Booster Club

[littlegymchampsmom]

I am not certain if this is the proper place for this topic, so I apologize if I am incorrect.

I am interested in finding out how to start a booster club at our gym so, any input from anyone that has started one, been involved in starting one, been a part of one etc. is great.

How does a booster club work?

Also, any great advice or complaints to share regarding your own booster club?
How does your booster club work?
Is it fair?
Are you happy/unhappy with it?
Would you rather compete without a booster club?
Are there ideas you would use to change the current system?

Any info regarding this topic would be great! thanks - lgcm

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[Megley]

lgcm, this is a great question and I'm sure you will get some good responses. I wish I had more useful information to share, but we aren't required to join our booster club until July. I'll obviously know more about it once I am a member. What I have been able to glean from speaking to team parents is that each team family has to pay in a certain amount to the booster club - I think it is $500 - but that can be paid either in installments or sort of "worked off" by volunteering for bingo nights that the booster club holds. That money, plus money raised via various fund raising events, helps pay for competition leotards, warmups, and other gifts for the gymnasts, as well as travel expenses for coaches. The booster club coordinates getting all the gymnasts signed up / registered at USAG and for various meets, coordinating home meets (there is a meet coordinator for each level), and just dealing with the administrative stuff like scratching gymnasts from meets, adding gymnasts, etc. There are meetings once a month. I think that most booster clubs are 501(c)(3) organizations. Ours has a website that posts meet schedules, meeting times and other pertinent information. It seems like a good idea to me and involves the parents in a volunteer way that assists the coaches and the gymnasts.

Meg

[gym law mom]

Ok, we'll be honest. Just about every gym with competitive teams have some type of booster club(may be known by other names). I know that the rec program of the gym cannot financially support the competitive program. I feel issues with booster clubs come down to how the parents are treated and what is expected.

We are not technically required to join the booster club, but I don't know of any parent who isn't a member. When we joined, the booster club was below broke---they owed $ and were facing a new competition season. One reason was, they had put all their faith in bingo for years. Bingo was mandatory at one time---if you had a kid on team you HAD to work bingo. Parents actually left and went to other gyms or just pulled their daughter out completely due to this. Many 501(c)(3) organizations are finding bingo is not bringing in the money it used to due to online gambling among other things. The year we joined the gym owner actually met with the parents and "requested" we all chip in $100/family to get the booster club on its financial feet again. They then looked at doing corporate sponsorships, other fund raisers plus bingo.

This year was better financially, but they added volunteer hours. A set number for compulsory and higher number for optional(hmmmm--maybe another year at Level 6 would be a good idea!). You do not get hours for helping with meets(working on the floor that is) or doing bingo. The hours are hard to come by and for every hour you're short at the end of the year, you owe $10/hour to the booster club.

What do we get out of it? If you do bingo AND they make enough $ then it pays for your daughter's meet/coaching fees. It does not cover travel expenses for out of state meets. Each girl has an account and a % of sales from various fund raisers go there which you can use for any gymnastic related expense. They organize an end of year banquet and pay for the gymnasts dinner(parents have to pay for their own). Supposedly, they are picking up the tab for the new warm up/practice leo, but new meet leos/warmups are parent's expense.

Our booster club has improved some---still has a long way to go especially with communication. Also there is alot of overlap with the actual gym and sometimes it feels like the booster club parents are gym employees.

[littlegymchampsmom]

Thanks so much to both of you for your responses... they really help a great deal. So, because it is a 501(c)(3) organization, this allows for fund raising correct? I am curious to know how many (approx.) team girls comp & op, your gyms have? + who runs your program? only volunteers/parents or is the gym club owner generally responsible?

Our gym, being less then 1 yr old, has no booster club for gymnastics, only for our tumbling and tramp program. Right now there are only about 15 girls on team (6 are optional) , but there are another 13 girls moving to team - 11 of them will compete next season. The team is growing... Mine is one that won't compete, but I want to get started on (or at least know about) something to help defray the costs of comp a little - if it is worth it of course. Right now the coaches are very reasonable w/their expenses - I think - , but w/regionals - luckily all of our op girls qualified so that the parents can share expenses - and then w/nationals coming up after.. wow! If only one girl qualifies she would have to foot the bill of the entire trip!!!

Meg, do you know if the $500 is an initial pay "in", or is it annual? Also is there a monthly fee you pay as well? When you find out/join, I am curious to know if there are more out of pocket expenses you incur during meet time. For instance, does this cover the gymnasts lodging - or only coaches?

GLM, did your bc have any luck w/corporate sponsorships? How many volunteer hours was required per family for comp/op's and what could you get hours for? - it does seem a little silly to require hours and then not be able to "have the hours" to work. Did I understand correctly that if you work floor, or bingo this did NOT count as your time? Was there many of you that "owed" at the end? ... Is the financial info & the amount of monies raised available for anyone on team to review? Does each girl's account get distributed to equally?

Sorry for so many more ?'s... I just want to find out if it is worth pursuing. i hope to hear from more on this topic & what you like/dislike about your booster club. nic

[gym law mom]

From what you've said about your teams growing for next year, I would speak with other parents about forming some kind of booster club. See if you can get parents, gym owner and team director to have a meeting to discuss how much it does cost to keep a competitive program running. Since there is a booster club for T & T ask them for ideas on how to get started. There is paperwork that needs to be filed to be officially a 501(c)(3) organization(tax exempt).

We don't have Level 4, so we have 18 compulsory girls and 21 or 22 optional. As your optional teams get bigger it forces the budget up. As you mentioned you have girls going to regionals and most optional girls compete out of state during their regular meet season. Usually compulsory kids compete in state and their meet fees are less than the optional girls. Our booster club budget this year was about 130k. Only coach's travel/hotels were covered along with meet fees if you did bingo. Any travel expenses by any gymnast are paid for by the parents.

