Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
A nonprofit treasurer tracks every dollar in and out, keeps the bank and books reconciled monthly, reports finances to the board, and makes sure the group files its IRS return (Form 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990) on time. In a small club, that's often one volunteer wearing bookkeeper, banker, and reporter hats at once.
What is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer responsible for a group's money: tracking it, protecting it, and reporting on it honestly. In a nonprofit, booster club, or PTO, the treasurer usually sits on the board or executive committee and answers directly to the president and the membership. The role is part bookkeeper, part banker, part translator. You're the person who can tell the board, in plain language, how much cash is on hand, what's been spent on the fall fundraiser, and whether the group can afford new uniforms. Nobody expects you to be a CPA. Most volunteer treasurers aren't. What separates a good treasurer from a struggling one isn't accounting degrees. It's consistency: doing the reconciliation every month instead of once a year in a panic, and keeping receipts filed instead of stuffed in a shoebox until tax season.
What does a treasurer do, day to day?
The day-to-day list is longer than most new volunteers expect. Core duties usually include: - Depositing checks and cash promptly, ideally within a few days, never sitting on undeposited funds
- Paying approved bills and reimbursing members with receipts
- Recording every transaction in a ledger or accounting software (even a clean spreadsheet works for a small club)
- Reconciling the bank statement against the books every month, not every quarter
- Preparing a financial report for each board meeting: income, expenses, and current balance
- Preparing (or handing off to a preparer) the group's annual budget
- Filing the group's annual IRS return, whether that's the 990-N, a 990-EZ, or a full Form 990
- Keeping financial records organized for the next treasurer and for any outside review Smaller organizations often fold in extra jobs: managing a debit card, running a raffle's cash box, tracking concession stand deposits. Larger nonprofits with staff may split some of this off to a bookkeeper or finance committee, with the treasurer supervising rather than doing every entry personally. One thing that surprises new treasurers: the job is less about math and more about habits. Reconciling monthly instead of quarterly catches errors while you can still remember what happened. Waiting until year-end to "catch up" is where most messes start.
What does a club treasurer do differently from a big nonprofit treasurer?
A youth-sports or school booster club treasurer usually handles smaller dollar amounts but more cash. Concession stands, raffle tickets, car washes, and gate admissions mean physical cash counts, deposit slips, and two-person counting procedures matter more than they would for a larger nonprofit that runs mostly on checks and online donations. A club treasurer also tends to be the only financial officer, period. There's no bookkeeper, no accountant on staff, no finance committee. That means the treasurer is simultaneously the person entering data, reconciling the account, and reporting to parents at the monthly meeting. It's a lot for one volunteer, which is exactly why cash controls (two people counting money, sequentially numbered receipt books, a same-day deposit rule) matter more here than in bigger organizations that have other checks built in. The stakes are also personal in a small club. If the treasurer disappears mid-season with the checkbook, or just quietly stops doing the books, there's often no backup signer and no paper trail. That's why many booster clubs now require two signers on the bank account and a written handoff procedure before a treasurer's term ends.
What is Form 990, and does the treasurer have to file it?
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations, reporting revenue, expenses, and activities for the year. Which version you file depends on gross receipts and assets: organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less can file the electronic Form 990-N postcard, mid-size organizations generally file Form 990-EZ or the full 990, and larger organizations file the full Form 990. According to the IRS, "Most tax-exempt organizations are required to file an annual return" and organizations that fail to file for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status [1]. That's not a warning, it's automatic; the IRS doesn't send a notice before it happens. The treasurer is usually the one who either files the return directly (Form 990-N takes maybe 10-15 minutes online, no software needed) or gathers records for whoever prepares the EZ or full 990. Even a tiny booster club with a few thousand dollars in the bank generally still owes a 990-N every year if it holds federal tax-exempt status. Confirm your group's specific filing threshold and due date with the IRS, since gross receipts limits and forms are periodically updated [1].
What is a 990 tax form, exactly, and what's on it?
The 990 tax form is an information return, not an income tax bill. Nonprofits generally don't pay federal income tax on money raised for their mission, so the 990 exists to show the IRS and the public how the money moved, not to calculate a tax owed. A full Form 990 asks for total revenue by source (donations, program fees, fundraising events), total expenses by category (program, management, fundraising), a list of officers and their compensation, and a summary of the organization's mission and major activities. The 990-EZ is a shorter version for mid-size groups. The 990-N is just eight basic pieces of information: legal name, EIN, tax year, address, name and address of a principal officer, and confirmation that gross receipts are still under the threshold, per IRS e-Postcard guidance [2]. Because 990s are public documents, they're also the group's public financial face. Donors, sponsors, and even other parents can look up a filed 990 on the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search or on sites like ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. A treasurer who keeps clean numbers all year makes filing this form a non-event instead of a scramble.
What happens if the treasurer misses a 990 filing?
