Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
Cheer booster club bylaws should spell out your nonprofit purpose, officer duties (especially the treasurer), quorum and voting rules, fiscal year, conflict of interest policy, and how funds get approved and reported. Most 501(c)(3) applications and state charity registrations ask to see them, so vague or missing bylaws slow down everything from bank accounts to raffle licenses.
What are cheer booster club bylaws and why do they matter?
Bylaws are the internal rulebook for how your booster club runs itself: who can vote, how officers get elected, what the treasurer has to report, and how money gets spent. They're not the same as your articles of incorporation (the document that creates the legal entity with your state) or your 501(c)(3) determination letter (the IRS document confirming tax-exempt status). Bylaws are the operating manual underneath all of that. Banks ask for them before opening an account. State charity regulators often want them attached to your registration filing. If you ever apply for 501(c)(3) status using IRS Form 1023 or the shorter Form 1023-EZ, the IRS instructions for Form 1023 note that organizing documents, which can include bylaws depending on how your entity is structured, are part of the application package [1]. Even if your club stays a small 501(c)(3) filing Form 990-N, sloppy bylaws (or none at all) are the number one reason new treasurers can't answer basic questions like "who's allowed to approve a $2,000 competition fee refund?" A cheer booster club without written bylaws isn't illegal. But it runs on memory and vibes, and memory walks out the door the day the treasurer's kid ages out of the program.
What sections should cheer booster club bylaws include?
Most functional booster club bylaws run eight to fifteen pages and cover the same core territory regardless of state. Here's the structure that actually gets used, more than filed and forgotten: 1. Name and purpose. State the club's legal name and a specific statement of purpose ("to support the cheerleading program at [School] by raising funds for uniforms, competition fees, and equipment"). Vague purpose language is a common reason IRS reviewers send follow-up questions on exemption applications. 2. Membership. Who counts as a member (usually parents/guardians of current team members), how dues work if any, and whether membership ends when the athlete graduates or leaves the team. 3. Officers and duties. President, vice president, secretary, treasurer, at minimum. Spell out what each does. This is the section most clubs write too thin, then argue about later. 4. Elections and terms. How officers get nominated, how voting works, term length (one year is common for booster clubs tied to a school year), and term limits if you want them. 5. Meetings and quorum. How often the board and general membership meet, notice requirements, and what quorum means for your group (a common approach is a majority of voting board members, but your bylaws should state a specific number or percentage rather than leaving it open). 6. Financial controls. Who can sign checks, dollar thresholds requiring board approval, budget approval process, and financial reporting frequency to the full membership. 7. Conflict of interest policy. Especially relevant if a board member's business supplies uniforms or travel services to the club. 8. Fiscal year. Match this to your IRS filing period (many booster clubs run July 1 to June 30 to align with the school year). 9. Amendment procedure. How the bylaws themselves get changed. 10. Dissolution clause. What happens to remaining assets if the club shuts down. For a 501(c)(3) organization, IRS rules require that assets on dissolution go to another exempt organization or governmental entity, not to individual members [2].
What does a treasurer do in a cheer booster club?
The treasurer of a cheer booster club is the officer responsible for tracking money in and money out, keeping the bank account reconciled, preparing financial reports for the board, and making sure the club's tax filings (usually Form 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990, depending on revenue) get filed on time. In a bylaws document, the treasurer's duties should be its own subsection, not a single sentence. A workable treasurer duties clause typically lists: maintaining accurate financial records, presenting a written report at each board meeting, managing the bank account and any digital payment tools (Venmo, Square, PayPal for concessions or spirit wear), preparing an annual budget for board approval, coordinating with an outside accountant or bookkeeper if the club uses one, and filing the appropriate IRS return each year. Some clubs add a line requiring two signatures on checks above a set dollar amount, which is a basic financial control that prevents a single person from moving large sums without oversight. What does a treasurer do day to day, practically? Deposit checks from fundraisers, pay invoices for uniforms and competition entry fees, track which athletes owe fundraising minimums or fees, reconcile the bank statement monthly, and answer the inevitable parent question of "where did the car wash money go?" with an actual paper trail instead of a shrug. If your bylaws don't name a specific reporting cadence (monthly board reports, for example), you'll get a treasurer who reports "whenever," which in practice means once a year at best.