There are alot of fund raisers you can do which cost you nothing to start---car washes, bake sales etc. Each year now we also "adopt" a charity to give about 10% of our profits to. We did find corporate sponsorhip quite beneficial. One large nationally known sandwich chain signed on last year and we have one of their banners hanging in the gym, they get an ad in every meet program etc. They were nice enough to chip in and buy all the team girls windbreakers with the gym name and logo on the back and their name on the upper left side.

It will take a couple of years to really get going and have some decent money to spend---sounds like now is a great time to start.

[davjam]

I have been in several gyms with booster clubs, programs or whatever you want to call it. My personal feeling is that it is sometimes necessary to have them. If your program is self sufficient as a business entity it should carry some of the costs to travel.Entry fees should always be covered (as a coach, I think it should). If the opposite is true, then parents may have to volunteer or even pay for some expenses. I think the best scenario would be to charge a rate that just covers it all. That might seem extreme but then less headaches down the line. The only thing parents should pay for is the room (minus the gymnast) as the number of people could be different at each meet.
Another problem is that there are certain individual parents that never seem to participate for some reason. This is extra work for others and frustrating for the coaches. I also think that most fundraisers are too requisite of the parents. They need to be a special project that everyone can enjoy doing and have a great time. It should follow the KISS theory. Also it needs to be set up so that the gymnasts can develop a sense of participation and worth in doing them. Too often fundraising is a chore and duty assigned! Why can't they be fun and enjoyed? The most important factor are good people that get along and are able to work with each other. There needs to be a person who is capable to spearhead it through the entire process and others to act as support throughout. Involve the kids for references to what they might like. Anyway those are some thoughts I had to your query.

[JBS]

You must first talk to the owner of the gym. If they are not interested in a booster club, then it is a no go.

[COLOR=red]Sorry to offend anyone...I will be speaking from a management point here.[/COLOR]

95% of booster clubs are not managed well (or not managed at all). They create problems, even fights, all while raising little money. Most of the time the owners and coaches play little part in the booster club (huge mistake).

There are two ways that I would consider running a booster club at a gym that I owned.

1. Not at all
2. Owner of club is a booster club board member

A gym is a small business. You are paying for a service, gymnastics. Pay for it...don't waste 8 hours working a car wash to earn $25 towards a meet. If a gym is not financially feasible, a booster club will not help. Clubs that are already stable develop stable booster clubs.

Don't get me wrong...booster clubs can be great, they just need to have a business sense behind them. If your booster club is in the 5% that is operating correctly...you're at a good gym.

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Run correctly, a team should break even at the least. If your team is not financially sound, you can expect problems. Many times parent's consider themselves lucky to be at the gym with lower team tuition. Could be true...or has your gym been through 5 head coaches in the past two years. If your gym is bright, clean, and keeps it's coaches....consider yourself lucky. I would gladly pay more at that gym.

[gymbabisMom]

I guess I should have read further before posting about booster clubs in the parent forum..LOL
The first gym we went to had not booster club, it was a small gym and parents just paid their expenses as they went along. They did sort of band together and fundraise to buy equipment with was gifted to the gym.
Second gym we went to had a highly organized and wealthy booster club. It was really well run and had very diverse fundraising opportunities. If you were willing to work, you could feasibly work off all your assessments (which ranged from $200 to about $500 quarterly).
Current gym has a booster club that is sort of hit or miss. Other than working the fireworks booth, there is very little opportunity for fundraising unless you turn into a little amway person. Some of the sales fundraisers are very successful but usually for people that work in schools or healthcare, where they are constantly around people. Also, there is not much effective delegation, so the same people do everything, then complain cause they have to do everything. It just isn't well organized or run in my opinion, but here's my biggest complaint. Because my daughter was the only level 8, my assesments were high (wound up over $800 for the year). I have a very hard time paying an amount like that and still owe half of it. My budget is so tight it squeaks. The last meeting I went to they were discussing how they were going to make a rule that your child cannot compete unless everything is prepaid and the most adamant supporters of that were probably paying half of what I have to. Also the bills never come out untill right before the holiday season. So by that plan, I would have to come up with over $800 between November and January.
Okay, off my soapbox, can you tell this is a touchy subject???

[littlegymchampsmom]

wow, so much to think about... thanks for the responses.

Gymbabismom, I can see what has happened in your situation, happening at our gym as well. For me that is further down the line, but it would be nice to get something going that is beneficial to all concerned. I am sure it is difficult and I hope that it all works out well for you... Do your coaches have a set amount that they charge per meet or is it based on their actual expenses?

GLM, I def will be speaking w/other parents and of course the club owner, but I wanted to find out as much as I could about booster clubs before I do. Our gym is a little complicated... our club owner has a vested interest in the T & T part because her children are on the team + there are a few national/international tumblers on that side as well. I am hoping that the idea of starting a bc for the gymnastic side will be well received, but no one has really said anything about it. I am going to review what everyone here has said and really think of the best way to approach it. I would like to at least help get something in the works now... I think it is difficult for the team girls parents (because many of them travel a far distance everyday) to even think of adding more time to their schedule, and maybe they prefer to keep things the way they are... but wow! 130k?? I know that meets/travel can be expensive, but I guess I did not realize how everything can add up!

tx again to all for your help, nic

[littlegymchampsmom]

It should follow the KISS theory.

tx Davjam, for more input... what do you mean by the KISS theory? I think one of the reasons fundraising becomes less fun and more like a chore is because some parents have more than one child to fundraise for... at least that is the case for our family - football, basball, school, dance etc. Not that I mind fundraising because it can be fun and we always enjoy it as a family, but in the case of gymnasts, they already spend so much time training as it is...