Last updated 2026-07-24
TL;DR
A treasurer is the person legally and financially responsible for an organization's money: tracking income and expenses, keeping bank records straight, reporting balances to the board, and filing the group's annual IRS Form 990 or 990-N. In a club or booster group, it's usually one volunteer wearing a bookkeeper hat, a reporter hat, and a compliance hat all at once.
what is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer (usually elected or appointed) who has custody of an organization's money and the duty to account for it accurately. That's the whole job in one sentence. Everything else is detail. In a nonprofit, PTO, or booster club, the treasurer usually isn't a paid accountant. It's a parent, a coach's spouse, a retired teacher, someone who raised a hand at the fall meeting. The job title sounds formal. The reality is closer to "person who keeps the shoebox of receipts organized and tells everyone else the truth about the bank balance." Most state nonprofit statutes don't spell out treasurer duties line by line; they leave it to the organization's bylaws. That means your actual job description lives in your own bylaws, not in some universal rulebook. If your group doesn't have a written treasurer job description, writing one down is the single best hour you can spend in your first month.
what does a treasurer do?
A treasurer tracks every dollar coming in and going out, keeps the bank and bookkeeping records reconciled, reports the financial picture to the board or membership on a regular schedule, and makes sure the group's tax filings get done on time. Broken into the actual tasks, the job usually covers: - Recording income (dues, fundraiser proceeds, concession sales, sponsorships, donations)
- Recording expenses (uniforms, equipment, insurance, venue fees, supplies)
- Reconciling the bank statement against the books every month, more than at year end
- Paying bills and reimbursing volunteers, usually with two signatures or approvals on anything over a set dollar amount
- Preparing a written balance report for every board meeting (cash on hand, income since last report, expenses since last report)
- Filing the organization's annual IRS return, whether that's the Form 990-N postcard, Form 990-EZ, or full Form 990 [1]
- Keeping records for the state charity registration or raffle license, if the group runs raffles or solicits donations (confirm with your state charity office)
- Handing off a clean set of books to the next treasurer None of this requires a CPA license. It requires consistency, a habit of writing things down the same day they happen, and enough backbone to say no when someone wants cash handed over with no receipt.
what do treasurers do day to day, month to month, and year to year?
The job runs on three timeframes. Mixing them up is the most common failure mode for new volunteer treasurers. Daily or weekly: deposit cash from fundraisers and concession stands within a few days, never let cash sit in someone's car trunk over a weekend. Log every transaction with a date, amount, and purpose. Keep receipts, even the $12 ones. Monthly: reconcile the bank statement against your ledger. Prepare a one-page report for the board: starting balance, income, expenses, ending balance. Flag anything unusual before someone else finds it first. Annually, the job gets heavier. You close the books for the fiscal year defined in your bylaws, prepare or hand off information for the IRS filing, renew any state raffle or charitable solicitation registration, and do a handoff packet even if you're staying in the role another year. Treasurers who skip the annual close are the ones who show up at tax exempt status recovery time with eighteen months of jumbled Venmo transactions and no idea what happened.
what does a club treasurer do differently from a corporate one?
A club or booster treasurer does the same core job as any nonprofit treasurer, just at a much smaller scale and usually without paid staff backing them up. There's no accounting department. There's no controller checking your work. It's you, a spreadsheet or an app, and a shared Google Drive folder if you're lucky. The scale changes the risk profile more than the duties. A club with a $15,000 annual budget doesn't need audited financial statements or a chief financial officer. It does need the same basic controls a bigger organization uses, just lighter: two people approving big withdrawals, a monthly report, receipts for everything, and a clear paper trail for cash from car washes and concession stands. A club treasurer of a football booster club, a dance team parent group, or a PTO is also often the only person who knows whether the group is a recognized 501(c)(3), whether it has ever filed a Form 990-N, and whether the state raffle license from three years ago is still valid. That institutional knowledge tends to live in one person's head, which is exactly the problem. Write it down.
