Last updated 2026-07-24
TL;DR
A treasurer officer is the volunteer or elected officer who tracks money in and out, keeps bank and financial records, reports to the board, and makes sure the group files its IRS Form 990 (or 990-N) each year. In a small booster club or PTO, this usually means one person doing bookkeeping, filing, and honest reporting, not certified accounting.
What is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer of a club, nonprofit, or association responsible for the organization's money. That covers cash, bank accounts, deposits, disbursements, and the records that prove where every dollar came from and where it went. Most bylaws name the treasurer as one of four core officer positions, alongside president, vice president, and secretary. Some groups split the job (a "financial secretary" collects money while the treasurer disburses it), but in small booster clubs and PTOs, one person usually does it all. The treasurer isn't the owner of the money. The organization owns it. The treasurer is a steward who reports to the board and to the members. That distinction matters more than it sounds. It's why good treasurers over-document rather than under-document, and why handoffs between treasurers need actual paperwork, not a verbal "here's the checkbook." If you're stepping into the role for the first time, start with your own treasurer basics checklist before you touch a single transaction. Knowing what you're required to track from day one saves hours of reconstruction later.
What does a treasurer do, exactly?
A treasurer's job breaks into four buckets: money handling, record keeping, reporting, and compliance. None of these are optional, even for a volunteer running a $9,000-a-year concession stand fund. Money handling means deposits go in promptly (most orgs set a 48 to 72 hour rule), disbursements need two signatures or a documented approval, and cash is never stored at someone's house overnight if it can be avoided. Record keeping means every transaction has a receipt, invoice, or deposit slip attached, reconciled against bank statements monthly, not "whenever there's time." Reporting means a written financial report to the board at every meeting: what came in, what went out, what's in the bank right now. Compliance means filing the org's annual tax return with the IRS, and in many states, a charitable solicitation or raffle registration too. Here's the part new treasurers miss: the IRS doesn't care that you're a volunteer. If your group has an EIN and any exempt status, you have a filing obligation every single year, even if you took in zero dollars. Skip three years running and the IRS auto-revokes your exemption, no warning letter required beyond the standard notices. The IRS states plainly that organizations "that do not file for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status" [1]. A one-sentence version for the bylaws committee: the treasurer manages funds, maintains records, reports to the board, and files required tax and state paperwork on schedule.
What does a treasurer do in a club (or what does a club treasurer do)?
In a club setting, the treasurer's job is smaller in scale but not smaller in responsibility. Think booster clubs, PTOs, rec sports leagues, hobby clubs, alumni associations. A typical club treasurer: - Opens and controls the bank account (with at least one co-signer, ideally two)
- Collects dues, concession revenue, sponsorship checks, and fundraiser proceeds
- Pays approved expenses (uniforms, tournament fees, referee pay, event costs)
- Keeps a ledger, whether that's QuickBooks, a spreadsheet, or dedicated nonprofit software
- Presents a written financial report at every board or general meeting
- Prepares or hands off records for the annual tax filing
- Runs point on any state raffle license renewal if the club does raffles
- Hands off a clean file to the next treasurer at the end of term Most booster clubs and PTOs fall under the annual gross receipts threshold that lets them file the simplest IRS return, Form 990-N, instead of the full Form 990 or 990-EZ. The IRS sets that threshold at $50,000 or less in gross receipts for most small organizations [2]. Go over that and you're into 990-EZ or full 990 territory, which means real bookkeeping discipline, not a shoebox of receipts. One thing club treasurers underestimate: raffles. If your booster club runs a 50/50 raffle or a raffle basket fundraiser, most states require a separate charitable gaming or raffle license, completely apart from your federal tax status. Rules differ wildly by state, so confirm with your state charity office or attorney general's office before you sell a single ticket.
