession Planning for Booster Clubs.

Scholarship committee

Scholarships raise conflict of interest and private benefit issues. The committee should use written, objective criteria set before applications open, exclude any member with a relative applying, and keep records of how each decision was made. See Booster Club Conflict of Interest Policy and Private Benefit, Inurement, and Individual Fundraising Accounts.

The Committee Charter

A charter is a half-page written description the board approves for each standing committee. It states:

1. The committee’s name and purpose.
2. Whether it is a standing or special committee, and when a special committee ends.
3. Who appoints the chair and members, and how many members it has.
4. What the committee may decide on its own and what it must bring to the board.
5. Its budget line and spending limit, and that all payments go through the treasurer.
6. How often it meets and when it reports to the board.
7. Who keeps its notes and where they are filed.

Running a Committee

1. The president appoints the chair and members, as the bylaws allow, and the board confirms if required.
2. The chair holds a first meeting to review the charter, set a work plan, and assign tasks.
3. The committee works within its approved budget and requests purchases through the treasurer.
4. The chair keeps brief notes of decisions and assignments.
5. The chair gives a short written report at each board meeting: what was done, what is next, money spent against budget, and any decision needed from the board.
6. At year end, the chair adds a summary and “do differently next year” notes to the procedure book.

Committee Records

Form 990, Part VI, line 8 asks whether the governing body and each committee with authority to act on its behalf documented its meetings contemporaneously, which the instructions define as by the later of the next meeting or 60 days afterward. The instructions note that committees with authority to act for the board ordinarily do not include advisory committees. Clubs should still keep brief notes of advisory committee decisions; they become the next chair’s best guide.