Parents Booster Club Bullying

[Diva's Fan Club]

I am looking for some help before an upcoming meeting. So, here is the story!
My 6 year old daughter was invited to be on team as a level 3. She loves it, and we have been happy with the coaching, even if it did seem like things have been unorganized. We met last spring with the head coach and talked about her progress, financial responsibilities, training time, etc. At that point we were told that the booster club was brand new, and the handbook was a work in progress and that we would have a meeting at a later date to receive information about the club. The financial breakdown was that we would pay tuition to the gym (the gym is actually part of a non-profit arts guild that also offers art, music, and dance). That was $175 a month for 6 hours of training a week. Everything else is paid to the booster club. There was a REQUIRED $100 membership fee and if you had more than 1 gymmie it was an additional $50 per girl. We paid $400 for a comp Leo, 2 practice leos, warm-ups, bag, 2 rolls pre-wrap, 2 rolls tape. We pay $100 meet fee ( for a total of $800). We are also responsible for our travel, but that is paid individually, not to the club.

We are required to participate in 2 fundraisers, plus pick 2 more from a list of about 5. There are supposedly going to be individual fundraisers that we can chooses to participate in or not. We had the first required fundraiser and raised $2600. We got an email that this was a "general" fundraiser and that the head coach was developing a "priority list" of things to buy. The email also stated that we are trying to identify a new building because ours is too small and that these funds could be used to buy equipment for that. I was pretty steamed because I don't think that is the role of a booster club, plus, shouldn't these funds benefit the girls THIS year?. Before I could really wrap my head around that, it was time for the 2nd "general" fundraiser. I had a conflict that I had known about before we joined team. It was an activity for my son. The head coach knew, and so did the booster club president. The day before the fundraiser I got an email saying that she (the president) must have "missed" my name on the sign-up sheet and that I needed to be there from 1-4. I emailed back and said I had a conflict, and she said fine that I could instead pay a $50 fine. I said "thanks, but no." We are going to have a meeting with the head coach and director of the guild about these issues and I am trying to get my ducks in a row. Other parents are also upset and will hopefully attend the meeting.

I do not know if the club is operating as a non-profit or not, it doesn't say in the by-laws. The gym however IS a part of a non-profit. For all the money we have paid, we have not received leos, we have not been to our first comp yet so for all I know my daughter may hate it, we have not received meeting dates (that we are required to attend and that were promised by June 1) and all the thousands of dollars we have raised havent reduced my bill at all. I have no problem helping with fundraisers, but I had a legitimate conflict. I also found out that the majority of the parents who were there just stood around because we had so many students from the local high school helping. The gym parents were also asked to provide hundreds of dollars of supplies and many businesses were solicited as well. It doesn't seem right that the booster club and team ( which is made up of around 25 girls) is supposed to provide buildings and equipment for the entire program. There are MANY rec girls as well. Does any of this sound ok, maybe I'm in the wrong and just need to be set straight! My husband and I are so mad that we want to pull my daughter from team, but I don't see why she should suffer. The reality is that she isn't going elite and probaly won't be the most talented one on the team, but that shouldn't matter because she loves it. Bottom line though, I didn't sign up for team, she did, and I have to juggle 2 kids and their activities so sometimes there will be conflicts! I knew this would require a lot of time and money, I didnt realize I was swearing a blood oath! Anyway, any info you can give me as to the legality of any of this would be helpful because I am ready to rumble! Oh yeah, we are located in GA so if anyone who is part of a GA booster club could maybe give specifics on what their club does that would be great! Thank you so much!

 

[bogwoppit]

Ugh, I have no experience in booster clubs at all, not a Canadian thing, but this situation sounds wrong on so many levels. I hope some of our great members can step in to help.

 

[gymgal]

Our BC doesn't operate this way but I have heard of others that do. I would want to see the by-laws. Did you sign an agreement with the gym that specified being on team means that you must follow the bylaws of the BC?

DS 's swim team operates similar to this - you must participate in the BC to be on team. In his case, we must pay an upfront fundraising fee and then throughout the year there are a few events in which we can participate in to to make that money back (well, it goes into our fund for next year). But this money isn't used for us personally. It all goes towards helping pay for the expense of meets (judges, food, venue). We are still responsible for paying meet fees, suits, equipment, and we are expected to volunteer at the meets and bring food for the coaches and volunteers. Personally, I don't mind but then again, it is only a fraction of the cost of gymnastics so it doesn't seem so bad.

