Fundraising for booster clubs: the complete treasurer guide

Last updated 2026-07-25

What does a treasurer do in a booster club?

A booster club treasurer tracks every dollar that comes in from fundraising and every dollar that goes out to the team, band, or program. That sounds simple. It isn't, once you're running three fundraisers a season, reimbursing coaches for supplies, and trying to figure out if last year's popcorn sale needs to show up on a tax form. The job has four real parts: bookkeeping (recording deposits and expenses as they happen, not months later), reporting (filing the annual Form 990 series return with the IRS and any state charity paperwork), controls (making sure no single person can move money without a second set of eyes), and continuity (leaving clean books for whoever takes over next year, because booster treasurers turn over fast). Most booster club treasurers are volunteers with no accounting background. That's fine. The job doesn't require a CPA license. It requires consistency: the same categories every month, receipts filed the same way every time, and a habit of reconciling the bank statement instead of trusting the checkbook register. If your club has 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status, or is applying for it, the treasurer is usually the person who has to answer 'are we current with the IRS' when a board member asks. That question gets a lot scarier if nobody has filed anything in three years.

What is a treasurer, exactly, and how is it different from a bookkeeper?

A treasurer is an officer of the organization, usually elected or appointed under the bylaws, with fiduciary responsibility for the club's money. A bookkeeper is a function, recording transactions. In a small booster club the treasurer often does both jobs, but they're not the same thing. The fiduciary part matters legally. As an officer, the treasurer has a duty of care (pay attention, don't be reckless with funds) and a duty of loyalty (don't use booster money for personal benefit, don't let conflicts of interest go unmanaged). State nonprofit corporation law generally governs officer duties; check your state's nonprofit corporation act or your state attorney general's charities page for specifics, since this varies by state. A bookkeeper without officer status can be hired or volunteer help, and can be replaced without a bylaws change. A treasurer usually can't be removed except by board vote or election, per the bylaws. If your booster club's 'treasurer' is really just doing data entry with no signing authority and no reporting duty, you might actually have a bookkeeper wearing a treasurer title. Fix the bylaws language so everyone knows who's actually accountable.

What do treasurers do day to day and season to season?

Day to day: deposit fundraiser proceeds within a few days (don't let cash sit in someone's trunk), log every transaction with a date, source, and category, and keep receipts scanned or filed. Weekly or monthly: reconcile the bank statement against the ledger, report a simple income/expense summary to the board, and flag anything that doesn't look right. Season to season: budget for the year's fundraisers and expenses before the season starts, track each fundraiser's net (more than gross) so the board knows which events are actually worth the volunteer hours, and prepare the year-end summary that feeds into the annual 990 filing. Annually: file the correct ^[990](/articles/treasurer-basics/990) form or e-Postcard by the deadline (15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends, per IRS guidance) ^[1], renew any state charitable solicitation registration, and hand off a clean set of books if you're rotating out. A lot of booster clubs run on a school-year fiscal cycle (July 1 to June 30), which changes your filing deadline math versus a calendar-year club. Know which one your club uses; it's usually set in the bylaws or the original IRS determination letter.

What is Form 990, and does our booster club have to file it?

$50,000 or less	990-N (e-Postcard)	Online only, through IRS.gov
Under $200,000, assets under $500,000	990-EZ	Paper or e-file
$200,000 or more, or assets $500,000+	Full Form 990	E-file required for most orgs	Source: IRS, 'Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N)' [2] and IRS instructions for Form 990-EZ and Form 990 [1].

Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations, reporting revenue, expenses, and activities for the year. It's not an income tax return in the traditional sense (exempt orgs generally don't owe income tax on mission-related revenue), but it's mandatory reporting, and skipping it has real consequences. There are several versions based on size. The IRS explains it this way: organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less can file Form 990-N, the electronic notice sometimes called the e-Postcard ^[2]. Organizations with gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000 can file 990-EZ; larger organizations file the full Form 990 ^[1]. Here's the part that trips up booster clubs: 'gross receipts' means total money that came in, before you subtract what you spent. A club that sold $60,000 in wrapping paper and netted $15,000 after paying the vendor still has $60,000 in gross receipts for filing threshold purposes, not $15,000. That pushes many boosters clubs out of the simple 990-N and into 990-EZ territory faster than treasurers expect. | Gross receipts (normally) | Which form | Filed how |

What is Form 990-N (the e-Postcard) and why do most booster clubs use it?