what is Form 990, and does our club need to file it?
| Gross receipts normally ≤ $50,000 | Form 990-N (e-Postcard) [3] | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross receipts < $200,000 and total assets < $500,000 | Form 990-EZ | |
| Gross receipts ≥ $200,000 or total assets ≥ $500,000 | Form 990 (full) | |
| Private foundations (any size) | Form 990-PF | Those EZ and full-form thresholds come from the IRS's own instructions and are worth checking each year, since your group's size can shift you between tiers [4]. Most small booster clubs and PTOs land in the 990-N tier. It's a short online form, not a full tax return, but it still has to be filed every year the group operates. Skip three years in a row and the IRS auto-revokes your exempt status by law [2]. Even organizations with $0 in income for the year generally still have to file something if they're recognized as tax-exempt. "Zero income" is not the same as "no filing required." Confirm your group's exact filing tier and deadline with the IRS and, if your state requires a parallel charity filing, with your state charity office. |
Form 990 is the annual information return that most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report income, expenses, and activities. The specific version you file depends on your group's gross receipts and assets, and skipping it for three years running is what triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status [2]. The IRS breaks the filing requirement into tiers: | Organization size | Which form |
what is the 990 tax form actually used for?
The 990 tax form exists so the IRS and the public can see how a tax-exempt organization raises and spends money. It's a disclosure document, not a tax bill. Most filers owe $0 in tax; the form is about transparency and accountability, not a tax due calculation. The IRS states plainly that Form 990 is used "to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" and that it's also the primary tool the public and watchdog groups use to evaluate a nonprofit [1]. Anyone can look up a group's past 990 filings; several nonprofit databases republish them for free. That's part of the design. If your booster club's 990-N shows the group brought in $40,000 last year through fundraisers and paid it out on uniforms and travel, that's a matter of public record, not a private ledger entry. For a small club, the practical stakes are simpler than they sound: file the right version on time, and your group keeps its tax-exempt status. Miss it three years straight, and the IRS revokes that status automatically, no warning letter required beyond what's already published in the law [2]. Recovering tax-exempt status after auto-revocation means filing retroactive returns and sometimes paying a reinstatement fee, which is a lot more work than filing on time would have been.
what does the treasurer actually control, and what's outside their authority?
A treasurer controls the bookkeeping, the reporting, and usually the mechanics of paying bills. A treasurer does not control how the organization spends its money; that's a board decision, and the bylaws should say so explicitly. This distinction avoids most treasurer-related conflict. The treasurer isn't the person who decides the team gets new jerseys instead of a new scoreboard. The board or membership makes that call, often by vote, and the treasurer's job is to say honestly whether the money exists to do it, then cut the check once approved. Good bylaws spell out dollar thresholds: anything under $100 the treasurer can approve solo, anything over $500 needs two signatures or board sign-off, that kind of structure. If your bylaws are silent on this, that's a gap worth fixing at the next meeting, because "the treasurer just decides" is how small clubs end up with awkward conversations about missing funds.
what does a treasurer report, and how often?
A treasurer reports the cash position, recent income and expenses, and any red flags, typically at every board meeting and at minimum once a year to the full membership. There's no single legal cadence that applies to every club; it depends on your bylaws, but monthly is the norm for active booster and PTO groups. A usable treasurer's report doesn't need to be fancy. One page covers it: - Bank balance at start of period
- Total income since last report, broken into categories (dues, fundraiser, sponsorship, other)
- Total expenses since last report, same categories
- Ending bank balance
- Anything unusual (a bounced check, a large upcoming expense, a grant that came in) Skip the report and you lose the two things that protect a volunteer treasurer most: a paper trail showing you were transparent, and a board that actually knows what's going on before something goes wrong. Regular reporting is also the cheapest fraud deterrent there is. Most embezzlement in small nonprofits gets caught not by an audit but by a board member asking, "wait, why doesn't this number match?" during a routine report.
what records does a treasurer need to keep, and for how long?