Missing one year usually isn't fatal, but missing three years in a row triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j) [3]. The IRS states plainly: "An organization that fails to file required returns for three consecutive years will automatically lose its tax-exempt status" [1]. There's no appeal for the automatic part; it happens by law once the third year lapses. Once revoked, the group is treated as a taxable entity going forward, donations may no longer be tax-deductible, and getting reinstated means filing an application for reinstatement (often Form 1023 or 1023-EZ again) along with back returns, sometimes with a reduced user fee under the IRS's streamlined retroactive reinstatement procedure described in Revenue Procedure 2014-11 [4]. That process can take months and usually involves a fee running into the hundreds of dollars depending on the organization's size and history; confirm current fees with the IRS since they're periodically adjusted [4]. The fix is boring but effective: put the filing date on the calendar every year, treasurer and president both, so a leadership change doesn't quietly drop the ball.
What does a treasurer of a club actually report to the board?
At minimum, most boards expect a treasurer's report at every meeting covering: cash on hand, income since the last report, expenses since the last report, and any bills coming due. Some boards also want a comparison against the approved budget, so members can see if the group is on track or overspending in a category. Annually, the treasurer typically presents a full-year financial summary, sometimes alongside the filed 990 or 990-N for members to review, since it's a public document anyway. Many bylaws also call for an annual audit or financial review, even an informal one done by two non-treasurer board members, before the treasurer's term ends. Good reports are short. A one-page summary with beginning balance, income by category, expenses by category, and ending balance tells a board more in thirty seconds than a twelve-tab spreadsheet nobody reads. If your bylaws don't specify a reporting format, pick one and stick to it every month so members can compare over time.
What controls should a treasurer put in place?
Cash handling is where most nonprofit financial trouble starts, not because volunteers are dishonest but because sloppy systems create both temptation and honest mistakes that look like something worse. A few baseline controls every treasurer should push for: - Two-person counting for any cash box (concessions, raffle, gate admission), with both people signing the count sheet
- Same-day or next-day deposits, never holding cash over a weekend in someone's car or at home
- Two signers required on checks above a set dollar threshold
- A separate person (not the treasurer) reviewing the monthly bank reconciliation, even briefly
- Written receipts or a receipt book for cash collected at events
- No single person having both check-writing authority and sole access to the reconciliation None of this is about distrust. It protects the treasurer as much as the organization. If money goes missing and there's no paper trail, the treasurer is the first person people look at, fairly or not. Documented, boring process is the best defense a volunteer has. Many booster clubs also maintain a bank account with online access for at least two officers, so a departing treasurer doesn't leave the group locked out.
Does a treasurer need any special license or certification?
No. There's no state or federal license required to be a nonprofit treasurer. Some states require the organization itself to register with a state charity office or attorney general before soliciting donations or running raffles, and that's a separate compliance step from the treasurer's job description, though the treasurer is often the one who handles it. If your group runs raffles, check with your state charity registration office or attorney general, since raffle licensing rules, fees, and reporting requirements vary widely by state and change periodically. Some states require a specific raffle license application, a bond, or post-event reporting of proceeds. Beyond that, the qualifications for treasurer are mostly practical: comfort with basic arithmetic and spreadsheets, willingness to keep receipts organized, and enough time each month to reconcile the account. Bookkeeping experience helps but plenty of first-time treasurers learn on the job with a good handoff from the prior treasurer.
How is a treasurer different from a bookkeeper or accountant?
A bookkeeper (paid or volunteer) handles data entry: recording transactions, categorizing expenses, maybe running payroll if the group has staff. A treasurer is an officer with fiduciary responsibility, meaning legal and ethical duty to act in the organization's best financial interest, whether or not they personally do the data entry. An accountant, especially a CPA, might prepare a formal audit, compile financial statements, or advise on tax matters, but usually isn't a voting board officer of the nonprofit itself. Many small clubs don't have a bookkeeper or accountant at all; the treasurer does both jobs. Larger nonprofits sometimes hire a part-time bookkeeper and have the treasurer supervise and report to the board, freeing the treasurer to focus on oversight rather than data entry. This distinction matters for liability and expectations. A treasurer isn't expected to catch every accounting nuance a trained CPA would, but is expected to know where the money is, keep basic records, and flag anything that looks wrong.
What should a written treasurer job description include?
| Core duties | Banking, bookkeeping, reporting, budgeting, filing | |
|---|---|---|
| Reporting schedule | Monthly report at board meetings, annual summary | |
| Signing authority | Who can sign checks, dollar thresholds requiring two signers | |
| Filing responsibility | Which 990 form, due date, who prepares vs. who reviews | |
| Handoff requirements | What records transfer to the next treasurer, and when | |
| Term length | How long the treasurer serves, term limits if any | Writing this down does two things. It protects the current treasurer from vague, shifting expectations, and it makes the next handoff dramatically easier, since the new person isn't reverse-engineering the job from a shoebox of receipts. A lot of booster clubs build this from scratch every time a treasurer leaves, which wastes time and loses institutional knowledge. Templates built around a state's specific filing and raffle rules save that rebuild every year. That's the whole idea behind the $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit: a job description, filing calendar, and handoff checklist already adjusted to your state, instead of starting from a blank page. |
If your bylaws don't spell out the treasurer's duties, write a one-page job description and attach it to the bylaws or a board policy document. A solid version covers: | Section | What to include |
How does a new treasurer get started (the handoff)?
