Parents Booster Club Question - scholarships or grants

[Rockygym]

Hi all. Just getting my feet wet with serving as Treasurer for our booster club which is a 501c3. As part of the club with collect the meet fees for the year as well as do several fundraising events per year. For those out there with experience in these, do your booster clubs provide scholarships/grants to gymnasts to help cover meet fees? How do you determine this? Needs based? I know from my reading that this can't be based on individual participation in fundraising activities.

 

[MILgymFAM]

As far as I know, booster clubs have to help gymnasts evenly. Maybe not all gymnasts, but at least all gymnasts of a certain class. For example, the money allotted for meet fees could be divided amongst all gymnasts, or maybe across all gymnasts who qualify to nationals. I don't think you can pick and choose who to help, even with honorable motivations. My DD started at a gym that was a non-profit, but without a booster. The gym board was able to extend need-based scholarships, for tuition and coaching fees (but not meet fees). I don't think boards have that kind of leeway.

 

[bookworm]

I agree with MILgymFAM...I don't think you can selectively pay the meet fees of certain gymnasts, and not others of the same category (i.e. level 9s, all optionals etc) as a non-profit. You could raise a ton of money from your fundraisers and pay meet fees( even partially pay) for the whole group....but not singling out particular gymnasts. The gym, on the other hand, could decide to have some sort of scholarship program for the tuition but that would be outside of the scope of the booster club so you'd be in the clear there...

On a more practical side, I think it would be tough to continue in this sport if you can't afford the meet fees....and it only gets more expensive, not less.

 

[suebee]

I know of a local 501(c)(3), unrelated to gymnastics, that runs an after school academic competition. They offer some scholarship money to all kids who move on to higher levels of competition to cover some of the costs of the higher levels of competition, but they also offer need-based scholarships to kids who want to participate in the local program because there is a fee to participate. They either waive (free lunch) or reduce (reduced lunch) the fee to participate in the local program.

I wonder if that is allowed, though, because they offer that to everyone who falls into the category of free lunch or reduced lunch who applies for the scholarship.

The fees for that program are very little compared to gymnastics fees, though.

 

[Rockygym]

I agree with MILgymFAM...I don't think you can selectively pay the meet fees of certain gymnasts, and not others of the same category (i.e. level 9s, all optionals etc) as a non-profit. You could raise a ton of money from your fundraisers and pay meet fees( even partially pay) for the whole group....but not singling out particular gymnasts. The gym, on the other hand, could decide to have some sort of scholarship program for the tuition but that would be outside of the scope of the booster club so you'd be in the clear there...

On a more practical side, I think it would be tough to continue in this sport if you can't afford the meet fees....and it only gets more expensive, not less.

Totally agree about getting more expensive. I'm just trying to get some ideas on how monies raised through fundraising can be used to offset some of the expenses.

 

[duyetanh]

At my dd's gym there are parents who have received scholarships for their children, but that is through the managers/owners, not the booster club or coaching staff...

 

[tooootsie]

My kids gym will do scholarships on a needs basis. However I do not think it comes from boosters, I believe it has to do with the gym owners discounting the rate depending.

 

[bookworm]

Totally agree about getting more expensive. I'm just trying to get some ideas on how monies raised through fundraising can be used to offset some of the expenses.

I think the only way you can use the monies to offset expenses is to do it for the group....say you raise $20,000 and have 100 on team, every kid would get $200 whether the parent/ family helped out. You could define what "team" is and who is in the boosters...is it just going to be JO kids? Is it going to include the Xcel kids? I definitely wouldn't include the rec kids. At gyms where we were required to be in a booster club, it was only the JO kids...no Xcel, and no boys team kids.

 

[berrisweetness]

Do your homework the really look at that and you have to keep up with all do's and dont's. You don't want to risk losing status.

 

[Rockygym]

Do your homework the really look at that and you have to keep up with all do's and dont's. You don't want to risk losing status.

Already working on it! Just wanted to borrow from the collective CB knowledge

 

[LemonLime]

If it is a fully registered, tax-paying 501(c)(3), yes, a neutral board (interested parties cannot vote and must excuse themselves even from the conversation and the room) can vote to allocate their entire budget to just one beneficiary of the 501(c)(3) within the stated purpose of the 501(c)(3). It's a REALLY BAD IDEA socially, emotionally, and because you might pull an audit, but it's perfectly legitimate legally and under the tax code.

In fact, this practice used to be rather standard in other sports in the 80s and 90s until the IRS started auditing with more frequency.