 

[Diva's Fan Club]

We didn't sign an agreement with anyone. If my daughter wants to quit, we are supposed to give 30 days notice, but that is all. We also had to decide to be on team before we got any information about the booster club. Well, actually we STILL haven't had the informational booster club meeting. I do have a handbook with the by-laws, but my friend has not received one so the distribution of information was hit or miss. Many parents did not know that the required fundraisers were going into the general fund, and not helping to defray the cost of meets, leos, etc. I personally would rather just pay what I owe and do no fundraising, but I don't mind helping out within reason, I just feel that all these fundraisers with no purpose other than a murky plan for a new building and/or equipment isn't reasonable! I bet the parents who spent hundreds of dollars on supplies would have rather had that money to pay for gym!

 

[MaryA]

Ugh, I have no experience in booster clubs at all, not a Canadian thing

One more reason for us to consider immigrating to Canada!

 

[Quadqueen]

Ugh, this sounds very shady to me. I also have no experience with Booster Clubs...DD's gym doesn't have one, we just pay what we owe for meets, leos, etc. Hope others with more experience can help you!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

something doesn't sound right. that's all.

 

[bookworm]

I find it stunning that a Level 3 (which I think is pre-team) would be incurring such expenses! $400 for leos and bags and mandatory fundraising and booster club stuff to help them get a new building?! There are plenty of decent gyms in Georgia and if i were you,I'd start researching them ASAP and get the heck out of this one....and I wouldn't give them a 30 day notice either because they'll make your life hell until you leave.

 

[my4buffaloes]

This doesn't seem right. I know I was told that in our state you couldn't use booster money to buy equipment for the gym. Not sure if that is right, that is just what I was told. The whole thing sounds shady and I would be furious too. Good luck having a meeting with gym owner. I thought gym owners weren't really supposed to be involved in the boosters? Who are the board members? Did they have elections? Good luck!

 

[2gymmies]

I'm sorry for your frustration. Our booster club made a donation of equipment to our gym, but it is not "expected" and we do require participation in fundraising to some extent, but we are very upfront about what is required and what you get out of it personally and what the club gets out of it and what the gym/coaches get out of it.

It can't hurt to research the competition to see what other options are. Sometimes it feels like the grass is greener somewhere else, but when you get there its not really greener, just different...

Also, some organizations have opt out fees where you can pay to not have to do fundraising... this is very big in baseball around here and soccer, as well. Maybe your gym offers this to help with the conflicts.

I'm not saying everything sounds right with the description you gave, but I doubt it is purposefully shady. Maybe you could volunteer to be on the booster board so you know and have a say in what, when, where and how much. I always try to reserve judgement on these sorts of things until I've walked a day in those shoes, the board may have good intentions but are just inexperienced. I think your meeting is a good start. I also think your gym being a non-profit actually hurts, not helps because they are more dependent on fundraising. Communication is key and you are definitely experiencing a lack of it!

Good luck, its never fun when the money isn't what is expected. Especially when its your first experience with competitive gymnastics.

I hope you get some answers and can feel good about your daughters first competitive gymnastics experience.

 

[Natasha]

If I understand you correctly, you are paying $175 month, +1,300 for the year for leo, competitions, etc AND required to do fundraisers which do not offset those costs? And this is L3? Does the cost go up (the $800 comp fee) as you go up in levels, or does everyone pay the same amount? (It seems overboard for L3, but not necessarily for upper levels). Any fundraisers we do as a booster club goes towards off-setting our meet costs. Everyone is required to help out in some way with our home meet once a year (minimum 4 hours). Other than that all fundraisers are voluntary. I do know of another gym in our area however, where currently all their BC fundraisers are going towards buying equipment for the gym.