What is Form 990, and what is the 990 tax form?
| 990-N (e-Postcard) | Smallest orgs | $50,000 or less [2] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 990-EZ | Mid-size orgs | Under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000 [4] | |
| 990 (full) | Larger orgs | $200,000 or more, or assets $500,000 or more [4] | |
| 990-PF | Private foundations | All private foundations, regardless of size | Most booster clubs and PTOs live in the 990-N lane. It's an 8-question online form, not a paper filing, and it takes most treasurers under 15 minutes once they have their EIN and basic financial totals in hand. Full details on the difference between these forms and how to pick the right one are on our form 990 and 990 tax form pages. Miss the filing three years running (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990, doesn't matter which one applies to you) and the IRS automatically revokes your tax-exempt status. There's no appeal for the automatic part. There is a reinstatement process, covered under Revenue Procedure 2014-11, but it costs time, a filing fee, and sometimes a user fee that runs into the hundreds of dollars depending on your reinstatement path [5]. |
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires from most tax-exempt organizations. It's not a tax bill in most cases (exempt orgs generally don't owe income tax on program revenue), it's a disclosure document: what money came in, what went out, who got paid, and whether the org still operates within its exempt purpose. The IRS describes it directly: "Form 990 is used by tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts, and section 527 political organizations to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" [3]. There are four versions depending on your organization's size and structure: | Form | Who files it | Gross receipts threshold |
What is the 990-N specifically, and does my club need it?
The 990-N, also called the e-Postcard, is the simplest of the four returns. It applies to organizations whose annual gross receipts normally run $50,000 or less [2]. You file it entirely online through the IRS's e-Postcard system. It asks for basic identifying information: your EIN, tax year, legal name, mailing address, website if you have one, confirmation that gross receipts are still under the threshold, and a statement that the organization hasn't dissolved. There's no dollar-by-dollar accounting required on the form itself, though you should still keep that accounting internally. The IRS is direct about the consequence of skipping it: organizations that don't file the required 990-series return for three consecutive years "automatically lose their tax-exempt status" [1]. That's true whether you owed the 990-N, the 990-EZ, or the full 990. Size doesn't buy you a pass on the auto-revocation rule; it only changes which form you were supposed to file. A quick gut check: if your booster club brought in $22,000 last year from concessions, a car wash, and a couple of sponsor donations, and it typically stays under $50,000, you're a 990-N filer. If a big capital campaign or a one-time grant pushed you over $50,000 for a single year, check the IRS's specific averaging rules before assuming you've jumped brackets permanently [2]. Our 990-N and form 990-N guides walk through the exact filing steps.
What does a treasurer of a club do when there's no accountant on staff?
Most booster club and PTO treasurers aren't accountants. That's fine, the job doesn't require a CPA license, but it does require discipline that a lot of first-timers underestimate. Here's the honest version of the job when you're doing it solo: you're the bookkeeper, the internal auditor, the tax filer, and the person who has to say no when someone wants reimbursement without a receipt. Nobody else is going to catch your mistakes until the annual audit or handoff, so build in your own checks. Practical minimums for a solo treasurer: - Reconcile the bank statement every single month, not quarterly
- Never approve your own reimbursement without a second signature
- Keep every receipt, digitally or on paper, for at least 3 years (7 is safer)
- Separate restricted funds (a specific team's fundraising) from general funds in your ledger, even if they sit in one bank account
- Write a one-page financial summary for every board meeting, even the boring ones What a solo treasurer should never do: run the books entirely from memory, let one person both collect cash and record it with no second set of eyes, or wait until tax season to figure out which 990 form applies. If you want a structured starting point instead of building every template from scratch, look at the 990 tax form breakdown or a state-specific packet like the $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit, which bundles the filing calendar, bylaws-ready role description, and state raffle links in one place. Neither replaces an accountant if your organization is complex or under audit; for anything beyond routine bookkeeping, talk to a licensed CPA or attorney.
What happens if a treasurer misses a filing or the IRS auto-revokes the group's status?