What is a club treasurer, exactly, and how is the role different from a bookkeeper?
A club treasurer is an elected or appointed volunteer officer accountable to the board and membership, not a paid employee. A bookkeeper, if the club hires one, handles data entry and reconciliation under the treasurer's direction, but the treasurer still owns the financial decisions and reporting. The distinction matters in bylaws because some clubs try to write the treasurer's job as purely clerical ("keeps the books") when really the position carries fiduciary responsibility: the treasurer is a steward of other families' fundraising dollars and, in most states, can be personally exposed to scrutiny if funds are mismanaged and the club is investigated by a state attorney general's charity division. Nonprofit board members, including officers, generally owe duties of care and loyalty to the organization under state nonprofit corporation law, though the exact standard varies by state; confirm the specifics with your state's nonprofit corporation statute or attorney general's office. Bylaws should also state what happens if the treasurer resigns mid-year: who takes over records immediately, and what a handoff review looks like before the new person signs anything.
How do quorum and voting rules work in booster club bylaws?
Quorum is the minimum number of voting members who must be present for the board or general membership to legally conduct business. Bylaws should state quorum as a specific number or fraction ("a majority of the seated board" or "five of the nine elected officers"), not a vague phrase like "enough people." Without a stated quorum, a booster club risks a scenario where three parents at a poorly attended meeting vote to spend $5,000 on new uniforms, and someone later challenges whether that vote counted. Most state nonprofit corporation acts default to a majority of the board as quorum if the bylaws are silent, but relying on the state default instead of writing your own is a gap, because most volunteer officers have never read their state's nonprofit code and won't know the default exists. Voting rules to spell out: whether officers get one vote each, whether the president votes only to break a tie, whether proxy voting or voting by email/text is allowed (many clubs prohibit it to avoid disputes), and what percentage is needed to pass a motion (simple majority is standard) versus what's needed to amend the bylaws themselves (often a higher threshold, like two-thirds).
What is Form 990 and how do bylaws connect to it?
Form 990 is the annual information return that most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS, reporting revenue, expenses, executive compensation, and program activities so the IRS and the public can see how the organization is run. The IRS explains that "tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations file Form 990 to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" [3]. Small organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less file the simpler Form 990-N electronic postcard instead of the full form [4]. Bylaws don't get filed with Form 990 or 990-N, but the IRS and state regulators expect an organization's actual practices to match what its bylaws claim. If your bylaws say the board approves the budget annually and reviews financials quarterly, but the club's 990 shows no evidence of oversight (or the club hasn't filed at all in three years, triggering automatic revocation under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j)), that's the kind of mismatch that draws attention if anyone ever looks closely. For a full breakdown of the 990 family of forms and which one applies to your booster club's revenue size, see form 990 and 990-N.
What is the 990 tax form used for, in plain terms?
| 990-N | Gross receipts normally ≤ $50,000 | Smallest booster clubs [4] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 990-EZ | Gross receipts < $200,000 and total assets < $500,000 | Mid-size clubs (confirm current thresholds with the IRS) | |
| 990 (full) | Gross receipts ≥ $200,000 or assets ≥ $500,000 | Larger booster/athletic associations | Miss three years of required 990 filings in a row and the IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status under IRC section 6033(j)(1), no warning letter required first [6]. For booster clubs that discover they've been auto-revoked, reinstatement is a separate process through Form 1023 or Form 1023-EZ, and it's worth reading up on before you file anything; see form-990 and irs-form-990 for more on which return fits your club. |
In plain terms, the 990 tax form is how a tax-exempt nonprofit tells the IRS (and anyone else who looks it up) what money came in, what went out, and whether the organization is still doing what it said it would do when it got tax-exempt status. Think of it as the nonprofit version of a business's annual report, except it's public. Anyone can look up a booster club's 990 on the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search tool [5] or through nonprofit-transparency sites that republish IRS data. Which version applies depends on gross receipts and total assets: | Filing | Who files it | Rough threshold |
What does a treasurer do for fundraising and cash handling?