 

[MaryA]

I could see that most of it could be reasonable, or misunderstood, or make sense once you get in there and figure out how it all works. But a $50 fine for not being able to come to the meeting? Has anyone else ever heard of such a thing? I'll admit to being frustrated by parents who I have NEVER seen attend a parents' meeting or help out with a fundraiser (DD's previous gym was a YMCA where the booster club $$ did go to buy new equipment and to pay down meet fees for all girls equally... no individual accounts or anything like that), but life happens, and I can't imagine having to pay a fine for not being able to attend a meeting. I would not pay it. Period. I would write a nicely worded email to the powers-that-be saying that I am truly sorry that I cannot attend the meeting and will get the information from the meeting from another parent, but that I let them know before my daughter was on team that I had a conflict with this meeting, therefore I am not planning on paying the fine. Also, while I will make every effort to attend meetings in the future, it is possible I will again some day need to miss a meeting, and should that happen, I will give as much notice as humanly possible, but that I will not be paying a fine for missed meetings. And if they make a stink about that, I would take my daughter out. I can't imagine being a part of an organization that believes that my daughter's gymnastics "career" should be the MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF OUR LIVES. In fact, I would find that a little freaky. Gymnastics is good. If we didn't believe that, we wouldn't be on this site. But gymnastics is not the ONLY thing that's good. I can't imagine a place that would think it was O.K. for me to miss an event for child #2 because I have to go to a meeting for child #1.

 

[bookworm]

, but If I understand you correctly, you are paying $175 month, +1,300 for the year for leo, competitions, etc AND required to do fundraisers which do not offset those costs? And this is L3? Does the cost go up (the $800 comp fee) as you go up in levels, or does everyone pay the same amount? (It seems overboard for L3t not necessarily for upper levels). Any fundraisers we do as a booster club goes towards off-setting our meet costs. Everyone is required to help out in some way with our home meet once a year (minimum 4 hours). Other than that all fundraisers are voluntary. I do know of another gym in our area however, where currently all their BC fundraisers are going towards buying equipment for the gym.

This was my point exactly....for Level 3? Run while you can...

 

[Empowered]

It is my understanding that a non-profit organization (one that has 501c3 status with the IRS) CANNOT force participation. If a non profit is reported for requiring any kind of involvement or payment, they can be stripped of their non-profit status. Our booster club is a non-profit and any time we ask for anything, we are told to be sure to stress that participation is not mandatory. We are told that we cannot even force parents to attend a meeting and we adhere to those rules very tightly so that we won't ever lose our non-profit status.

**Edited to add this is not a USAG gymnastics rules thing, this is an IRS rules thing and everyone in the US knows you don't mess with the IRS.

 

[SignHere]

I am going to be the dissenting opinion on this one. Non-profit gyms operate a LOT differently than For profit gyms and really need the parent's organizations.

As far as the training fees go - $175 a month for 6 hours of training a week isn't the most that I've seen. That averages out to about $7.29 an hour for training. If you look at other posts (search under "how much does your gym charge?") you'd be surprised what some other gyms charge.

Now the training fees (I talked about above) ONLY pay coaches' salaries, hard expenses, etc for the gym. They don't pay for improvements for the gym, new equipment, etc. So, if the program is looking to move to a new building (which is going to benefit your daughter in the long run, esp. as she moves to the upper levels) the booster club is going to raise money to pay for that. Also, the money that the booster club raises DOES help to keep the training fees down - BUT - you don't necessarily SEE it as a "Discount" on your bill - what you will see is that over time - you are not getting monthly increases in your monthly training fees (which many gym moms complain about -read some threads on CB).

Now, the volunteering time, thing. Yes, that is a sore spot with MANY parents, esp. Pre-team girls. However - to understand, you have to look at the numbers.

In our team program, we have approx. 40 girls on Level 2 (pre-team), 30 girls on Level 3 (pre-team), 25 girls on Level 4, 17 girls on Level 5, 15 girls on Level 6, and 15 girls on Levels 8-10. When it comes to fundraisers, we HAVE to depend on those 70 familes from Level 2 and 3 or else it would place a huge amount of work on the rest of us. Consider how much more work something is when you divide it up between 72 families than between 142 families.


Our way of handling it has been to make it a requirement of being on team that the family participate in the fundraisers, and your daughter can be removed from the program if you didn't participate. To tell you the truth, there have been times when I would have LOVED to participate via my checkbook, if you know what I mean?

So, you are probably, as is usual in gymnastics, not getting all the information.

Good luck!

 

[gym law mom]

Personally I don't like the way the place is being run and the crazy high expenses for a L3 child. The whole atmosphere doesn't sound very nice. I would check out other gyms and see about getting more info at the meeting. Nobody has to give a 30 day notice to take their child out of a gym program and the "fines" most likely do violate IRS statutes.
Overall, I would cut my losses and look for someplace a little more family friendly.