A treasurer keeps bank statements, receipts, the ledger or bookkeeping file, board-approved budgets, past tax filings, and any state registration paperwork, generally for at least three to seven years depending on the document. The IRS recommends keeping records that support items on a tax return, including a 990, until the period of limitations for that return runs out, which is generally three years from the filing date, but longer in specific situations like underreported income [5]. In practice, most small nonprofit treasurers keep everything for seven years just to be safe, since it's cheap to store a folder of PDFs and expensive to reconstruct missing records during an audit or a state license renewal. At minimum, keep: - Bank statements and reconciliations (7 years)
- Receipts and invoices (7 years)
- Past Form 990 / 990-N confirmations (permanently, or at least since your last IRS status check)
- Board-approved budgets and meeting minutes referencing financial decisions (permanently)
- State charity or raffle license paperwork (through current renewal plus a few years back) A lot of clubs lose this history entirely during a treasurer handoff because it lived in one person's personal email. Building a shared folder from day one solves this permanently.
how does a treasurer's job change if the club runs raffles or gambling fundraisers?
Running a raffle adds a state licensing layer on top of the normal treasurer duties, and it's the treasurer who usually ends up tracking ticket sales, prize costs, and the required reporting to the state charity office or gaming commission. Most states that allow charitable raffles require some form of registration or license before you sell a single ticket, and many require a follow-up report showing gross receipts, prize payouts, and net proceeds after the event. Rules vary heavily by state (some cap prize values, some require a percentage of proceeds go to charitable purposes, some exempt very small raffles), so this is genuinely a "confirm with your state charity office" situation rather than something with one national answer. A treasurer running a raffle should keep the license or registration number, dated ticket stock or a digital sales log, a record of every prize and its fair market value, and the post-event financial report filed with the state. If your board is planning its first raffle, get the license application in early. Processing times vary by state and "we'll get to it" is how clubs end up selling tickets for an event they're not legally licensed to run yet.
what does a treasurer do when handing off to the next person?
A treasurer hands off the bank access, the full financial records, the current year's budget status, and a written summary of anything unresolved, ideally with an overlap period where both treasurers work together for at least one reporting cycle. A clean handoff packet includes: - Current bank balance and account numbers (with the bank updated on signers before the old treasurer leaves)
- The last twelve months of reconciled statements
- A copy of the most recent 990-N confirmation or 990/990-EZ filing
- Current state charity or raffle registration status
- A list of recurring bills and who approves them
- Login credentials for any accounting software, PayPal, Venmo, or Square account tied to the club
- Contact info for the bank branch, the accountant if the group uses one, and the board president This is the step most volunteer treasurers skip. Usually it's because they're relieved to be done and the new person is nervous about asking too many questions. Skipping it is how clubs end up with an auto-revoked exempt status two years later because nobody realized filings had lapsed. A 990-N filing history that's easy to hand off is worth more than almost anything else you leave behind.
do you need to be an accountant to be a treasurer?
No. Most volunteer treasurers for booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports groups have no accounting background at all, and the job is designed to be doable by anyone willing to be consistent and honest about the numbers. What the job actually requires is discipline, not credentials: recording transactions the same week they happen, reconciling the bank account monthly instead of letting three months pile up, and asking for help before a problem gets big instead of after. When the job gets genuinely complicated (a group crossing into full Form 990 territory, a state audit, a tax dispute), that's the point to bring in a licensed accountant or attorney. Nothing here is a substitute for that professional advice, and no article, template, or kit can guarantee a filing outcome or guarantee an organization keeps its tax-exempt status. Those decisions rest with the IRS and your state. What does help is starting with a clean structure instead of a shoebox. A state-specific starting point like the $99 State-Personalized Treasurer Kit covers the bylaws-level job description, the reporting templates, and the state-specific raffle and filing checklists so a new volunteer isn't building all of this from scratch during their first month on the job.
