Booster Clubs

The Harrison Central School District recognizes the important role that booster clubs play in supporting extracurricular activities. To aid in the creation and implementation of booster clubs, HCSD is providing these guidelines and expectations for those individuals that wish to form a booster club. Any questions about these guidelines should be referred to the athletic director or the school principal.

These guidelines must be read in conjunction with the following Board of Education policies:

Objectives of Booster Clubs

Booster clubs may be defined in two ways:

An organization created to foster community support and raise funds for a specific extracurricular activity (e.g., athletics, speech, and/or musical groups); or
An organization created to foster community support and raise funds for the school's general extracurricular program.

All booster clubs must be aligned with the District’s commitment to the health, safety, and well-being of all District students and all activities must align with the District’s core values of equity, access, rigor and adaptability.

All booster clubs must comply with the District’s obligations not to discriminate based on a student’s membership in a protected class or to provide preferential or disparate treatment to any student or class of students.

Establishment of Booster Clubs

All Booster clubs operate under their own auspices and not as agents of the Harrison Central School District. All booster clubs must be established as IRC section 501(c)(3) non-profit corporations and must comply with the New York State Not for Profit law. A helpful resource for the establishment of a 501(c)(3) corporation can be found HERE. A legal or financial professional should also be consulted before forming a Booster Club.

The steps for forming a booster club are as follows:

Individuals interested in creating a booster club contact the coach, athletic director, or principal to discuss the creation of a booster club, including its goals and objectives.
Individuals conduct outreach to parents and/or community members to solicit interest in forming the booster club.
Interested individuals form an executive board to create bylaws.
Booster club establishes 501(c)(3) and bank account.

Booster Club Bylaws

In order to make operations for a booster club transparent and to ensure the continuity of operations as parents and community members transition into and out of booster club leadership roles, each booster club must have a set of bylaws. The bylaws must specify the following

Membership

Membership shall be open to any person who subscribes to the purpose and function of the Booster Club. Members do not have to have students currently enrolled at the school to join.
Membership categories may include the following: Individual/Family, Business, Alumnus or Ex Officio.

Executive Board

The executive board shall be elected by the booster club members on an annual basis prior to the start of the school year/season.
All executive board members must be in good standing and must have students currently participating in the activity to serve on the executive board.
The executive board shall consists of the following annually elected officers and no person shall hold more than one officer position:
1. President: To call all meetings of the general membership, officers, directors, and special meetings.
2. Vice President: To perform the duties of the president at such times as the president is unable to serve at any club function; perform other duties as prescribed by the officers of the club.
3. Secretary: To maintain and keep records of the club, its officers, and direct support groups as it pertains to the club. Annually publish a list of Individual Activity Groups: handle all correspondence for the club and perform other duties as prescribed by the Officers of the club.
4. Treasurer: To collect, deposit and disperse the funds of the club as directed by the officer; keep all financial records of the club and be prepared to present these records.
5. Athletic Director/Coach: Primary liaison between the club and the team. Represent the club along with the president at any meetings. Serve the club as the principal authority and advisor as the needs and priorities of the program.
6. Past President: To assist the President in ensuring a smooth and orderly transition into office. Serve as an advisor on parliamentary procedures and historical affairs of the club.
7. Ex Officio: Ex officio membership to the executive board and general membership are welcome and their service appreciated, but these members do not hold voting status.
No member may be elected to no more than 4 consecutive terms in office. Officers shall have the right to meet as a group, on an as-needed basis, to plan the agenda and the strategy of the booster club.
Decision-making authority: Expenditure of funds/fundraising requires a simple majority vote of current members. The coach/faculty advisor will annually review the program budget with the athletic director or principal. Once this meeting occurs the coach/faculty advisor will meet the booster club to review the upcoming year’s requests and specific ways to fundraise for them.
Contracts, checks, deposits and funds: All financial record-keeping must be maintained in accordance with 501 (C3) requirements and maintained by the treasurer.

Operation of Booster Clubs

The operation of booster clubs must adhere to the following guidelines:

Booster clubs may not use the name of the Harrison Central School District or any language suggesting that the District has endorsed, sponsored or otherwise approved the organization’s activities without the express prior approval of the Superintendent of Schools or his/her designee.
Booster clubs must seek advance approval for any use of school facilities and/or equipment, following the policy and procedures outlined in Policy 3280.
Booster clubs must consult and gain prior approval from the athletic director or school principal before engaging in any fund-raising or programmatic activity. All activities and donations must align with the school district’s mission and goals.
Booster clubs and their members must understand and respect that the role of the booster club is different from the role of school district employees and that booster clubs do not direct the activities of school district employees.
Booster club membership and/or fundraising activities shall not influence the decisions of school district employees (e.g., students of parents who are active in the booster club shall not be provided any special consideration by any school district employee).

Fundraising by Booster Clubs

Booster clubs must consult and gain prior approval from the athletic director or school principal before engaging in any fund-raising or programmatic activity. All activities and donations must align with the school district’s mission and goals.
Fundraising benefits the entire team/group and the benefits cannot be apportioned to students based on their willingness to fundraise or the amount they raise.
Fundraising by booster clubs may not directly solicit donations from students during the school day and fundraising activities involving students cannot take place during school hours. Students may organize their fundraising efforts during the school day as long as the fundraising activities themselves take place off school premises or outside of the school day and do not interfere with instruction.
All contributions must be made payable to the Booster Club only; donations to third parties or made payable to individual parents or members of the booster club are prohibited.
Fundraising cannot be used to pay for or supplement the stipends or salaries of school district employees.
No booster club or team may charge any other students to participate in clinics, camps or any other activities run by coaches or other student athletes.
Fundraising by booster clubs cannot supplant school district spending on programs services that would violate the school district’s obligations under Title IX.
Fundraising efforts by booster clubs may not utilize information resources maintained by the District (e.g., list of student, parent, faculty or staff email addresses).