Form 990-N is the shortest version of the annual filing, an eight-question electronic form for small tax-exempt organizations. The IRS says organizations 'whose annual gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less' may file the e-Postcard 'to satisfy their annual reporting requirement' ^[2]. It asks for basic identifying information, confirms gross receipts are under the threshold, and takes most treasurers under 15 minutes once they have their EIN and prior-year info handy. Most small booster clubs qualify, because a lot of school-based boosters run modest budgets: concession stands, spirit wear, a car wash or two, maybe a golf tournament. If your gross receipts have crept over $50,000 in any recent year, you no longer qualify for the 990-N and need to check the 990-EZ or full 990 thresholds instead. One detail that catches people off guard: even though 990-N asks almost nothing, it's still mandatory. There's no 'we're small so we don't have to file anything' option once you have 501(c) status. Filing nothing is what triggers automatic revocation, covered below.

What is the 990 tax form actually used for?

The 990 series exists so the IRS and the public can see how a tax-exempt organization raises and spends money. It's public information; anyone (a parent, a reporter, a rival booster club) can look up your filed 990 through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool or through sites like ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. For a booster club, that transparency actually helps. When parents ask 'where did the concession stand money go,' a clean 990 (or 990-N confirmation) is the answer. It shows total revenue, program expenses, and whether the club is accumulating a large unspent balance, which sometimes raises questions from a school district about why boosters are sitting on cash instead of spending it on the team. The form also reports whether the organization engaged in certain activities: raffles and gaming have their own reporting line on the full 990 and 990-EZ (Schedule G), so if your club runs a raffle as a fundraiser, that's one more reason to track it separately from other income all year, not reconstruct it in April.

What happens if a booster club misses its 990 filings for several years?

The IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status for any organization that fails to file a required 990-series return for three consecutive years. This is federal law, not IRS discretion: under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j), added by the Pension Protection Act of 2006, the failure is automatic once the third year lapses ^[3]. This catches booster clubs constantly, because treasurer turnover is high and paperwork gets lost in a filing cabinet nobody opens. A club can lose its exemption without a single board member realizing filings were skipped, until a bank asks for a determination letter or a grant application gets rejected. Recovery is possible but it's a real project, not a checkbox. The IRS offers streamlined retroactive reinstatement for organizations that were eligible to file 990-N or 990-EZ, generally if you apply within 15 months of the revocation date, by filing Form 1023 or 1023-EZ and checking the right box, per Revenue Procedure 2014-11 ^[4]. Miss that window and the process gets more involved, including possibly paying a reasonable cause statement and, in some cases, user fees for retroactive relief. Confirm current procedures and fees with the IRS before assuming which path applies to your club; this changes and depends on your specific filing history.

What does a club treasurer do specifically around fundraising events?

Before the event: get board approval for the fundraiser, confirm whether it needs a raffle license or gaming permit from the state (many states regulate raffles, bingo, and similar games separately from general fundraising), and set up a simple cash-handling plan: who counts the money, who deposits it, and who signs off. During the event: use a two-person count for cash boxes whenever possible, log starting cash and ending cash, and never let one person both collect and deposit funds without a second signature or receipt. This isn't about distrust; it's about protecting the volunteer from suspicion as much as protecting the club from loss. After the event: reconcile gross proceeds against expenses (prizes, permit fees, supplies) to get a real net figure, deposit within a few business days, and file the fundraiser under its own line item so next year's board can see whether it was worth repeating. A raffle that grosses $3,000 but costs $2,200 in prizes and licensing isn't the win it looks like on the surface. Raffle licensing rules vary heavily by state: some states require a nonprofit to register before conducting any raffle, some exempt small raffles below a dollar threshold, and some ban certain games entirely for youth-affiliated groups. Confirm the current rules with your state's charity regulator or attorney general's office (often the same office handling charitable solicitation registration) before you print a single ticket.

What does a treasurer of a club do when there's no accounting background?

Start with three habits, not a textbook. First, separate accounts: never mix personal and club money, even temporarily, even for reimbursement float. Second, a written ledger (spreadsheet is fine) with date, description, amount, and category for every transaction, updated weekly, not from memory at year-end. Third, monthly bank reconciliation, comparing the ledger total to the actual bank balance and explaining any gap. You don't need double-entry bookkeeping software for a $30,000-a-year booster club. A shared spreadsheet with income and expense tabs, reconciled monthly, beats an expensive system nobody maintains. What you do need is a second person (another officer, a parent volunteer) who reviews the books at least quarterly, so mistakes get caught early instead of at handoff. A lot of new treasurers waste their first month worrying about accounting software. Spend that energy instead confirming three things: does the club have a current EIN and 501(c) status on file with the IRS, when is the next 990 filing due, and is the club registered (or exempt from registering) with the state charity office. Those three answers determine almost everything else you'll do this year.