Cheer booster clubs run a lot of cash-heavy fundraisers: concession stands at games, car washes, spirit wear tables, competition day merchandise. Bylaws should require the treasurer (or a finance committee) to set basic cash-handling rules before fundraising season starts, not after someone reports a shortfall. Basic controls worth writing into bylaws or a companion financial policy: two people count cash at the end of any event and both initial a tally sheet, cash gets deposited within a set number of business days rather than sitting in someone's car, and no single volunteer both collects and deposits funds without a second person verifying the count. None of this requires expensive software. It requires a habit and a form. Bylaws should also address who approves fundraiser vendors and contracts (spirit wear companies, catering for banquets) above a certain dollar amount, since that's where booster clubs sometimes get burned by upfront deposits to vendors that never deliver.
Do cheer booster club bylaws need a conflict of interest policy?
Yes, and if your club applies for 501(c)(3) status using the full Form 1023 (not the EZ version), the IRS application actually walks you through adopting one; the IRS provides a sample conflict of interest policy in the instructions and appendix to Form 1023 [1]. Even clubs that file the 1023-EZ or that stayed unincorporated should adopt something similar, because cheer programs are full of natural conflicts: a board member's photography business shoots the team pictures, a treasurer's sibling runs the tumbling clinic the club pays for, a vendor discount goes to whichever officer's kid needs new shoes first. A basic conflict of interest clause requires board members to disclose any financial relationship with a vendor or contractor the club is considering, requires that person to leave the room during discussion and voting on that contract, and requires the decision and the disclosure to be recorded in meeting minutes. It's a short clause. It saves real arguments later.
How does the fiscal year and budget process fit into bylaws?
Bylaws should name the club's fiscal year explicitly (July 1 to June 30 is common for school-aligned booster clubs, though calendar year is fine too) and describe the annual budget process: who drafts the budget, when the board votes on it, and how mid-year changes get approved. This matters for 990 filings because your fiscal year determines your filing deadline. Form 990-series returns are generally due by the 15th day of the 5th month after the organization's accounting period ends, so a June 30 fiscal year end means a November 15 filing deadline [4]. A booster club that doesn't know its own fiscal year (it happens more than you'd think when leadership turns over every year or two) risks missing that deadline entirely. Bylaws should also require the outgoing treasurer to prepare a written handoff packet for the incoming treasurer: bank account details, current budget, outstanding invoices, and copies of the last two years of tax filings. This single clause prevents more chaos than almost anything else in the document.
What happens if a booster club doesn't have bylaws or hasn't updated them in years?
Nothing happens automatically, but the club is exposed. Banks may refuse to open or maintain an account without governing documents. State charity registration renewals in many states ask whether bylaws are current. If a dispute erupts over a board decision (a common flashpoint: who gets to spend leftover funds after competition season), there's no written rule to point to, and disputes that could have been a two-minute bylaws citation turn into months of parent group chat warfare. Outdated bylaws are almost as risky as missing ones. A club that merged with the school's spirit squad program, changed its fiscal year, or started running a raffle for the first time needs bylaws that reflect current reality. State raffle licensing applications in many states ask for organizing documents as part of the license request, and stale bylaws that don't match how the club actually operates can slow that process down. The fix isn't complicated: form a bylaws committee of three people, review the existing document line by line against how the club actually runs today, and bring proposed changes to a vote at the next general membership meeting per whatever amendment threshold your current (or new) bylaws require.
Where can a new treasurer get a bylaws template built for their situation?
Generic bylaws templates floating around the internet are a reasonable starting point, but they rarely match your state's nonprofit corporation requirements, your specific 990 filing tier, or whether you're planning to run raffles. BoosterLedger's $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit builds out bylaws language, financial control checklists, and filing calendars matched to your state and your club's revenue size, so a new treasurer isn't stitching together three different PDF templates from three different states at 11pm before a board meeting. That said, nothing here is tax or legal advice, and BoosterLedger isn't an accounting firm or a law firm. For anything touching your specific exemption status, state registration, or a dispute among officers, confirm the details with the IRS and your state charity office or attorney general's office, and loop in a local accountant or attorney for anything with real money or real liability on the line.