Auto-revocation isn't a warning letter, it's automatic once three consecutive years of required 990-series filings are missed. The IRS explains that this rule came from the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which added the mandatory e-filing and automatic revocation requirement for small tax-exempt organizations [1]. Once revoked, your organization loses its federal tax-exempt status, which usually also means: - Donations to your group are no longer tax-deductible for donors
- You may owe corporate income tax on revenue going forward
- Some states will suspend your state tax exemption or charity registration too
- Grant-making foundations and corporate sponsors often won't write checks to a revoked org The IRS publishes a searchable list of automatically revoked organizations, and reinstatement isn't automatic. You typically re-apply using Form 1023 or 1023-EZ (for smaller orgs) and can request retroactive reinstatement back to the revocation date if you meet the criteria in Revenue Procedure 2014-11, which lays out streamlined and standard reinstatement paths depending on how quickly you act after revocation [5]. The fix costs money and time either way. A streamlined retroactive reinstatement filed within 15 months of revocation, using Form 1023-EZ where eligible, is far cheaper and faster than the standard process. Confirm current user fees directly with the IRS before filing, since these change.
What is a treasurer expected to report to the board?
A treasurer's report isn't optional paperwork, it's the board's only regular window into the organization's actual financial health. Skip it for a few meetings and you'll find nobody, including the treasurer, actually knows the real cash position. A solid report, at minimum, includes: - Beginning balance for the period
- Total income, broken down by source (dues, fundraiser, sponsorship, concessions)
- Total expenses, broken down by category
- Ending balance, matched to the actual bank statement
- Any outstanding bills or pending reimbursements
- A flag on anything unusual: a bounced check, a large unbudgeted expense, a donor restriction Many bylaws require this report in writing, attached to the meeting minutes, more than read aloud. That written record becomes your paper trail if there's ever a dispute, an audit, or a new treasurer trying to reconstruct history six months later. For a deeper look at building audit-ready habits into your monthly routine, see our financial controls guidance.
Do treasurers need special training or certification?
No federal or state law requires a booster club, PTO, or youth-sports treasurer to hold any certification. Bylaws sometimes ask for "financial experience preferred," but that's a recommendation, not a legal bar. That said, untrained treasurers make predictable mistakes: mixing personal and organizational funds, missing the 990 filing deadline entirely, not knowing their state requires a separate raffle or charitable solicitation license, or handing off the books with no documentation at term's end. A few hours of orientation before taking the role solves most of this. At minimum, a new treasurer should know: the org's EIN, which 990 form applies, the bank signer setup, where last year's filings and financial statements live, and whether the state requires any charity registration renewal. If none of that exists when you take over, that's your first project, not your last.
How does a treasurer handle a first-year handoff or takeover?
Taking over as treasurer mid-year, or right after an election with no outgoing treasurer available, is common in volunteer organizations and genuinely stressful if nobody planned for it. Start with these five things before you do anything else: 1. Get the EIN. Every filing and bank matter runs through it. 2. Pull the last three years of 990-series filings (or confirm none were filed, which tells you whether auto-revocation risk is live). 3. Get bank statements for at least the last 12 months and reconcile them yourself. 4. Find out if the org holds a state raffle license or charitable solicitation registration, and when it renews. 5. Ask for the prior treasurer's records, even informally kept ones. A messy spreadsheet beats nothing. If records are missing entirely, that's not rare, and it's not the end of the world. You can often reconstruct enough from bank statements and old board minutes to file correctly going forward. Our handoff-and-audits resources cover the reconstruction process in more depth than fits here.
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer manages an organization's money: collecting income, paying approved expenses, keeping records, reconciling bank accounts, reporting to the board, and filing required tax returns like the IRS Form 990 series. In small clubs, one volunteer usually handles all of it, though larger boards may split collection and disbursement duties between roles.
What is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer responsible for an organization's finances, typically one of four standard officer roles alongside president, vice president, and secretary. The treasurer doesn't own the funds; they act as steward, reporting regularly to the board and following the org's bylaws and any applicable state or federal filing rules.