How is booster club fundraising different from a regular business raising money?

A business can spend its revenue however ownership wants. A tax-exempt booster club generally has to spend its funds consistent with its stated exempt purpose (supporting the team, band, or program named in its formation documents), and it can't let earnings benefit any private individual beyond reasonable compensation for services rendered, per the private inurement rules that apply to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations under IRC sections 501(c)(3) and 4958 ^[5]. That means booster fundraising proceeds generally have to support the group as a whole, not fund individual player accounts in ways that tie an individual's fundraising effort directly to their personal benefit; the IRS has specifically flagged 'individual fundraising accounts' as a problem area for booster clubs in guidance and enforcement actions, because crediting a specific student's family for money they personally raised looks like private benefit rather than a charitable purpose ^[6]. If your club runs individual seller incentive programs (raise $500, get a discount on your kid's uniform), get comfortable with that language before the IRS sees your 990, because this is one of the more common booster-club-specific issues examiners raise. Businesses also don't have a public disclosure requirement for their financials. Booster clubs organized as tax-exempt entities do, through the 990 filing, which is public record.

What are the biggest fundraising mistakes new booster treasurers make?

Skipping the raffle license because 'it's just a school fundraiser.' State gaming and raffle laws generally don't have a blanket school exemption; nonprofit status and sometimes a specific permit are required regardless of who's running the game. Confirm with your state's gaming or charity regulator before selling tickets. Treating gross revenue as profit. A $10,000 fundraiser that cost $6,000 in product and fees only nets $4,000, and boards that don't track net by event keep repeating money-losing fundraisers out of habit. Letting one person hold sole signing authority on the bank account with no board oversight. This is the single biggest control gap examiners and auditors flag in small nonprofits generally, and it's an easy fix: require two signatures above a set dollar threshold and rotate who reviews the statements. Not filing anything because the club is small. Even a $2,000-a-year booster club with 501(c)(3) status has to file the 990-N every year; 'we're too small to matter' is exactly the assumption that leads to automatic revocation after three missed years ^[3]. Losing the paper trail at handoff. When one treasurer leaves and another takes over, the incoming person often gets a shoebox, not a system. Building the next year's kit while you're still in the role, not after you've resigned, is the difference between a two-hour handoff and a two-month scramble. This is exactly the gap the BoosterLedger State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built to close: a $99 one-time packet built around your state's specific filing and raffle requirements, so the next treasurer isn't starting from zero.

Where do state raffle and charitable solicitation rules fit into fundraising?

Separately from federal 990 filing, most states regulate two things booster clubs care about: charitable solicitation registration (do you have to register before asking the public for donations or running a fundraiser) and gaming/raffle licensing (do you need a specific permit to run a raffle, bingo night, or similar game of chance). These rules live with your state attorney general's office or a state charities bureau, not the IRS, and they vary enormously. Some states have a small-organization exemption from charitable registration below a certain dollar threshold; others require registration regardless of size. Some states let a school-affiliated nonprofit run a raffle with a simple local permit; others require a formal state gaming license with an application fee and reporting requirements. None of this is standard nationwide, and it changes over time, so the honest answer is: confirm current registration and raffle licensing rules with your state's attorney general's charity office before your first fundraiser of the year, and check back annually since thresholds and forms do get updated. Build this into your annual calendar the same way you build in the 990 deadline. Booster clubs that treat state registration as a 'set it and forget it' step often find out at the worst possible time (during a bank audit or a parent complaint) that a registration lapsed two years ago.

How should a booster club track and report fundraising income all year?

Keep a running fundraiser log, one line per event, with columns for gross revenue, direct expenses, net proceeds, and whether a raffle license or state permit applied. This single sheet answers most of the questions a board, auditor, or incoming treasurer will ask. At year-end, this log should roll up cleanly into whichever 990 form applies (990-N just needs the total gross receipts figure; 990-EZ and full 990 want revenue broken out by category, and gaming/raffle activity reported separately on Schedule G if applicable) ^[1]. Building the log this way from the start saves hours of reconstruction in April. For cash-heavy fundraisers specifically (concessions, car washes, bake sales), a simple two-person count sheet with a signature line from both counters, kept with the deposit slip, is the cheapest control that prevents both loss and suspicion. It costs nothing but five minutes per event and it's the first thing an auditor or new board member will ask to see.

Frequently asked questions

What does a treasurer do?

A treasurer manages an organization's money: recording income and expenses, reconciling bank accounts, reporting to the board, and filing required tax paperwork like the annual Form 990 or 990-N. In a booster club, the treasurer also usually tracks fundraiser proceeds by event and makes sure state charity or raffle registrations stay current.