 

[NGL780309]

Personally I don't like the way the place is being run and the crazy high expenses for a L3 child. The whole atmosphere doesn't sound very nice. I would check out other gyms and see about getting more info at the meeting. Nobody has to give a 30 day notice to take their child out of a gym program and the "fines" most likely do violate IRS statutes.
Overall, I would cut my losses and look for someplace a little more family friendly.

We also have to give a 30 day notice that we are leaving the gym or we don't get our deposit back. I haven't heard of a gym in our area that doesn't require this.

 

[win1385]

As a past president of a GA Booster Club, Sharks post above is correct in regards to the IRS. What is upsetting is the gym is a non-profit and can lose its status as well. It sounds like an upstart gym that is not fully funded or stafffed or stocked with equipment. Although the fees seem reasonable, the fundraising and expectations of the fundraising is a little bit out there. Yes they can ask you to volunteer your time for meets, etc, but not fine you if you do not. I think they want everyone to do their fair share, but I think what you are being asked to do is over and above what is normal. My advice is to seriously look at other gyms in the area.

 

[cathiann]

No idea if what they're doing is legal or not--but it sounds like the booster club is JUST to support the gym, not the gymnasts. I know our booster club is solely to support the gymnasts--the funds we raise go towards meet fees and, if we can pay all those and have extra money, we pay USAG fees, regional camps, etc. We don't buy equipment for the gym (booster club isn't allowed to own equipment used by the gym--something to do with insurance too), but we have donated money to the gym for that purpose, in return we get to advertise to their clients and set up in the lobby to sell things.

All that said--I'm astonished at the extra costs for a level 3! The monthly fee isn't unreasonable, but that much money for leos, etc. and that's a TON of meets each year for that level! You'd think as a non-profit they'd be a little bit more reasonable.

Oh--you mentioned the money raised this year going towards this year. We actually don't do that--money we raise this year goes towards next year. Why? We have to set a budget and obviously we can't know what to spend if we don't know how much money we have. (although I know people who do that--heck, our government included LOL!)

 

[Diva's Fan Club]

Thank you for the replies! You are bringing back my faith in gymnastic people! The main reason I am so mad is that our head coach says that the boosters and gym are separate BUT if we don't pay the fine my daughter cannot compete. Our position is that the head coach is the one who decides if a gymnast will compete so by following the booster club rules they are NOT sperate. It's a big mess, and honestly I DO want to move her. The only reason we haven't is that even if a team would still take her at this point, we really can't afford to pay all the "start-up" costs at a new gym since this one has all our money! She WILL move next year, no matter how this is resolved! I am also a bit stubborn though. I didn't ask for a battle, but now that it's started i will join it!

For the record, I actually am the kind of mother that willingly helps in all areas. This is not because I just didn't feel like doing something that day. I happily sold tix and helped at the first fundraiser. I REPEATEDLY offered to help with anything that needed to be done for this one ahead of time, all while saying it was because I wouldn't be able to be there for the actual event, and have let the head coach know that I would be willing to help with anything she needs. I have attended meetings as well. All I wanted was to not pay a fine and have my daughter compete.

NOW, however, I have been doing research and realized that much of what they are doing is questionable! This is a younger team, the highest level is 5, but I think some of those are almost ready for 6. The are only 25-30 girls on team and most of those ARE Level 3. Our gym is small, but adequate. We do not have pits or tumble tracks but we have several different height beams, bars, vault table, floor area, and some additional equipment.

I do have a problem because we were't told until after the first fundraiser that there was an effort to find a bigger building, or that they had not identified even one thing that they were planning to spend the money on. Based on a couple of conversations with the head coach I feel like they think there are 4-5 parents who "get it" and all the rest of us have to be treated like toddlers! They keep saying the last year only a few parents would help or come to meetings (welcome to life!) yet they also seem to want to keep us in the dark! Anyway, we have a friend who is an attorney and he is backing up everything you all have said, that basically the CAN'T operate this way. I have no desire to bring down a gym team, or a booster club, but I WILL fight to get the policies changed so that my daughter can enjoy HER activity! Wouldn't it be nice if we could put a warning light on over zealous parents so the they could be identified BEFORE you get tangled up with them?