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do in a booster club?
A booster club treasurer tracks all money in and out, reconciles the bank account, prepares financial reports for the board, manages the annual budget, and files the club's IRS return (990-N, 990-EZ, or 990) each year. Bylaws should spell out reporting frequency and check-signing rules so the role isn't left to guesswork.
What is a treasurer, in simple terms?
A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's money: keeping records, reporting to the board, and making sure funds get spent the way the group approved. In a nonprofit booster club, the treasurer also usually handles tax filings and works with a bookkeeper or accountant if the club has one.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report revenue, expenses, and activities, per IRS instructions for Form 990 [3]. Booster clubs under roughly $50,000 in gross receipts usually file the simpler Form 990-N instead.
What is the 990 tax form and who has to file it?
The 990 tax form family (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990) is filed annually by tax-exempt organizations, including most booster clubs, based on gross receipts and total assets. Missing three consecutive years triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status under IRC section 6033(j) [6].
What should be in cheer booster club bylaws?
Core sections include name and purpose, membership rules, officer duties (especially treasurer duties), elections and terms, quorum and voting, financial controls, a conflict of interest policy, fiscal year, amendment procedure, and a dissolution clause describing where assets go if the club closes.
Do booster club bylaws need IRS or state approval?
No single agency approves bylaws directly, but the IRS reviews organizing documents as part of a 501(c)(3) exemption application (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ), and many state charity registration offices ask for a copy. Confirm specific requirements with the IRS and your state charity office.
What is quorum in booster club bylaws?
Quorum is the minimum number of voting board or general members who must be present for a meeting's votes to count. Bylaws should state it as a specific number or fraction rather than leaving it vague, since state nonprofit law defaults vary and most volunteers don't know them.
How often should booster club bylaws be updated?
Review bylaws at least every two to three years, and immediately after any major change: new fiscal year, new fundraising activity like raffles, a merger with another program, or a change in officer structure. Stale bylaws can slow down bank account renewals, charity registration, and raffle license applications.
What does a treasurer do differently from a bookkeeper?
A treasurer is an elected officer with fiduciary and reporting responsibility to the board; a bookkeeper (paid or volunteer) handles data entry and reconciliation under the treasurer's direction. The treasurer still owns final financial decisions, reporting, and tax filing responsibility even if a bookkeeper does the daily entries.
What is a conflict of interest policy in booster club bylaws?
It's a clause requiring board members to disclose any financial relationship with a vendor or contractor the club is considering, then step out of the discussion and vote on that matter. The IRS provides a sample conflict of interest policy in the Form 1023 instructions and appendix [1].
What happens if a booster club has no bylaws at all?
Nothing triggers automatically, but the club risks bank account problems, slower state charity or raffle license approvals, and unresolved disputes over spending or officer authority. Most functional clubs adopt bylaws before opening a bank account or applying for 501(c)(3) status.
Can bylaws set check-signing and spending limits?
Yes, and they should. A common approach requires two officer signatures for checks or payments above a set dollar threshold (clubs pick anywhere from $250 to $1,000 depending on budget size), with anything above a higher threshold requiring full board approval before the money moves.
Do cheer booster clubs need bylaws before applying for a raffle license?
Many state raffle or charitable gaming license applications ask for a copy of organizing documents, which can include bylaws, as part of proving the applicant is a legitimate nonprofit. Requirements vary significantly by state, so confirm with your state's charity office or gaming commission before applying.
Sources
- IRS, Instructions for Form 1023: Organizing documents and a sample conflict of interest policy are part of the Form 1023 exemption application
- IRS, Exempt Purposes - Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3): 501(c)(3) organizations must dedicate assets to exempt purposes, including on dissolution
- IRS, About Form 990, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax: Tax-exempt organizations file Form 990 to provide information required under IRC section 6033
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): Organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less may file Form 990-N, and 990-series returns are due by the 15th day of the 5th month after fiscal year end
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: The public can look up a nonprofit's filed 990 forms through the IRS's search tool
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Failure to file required 990-series returns for three consecutive years results in automatic revocation of tax-exempt status under IRC 6033(j)