Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
A board of directors treasurer tracks money in and out, keeps books current, reports financial status at every board meeting, safeguards bank and cash controls, and makes sure required filings like Form 990 go in on time. In a small nonprofit or booster club, the treasurer is often the only person who really knows the numbers, so clear duties and a written job description matter.
what does a treasurer do (the short answer)
A treasurer is the board member responsible for the organization's money: tracking it, reporting on it, and making sure it's handled with enough controls that nobody (including the treasurer) gets accused of mishandling it later. That's the job in one sentence. Everything else is detail. In practice this means four buckets of work. Bookkeeping: recording income and expenses, reconciling the bank account, keeping receipts filed. Reporting: giving the board a clear picture of cash on hand, budget vs. actual, and upcoming obligations at every meeting. Compliance: making sure the organization files what it owes the IRS and the state, on time. And controls: making sure no single person (including the treasurer) can move money without a second set of eyes. The IRS itself doesn't define "treasurer" as a legal role with fixed duties. State nonprofit corporation law and the organization's own bylaws do that. Most state nonprofit corporation acts require officers (often including a treasurer or someone with equivalent financial duties) but leave the specifics to the bylaws [1]. That's why the honest answer to "what does a treasurer do" is: it depends on your bylaws, but here's what it looks like almost everywhere.
what is a treasurer, exactly
A treasurer is an elected or appointed officer of a nonprofit, association, or club whose job is financial stewardship on behalf of the board. It's a fiduciary role, meaning the treasurer has a legal and ethical duty to manage the organization's money in the organization's interest, not their own or anyone else's. Most state nonprofit corporation statutes require a corporation to have officers, and many specify a treasurer or an officer with the treasurer's typical functions (custody of funds, keeping financial records). For example, many state nonprofit corporation acts modeled on the Model Nonprofit Corporation Act allow one person to hold multiple offices but generally still expect someone to be responsible for finances [1]. Your state's specific requirement is worth confirming with your secretary of state's nonprofit filing office. The treasurer isn't usually a paid staff bookkeeper. In small volunteer organizations (booster clubs, PTOs, youth sports leagues), the treasurer is a volunteer board member doing bookkeeping, reporting, and compliance work in their spare time, often with no accounting background. That mismatch, real fiduciary responsibility plus zero training, is the single biggest risk factor for booster and PTO finances going sideways.
what do treasurers do day to day, month to month, year to year
| Weekly | Record transactions, deposit cash/checks promptly |
|---|---|
| Monthly | Bank reconciliation, board financial report |
| Quarterly | Budget vs. actual review, state filing check |
| Annually | Budget prep, year-end close, 990/990-N filing, registration renewal |
| Ongoing | Maintain two-signer controls, retain records, respond to board questions |
Daily or weekly: record deposits and expenses as they happen, keep receipts and invoices, respond to bank alerts, prep for upcoming payments. Monthly: reconcile the bank statement against the books, prepare a written financial report (income, expenses, cash balance, budget vs. actual) for the board meeting, flag any unusual activity, and follow up on outstanding checks or unpaid invoices. Quarterly: review budget-to-actual trends with the board, check whether any state sales tax, raffle, or gaming reports are due, review whether reserves are adequate for upcoming expenses (tournament fees, insurance renewals, uniform orders). Annually: prepare or coordinate the annual budget with the board, close the books for the fiscal year, prepare or hand off data for Form 990 or 990-N filing, renew any state charitable solicitation registration, and, in many organizations, hand the books to an incoming treasurer or to an outside reviewer for a financial review. Here's a rough table of frequency and task, useful as a checklist when you're building your own job description. | Frequency | Task |
what does a treasurer do in a club (booster club, PTO, youth sports)
In a club setting, the treasurer usually does everything a corporate treasurer does, just with fewer people to share the load and often more cash-handling (concession stands, raffle tickets, car washes). That combination, small volunteer team plus significant cash, is why cash controls matter more here than almost anywhere else in nonprofit finance. Typical club treasurer duties: collect and deposit dues, ticket sales, and concession revenue; pay vendors (uniforms, referees, facility rentals, insurance); maintain a simple ledger or accounting software file; present a one-page financial summary at every meeting; keep receipts for every reimbursement; and file the organization's annual IRS return, usually Form 990-N for small clubs under $50,000 in gross receipts [2]. A club treasurer of does not, and should not, work alone with no oversight. Best practice, and often a bylaws requirement, is two signers on the bank account, a second person reviewing bank statements monthly, and receipts/backup for every reimbursement request. If your bylaws don't say this yet, this is the year to add it. See our guide to treasurer basics for the fuller list of what a new treasurer needs to set up in the first 90 days.
what is Form 990 (and why the treasurer files it)
Form 990 is the annual information return that most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS. It's not an income tax return in the usual sense, since exempt organizations generally don't owe income tax. It's a public disclosure document: revenue, expenses, assets, governance practices, and compensation, all reported so donors, regulators, and the public can see how the organization operates [3]. The IRS describes it directly: "Tax-exempt organizations, nonexempt charitable trusts and section 527 political organizations file Form 990 to provide the IRS with the information required by section 6033" [3]. There are several versions depending on size: Form 990-N (the e-Postcard) for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, Form 990-EZ for organizations under $200,000 in gross receipts and under $500,000 in total assets, and the full Form 990 for larger organizations [2]. Missing this filing has a real deadline consequence. An organization that fails to file any required 990-series return for three consecutive years automatically loses its tax-exempt status by operation of law, no warning letter required beyond the standard notices [4]. The IRS publishes a list of automatically revoked organizations, and reinstatement requires a formal application, sometimes with retroactive relief available under Revenue Procedure 2014-11 [5]. If your club's status got revoked, that's a fixable problem, but it takes paperwork and sometimes a fee; see form 990 and 990-n for the filing thresholds and what triggers each version.