Frequently asked questions
what does a treasurer do?
A treasurer tracks all money coming in and going out, keeps the bank records reconciled, reports the financial picture to the board on a regular schedule, and files the organization's annual IRS return (Form 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990). In a small club, one volunteer usually handles all of it.
what is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's money: recording transactions, safeguarding funds, and reporting the financial position honestly and regularly. The exact duties are usually defined in the group's bylaws rather than a single universal legal standard.
what is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report income, expenses, and activities. The IRS says it's used to give the agency information required under tax code section 6033, and it's also public record anyone can look up.
what is a 990 tax form?
It's the informational return, not a tax bill, that tax-exempt nonprofits file yearly. Depending on size, groups file the 990-N e-Postcard (receipts under $50,000), Form 990-EZ, or the full Form 990. Most owe $0 in tax; the form is about transparency.
what is the 990?
"The 990" usually refers to whichever version of the IRS annual return applies to a nonprofit's size: 990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990. It reports income, expenses, and activities and becomes part of the public record once filed.
what does a treasurer do in a club?
In a club, the treasurer handles dues and fundraiser income, pays bills, reconciles the bank account monthly, gives a financial report at meetings, and makes sure the club's IRS filing and any state raffle registration stay current. It's usually one unpaid volunteer doing all of it.
what does a club treasurer do?
A club treasurer runs the same core job as any nonprofit treasurer at a smaller scale: recording income and expenses, reconciling accounts, reporting to the board, and filing the required IRS return each year. Without paid staff, consistency and clear records matter more than formal accounting training.
what does a treasurer of a club do that's different from a president?
A president leads decisions and runs meetings; a treasurer executes the financial side of those decisions and reports honestly on the money. The treasurer generally shouldn't unilaterally decide how funds are spent; that's a board or membership call under most bylaws.
do all booster clubs and PTOs have to file a 990 every year?
Most recognized tax-exempt organizations, including small booster clubs and PTOs, have an annual IRS filing requirement even with $0 income, though the specific form depends on gross receipts and assets. Confirm your group's exact filing tier and due date directly with the IRS.
what happens if a club treasurer misses three years of 990 filings?
Federal law auto-revokes the organization's tax-exempt status once required returns are missing for three consecutive years. Reinstatement generally means filing retroactive returns and applying to the IRS again, which takes considerably more work than filing on time would have.
how much time does the treasurer job actually take per month?
For a small booster club or PTO, expect a few hours a month for routine reconciliation and reporting, with spikes around fundraiser season and year-end filing. Groups running raffles or larger fundraisers should expect more time during licensing and event reporting periods.
can a treasurer also be the club president?
Most bylaws and many state nonprofit statutes discourage or prohibit combining these roles because it removes a basic financial check. Check your specific bylaws and, for stricter rules, your state's nonprofit corporation statute.
what's the difference between a treasurer and a bookkeeper?
A bookkeeper records transactions; a treasurer is the accountable officer who oversees the money, reports to the board, and ensures compliance obligations like tax filings get done. A club treasurer often does both jobs personally since there's rarely a separate paid bookkeeper.
Sources
- IRS, About Form 990: Form 990 is used to provide the IRS with information required under section 6033 and is a public disclosure document
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Federal law automatically revokes tax-exempt status after three consecutive years of failing to file the required annual return
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (990-N): Organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less can file Form 990-N
- IRS, Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File: Filing tier (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990) depends on gross receipts and total assets thresholds
- IRS, How long should I keep records?: Records supporting a tax return should generally be kept until the period of limitations for that return expires, generally three years
- 26 U.S.C. 6033(j), Loss of exempt status for failure to file return: The three-year automatic revocation rule for failing to file required annual returns is codified in the tax code at section 6033(j)