What is a treasurer?

A treasurer is an elected or appointed officer responsible for an organization's finances, with fiduciary duties under state nonprofit law to handle funds carefully and avoid conflicts of interest. It's a legal role defined by the bylaws, more than a job title for whoever's good with spreadsheets.

What do treasurers do?

Treasurers record transactions, reconcile accounts monthly, budget for the year, report financial status to the board, and file annual IRS returns (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990 depending on gross receipts) ^[1]. For booster clubs, they also track individual fundraiser profitability and manage state registration renewals.

What is form 990?

Form 990 is the annual information return most tax-exempt organizations must file with the IRS, reporting revenue, expenses, and activities. Smaller organizations may qualify for shorter versions: the 990-N e-Postcard for gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, or the 990-EZ for gross receipts under $200,000 ^[1][2].

What does a treasurer do in a club?

In a club setting, the treasurer keeps the ledger, manages the bank account, reports finances at meetings, and files any required nonprofit tax forms. For a booster club specifically, this includes tracking each fundraiser's net proceeds and confirming any raffle or gaming activity has the right state permit.

What does a club treasurer do?

A club treasurer handles day-to-day bookkeeping, monthly bank reconciliation, budget tracking, and annual reporting obligations. In a tax-exempt booster or PTO context, that reporting includes the IRS Form 990 series and, depending on the state, a charitable solicitation registration renewal.

What is a 990 tax form?

It's the IRS's annual reporting form for tax-exempt organizations, used to disclose income, spending, and activities to the public and the IRS. It's not an income tax bill; it's an information return, and skipping it for three straight years triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status under IRC section 6033(j) ^[3].

What is the 990?

The 990 is the IRS's family of annual information returns for tax-exempt organizations. Which version applies (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990) depends on gross receipts and total assets, per IRS filing thresholds ^[1]. Booster clubs with modest budgets often qualify for the shortest version, the 990-N e-Postcard.

What does a treasurer of a club do?

The treasurer of a club is the officer accountable for its money: keeping records, reconciling the bank account, presenting financial reports, and making sure required tax and state filings happen on schedule. In practice, for a small booster club, this is usually one volunteer doing all of it in a spreadsheet.

Does a booster club need a raffle license to run a fundraiser?

Often yes. Most states regulate raffles and games of chance separately from general fundraising, sometimes with a small-raffle exemption below a certain prize value. There's no universal exemption for school-affiliated groups. Confirm current requirements with your state's attorney general's charity or gaming office before selling tickets.

How do I know which 990 form our booster club should file?

Check gross receipts, not net profit, for the year. Normally $50,000 or less qualifies for the 990-N e-Postcard; under $200,000 in receipts and under $500,000 in assets allows the 990-EZ; above that requires the full Form 990 ^[1][2]. Gross receipts include all money in, before subtracting fundraiser costs.

What happens if our booster club hasn't filed a 990 in years?

After three consecutive years of not filing, the IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status under IRC section 6033(j) ^[3]. Recovery generally requires filing a reinstatement application (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ), and a streamlined retroactive process may apply if you act within roughly 15 months of revocation, per Revenue Procedure 2014-11 ^[4]. Confirm current procedure with the IRS.

Can booster clubs give individual fundraising credit to specific students?

This is a known risk area. The IRS has raised concerns about individual fundraising accounts where a specific student's family benefits directly from what that student personally raised, since it can look like private benefit rather than a charitable purpose ^[6]. Talk to a qualified advisor before setting up an individual-credit incentive program.

How much does it cost to start a booster club fundraiser the right way?

Costs vary by state and fundraiser type: a raffle permit might run from no fee up to a few hundred dollars depending on the state, plus any charitable registration fee. There's no fixed national number; confirm current fees with your state charity office. IRS filing itself (990-N, 990-EZ) has no fee.

Sources

1. IRS, Instructions for Form 990-EZ: Filing thresholds for 990-N, 990-EZ, and full Form 990 based on gross receipts and assets
2. IRS, e-Postcard (Form 990-N) overview: Organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less may file the 990-N e-Postcard
3. IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Tax-exempt status is automatically revoked after failing to file required returns for three consecutive years, per IRC 6033(j)
4. IRS, Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement (Revenue Procedure 2014-11): Streamlined retroactive reinstatement process and its general 15-month window for eligible small organizations
5. IRS, Inurement/Private Benefit - Charitable Organizations: 501(c)(3) organizations may not allow earnings to inure to the benefit of private individuals
6. IRS, Exempt Organizations Continuing Professional Education Text on Booster Clubs: IRS guidance flags individual fundraising accounts in booster clubs as a private benefit concern