What do treasurers do day to day?
Day to day, a treasurer deposits checks and cash promptly, records every transaction, pays approved bills, reconciles the bank statement monthly, and prepares a written report for board meetings. Around tax season, they also gather totals for the annual Form 990-series filing and check any state charity or raffle license renewal dates.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return most U.S. tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS under Internal Revenue Code section 6033. It reports income, expenses, and organizational details rather than calculating income tax owed. Smaller organizations may qualify for simpler versions like the 990-N or 990-EZ instead of the full form.
What is a 990 tax form and who has to file it?
It's the IRS's disclosure form for tax-exempt organizations, not a typical income tax return. Nearly every 501(c) organization with an EIN, including small booster clubs and PTOs, must file some version of it annually (990-N, 990-EZ, 990, or 990-PF) based on gross receipts and assets, confirmed against current IRS thresholds.
What is the 990-N and when does my club need it?
The 990-N, or e-Postcard, is an 8-question online filing for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, per IRS guidance. It's the fastest of the 990-series filings, taking most volunteer treasurers under 15 minutes once they have the EIN and basic totals ready.
What does a treasurer do in a club like a PTO or booster club?
A club treasurer opens and controls the bank account, collects dues and fundraiser income, pays approved expenses, keeps a running ledger, reports finances at meetings, handles the annual IRS filing, and manages any state raffle or charitable solicitation registration the club needs.
What does a club treasurer do differently from a corporate treasurer?
A club treasurer is almost always a volunteer handling smaller sums, simpler bookkeeping, and IRS forms like 990-N or 990-EZ rather than complex corporate finance. The core duties (recordkeeping, reporting, compliance) are the same in spirit, just scaled down and usually done without professional accounting staff.
What happens if my organization misses three years of 990 filings?
The IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status after three consecutive years of missed required filings, per rules from the Pension Protection Act of 2006. Reinstatement requires reapplying, often via Form 1023 or 1023-EZ, and may allow retroactive reinstatement under Revenue Procedure 2014-11 if you act within specific timeframes; confirm current rules and fees with the IRS.
Does a treasurer need a CPA license or formal training?
No federal or state law requires a booster club or PTO treasurer to hold any certification. Bylaws sometimes prefer financial experience, but it's not a legal requirement. Basic orientation on the EIN, bank setup, applicable 990 form, and state filing obligations solves most first-year problems better than formal credentials would.
What records should a treasurer keep, and for how long?
Keep bank statements, receipts, invoices, deposit records, board-approved budgets, and copies of every 990-series filing. Many practitioners recommend at least 3 years, with 7 years being safer for records tied to any tax position. Confirm specific retention expectations with your organization's accountant if you have one.
Does a treasurer need a separate license to run a raffle fundraiser?
Often yes. Federal tax-exempt status and state raffle or charitable gaming licenses are separate systems. Many states require a specific raffle license or charitable solicitation registration before a booster club or PTO can legally sell raffle tickets, regardless of 990 filing status. Confirm requirements with your state charity office or attorney general's office before running one.
What's the difference between a treasurer and a financial secretary in a club?
Some bylaws split the money role: a financial secretary collects and deposits incoming funds, while the treasurer disburses funds and reports on overall finances. This separation adds an internal control, since no single person both handles cash and records it. Most small clubs, though, combine both roles into one treasurer position.
Sources
- IRS, Annual Filing and Forms overview (automatic revocation for non-filing): Organizations that fail to file required 990-series returns for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N applies to organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less
- IRS, About Form 990: Form 990 is used by tax-exempt organizations to provide information required under section 6033
- IRS, Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File: Thresholds distinguishing 990-N, 990-EZ, and full 990 filers by gross receipts and total assets
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11, 2014-3 I.R.B. 411: Reinstatement process and streamlined retroactive reinstatement path after automatic revocation