The best handoff includes: the current bank statement and reconciliation, the EIN and any IRS determination letter, the last two years of filed 990s, a list of recurring bills and vendors, the check register or accounting file, and login credentials for any online banking or payment platforms. Ask for all of it in writing, not verbally, before the outgoing treasurer's last meeting. If records are messy or missing, don't panic and don't guess. Start a clean ledger from the current bank balance forward, note in writing that prior records are incomplete, and loop in the board so there's no confusion about who's responsible for what came before. If the group appears to have already missed 990 filings, check the organization's status on the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool before assuming the worst; sometimes a filing went in under a slightly different name or EIN [5]. Finally, get access sorted immediately: bank account signer status, EIN documentation, and any state charity registration login. Waiting until a bill is due to discover you can't access the account is a common, avoidable crisis.
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer manages a nonprofit or club's money: depositing funds, paying bills, reconciling the bank account monthly, reporting finances to the board, preparing the budget, and filing the group's annual IRS return (990-N, 990-EZ, or 990). In small clubs, one volunteer usually does all of this alone.
What is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's finances, usually a voting board member who reports directly to the president and membership. The role combines bookkeeping, banking oversight, and financial reporting, with fiduciary duty to protect the group's money.
What do treasurers do at meetings?
Treasurers present a financial report at each board meeting covering cash on hand, income and expenses since the last meeting, and upcoming bills. Many also compare actual spending against the approved budget so the board can see if the group is on track.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations, reporting revenue, expenses, and activities. It's not an income tax bill; it's a public disclosure document. Smaller organizations file simplified versions like the 990-N or 990-EZ instead of the full form [1].
What is a 990 tax form?
A 990 tax form reports a nonprofit's revenue, expenses, and officer information to the IRS each year. It exists so the IRS and public can see how a tax-exempt organization used its money, since the group generally doesn't owe federal income tax on that revenue.
What is the 990-N and who has to file it?
The 990-N, or e-Postcard, is a short online filing for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. It asks for eight basic items: legal name, EIN, tax year, address, principal officer, and confirmation receipts are under the threshold [2]. Confirm your current threshold with the IRS since it can change.
What does a club treasurer do differently from a nonprofit treasurer?
A club treasurer, common in booster clubs and PTOs, usually handles more physical cash (concessions, raffles, gate fees) and is often the only financial officer, with no bookkeeper or finance committee backing them up. That makes cash-handling controls like two-person counting even more important.
Does a treasurer need accounting experience?
No formal accounting background is required. Comfort with basic math, spreadsheets, and consistent monthly habits matters more than credentials. A clean handoff from the prior treasurer, with organized records and a written job description, makes the learning curve much shorter.
What happens if a nonprofit misses its 990 filing?
Missing one year's filing isn't automatically fatal, but missing three consecutive years triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j), with no advance warning notice [1][3]. Reinstatement requires a new application and back filings, sometimes with a reduced fee under IRS streamlined procedures [4].
Can a treasurer also be the president or a paid staff member?
Bylaws vary, but many nonprofits prohibit the treasurer and president from being the same person, and some restrict paid staff from serving as treasurer to avoid conflicts of interest. Check your specific bylaws; there's no single federal rule dictating this for all nonprofits.
How often should a treasurer reconcile the bank account?
Monthly, at minimum, matched against the actual bank statement, more than the organization's internal spreadsheet. Waiting longer makes errors harder to trace and turns year-end into a scramble instead of a routine check.
What records should a treasurer keep, and for how long?
Bank statements, reconciliations, receipts, filed 990s, board financial reports, and the EIN documentation should all be kept, generally for at least several years; many groups keep tax-related records seven years to be safe. Confirm any state-specific retention rules with your state charity office.
Does a treasurer need a state license to handle raffles?
Not a personal license for the treasurer, but many states require the organization to register for a raffle license or permit through the state charity office or attorney general before running one. Rules, fees, and reporting requirements vary by state and change over time, so confirm directly with your state office.
Sources
- IRS, Annual Exempt Organization Return: Who Must File: Most tax-exempt organizations must file an annual return, and three consecutive years of non-filing triggers automatic revocation
- IRS, e-Postcard (Form 990-N) requirements: 990-N eligibility (gross receipts normally $50,000 or less) and the eight required data items
- Internal Revenue Code Section 6033(j), via Cornell Legal Information Institute: Statutory basis for automatic revocation after three consecutive years of failing to file
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11: Streamlined retroactive reinstatement procedures and reduced user fees for small organizations after automatic revocation
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: Public tool to check an organization's current exempt status and filing history
- IRS, Form 990 Instructions: Full Form 990 requires reporting of total revenue by source, total expenses by category, officer compensation, and a mission/activities summary
- IRS, Form 1023-EZ Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption: Form used by many small organizations to reapply for tax-exempt status after automatic revocation