what is a 990 tax form, in plain English
People search "990 tax form" expecting something like a personal income tax return. It's closer to a nonprofit's annual report card, filed with the IRS but also visible to the public. Donors, watchdog groups (like GuideStar/Candid or ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer), and journalists all pull data from these filings. The form asks for the organization's mission, its revenue and expense breakdown, a list of officers and directors, and, at higher filing thresholds, more detail on governance policies, compensation, and related-party transactions. The IRS's own instructions describe the purpose as helping the IRS enforce the tax code while giving the public information about the organization's finances and programs, consistent with the section 6033 reporting requirement described in the IRS's Form 990 guidance [3]. For a small booster club, this often means the treasurer is the one gathering the bank statements, receipts, and board minutes an outside preparer (or the treasurer directly, using the IRS's own e-Postcard system for 990-N) needs to complete the filing. See 990 tax form and irs form 990 for line-by-line detail.
what is the 990 (990 vs 990-EZ vs 990-N, quickly)
| Form 990-N (e-Postcard) | Smallest orgs | Gross receipts normally ≤ $50,000 [2] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form 990-EZ | Small/mid orgs | Gross receipts < $200,000 and total assets < $500,000 [2] | |
| Form 990 (full) | Larger orgs | Gross receipts ≥ $200,000 or total assets ≥ $500,000 [2] | |
| Form 990-PF | Private foundations | All private foundations, regardless of size | A booster club running mostly bake sales and concession stands almost always lands in the 990-N tier. A larger regional league with paid staff or six-figure sponsorship revenue may need the 990-EZ or full 990. Confirm your organization's specific threshold with the IRS instructions for the current tax year, since the dollar figures are indexed and can shift [2]. |
"The 990" usually refers to the whole family of annual information returns, and which version applies depends on gross receipts and total assets, not on how big the organization feels. | Filing | Who files it | Rough threshold |
what does a treasurer of a club need to know about cash handling
Cash is where volunteer treasurers get burned, not because people are dishonest but because informal systems make it impossible to prove anyone did anything right. A concession stand with one person counting the box, no receipt, no second signer, and a deposit made "whenever someone gets to the bank" is a recipe for a dispute nobody can resolve, even if every dollar was handled honestly. Basic controls worth putting in writing: always have two people count cash at the end of an event and both sign a count sheet; deposit cash within a set number of days (many clubs use 48 to 72 hours); require a receipt or invoice for every reimbursement, no exceptions; require two signatures for checks above a set dollar threshold; and have someone who isn't the treasurer review the bank statement monthly. None of these are IRS or state requirements by law in most cases, they're basic internal control practice recommended by nonprofit finance guidance, but they protect the treasurer as much as the organization. See our financial-controls coverage for a fuller cash-handling checklist.
what should a written treasurer job description include
If your bylaws just say "the treasurer shall have custody of the funds," that's not a job description, that's a placeholder. A real job description should spell out reporting frequency, signing authority, filing responsibility, and handoff procedure. A solid version covers: (1) bookkeeping cadence (weekly entry, monthly reconciliation); (2) reporting format and frequency (a standard monthly report template presented at every board meeting); (3) banking authority (who can sign checks, what dollar threshold needs two signatures, who can access online banking); (4) compliance duties (which 990 version applies, when the state charitable registration renews, any raffle or gaming license renewal); (5) records retention (how long to keep receipts and bank statements, commonly 3 to 7 years depending on the document and state requirement); and (6) transition procedure (what the outgoing treasurer hands the incoming one, and by when). Writing this down does two things. It protects the organization when a treasurer suddenly resigns mid-year, and it protects the treasurer from vague accusations later, because everyone agreed in writing what the job actually covers. This is exactly the kind of document a $99 State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built to hand you already drafted, state-specific filing thresholds and all, instead of writing one from scratch during your first board meeting.
how is the treasurer role different from a bookkeeper or accountant
A treasurer is a board officer with fiduciary duty and reporting responsibility to the board. A bookkeeper is a function, recording transactions, that the treasurer may do personally or may delegate to a paid or volunteer bookkeeper while retaining oversight. An accountant, especially a CPA, is a licensed professional who can prepare tax filings, conduct reviews or audits, and give advice the treasurer generally shouldn't give without one. Small clubs often collapse all three into one volunteer. That's common and workable for tiny budgets, but as the organization grows past roughly $50,000 to $200,000 in annual revenue, most nonprofit finance guidance suggests separating at least the bookkeeping task from the oversight task, even if it just means a second board member reviews the books monthly. This isn't a legal requirement in most states, it's risk management. This site isn't a law firm or an accounting firm, and nothing here is tax or legal advice; for anything specific to your organization's filings or exempt status, confirm with the IRS and, for state-level questions, your state charity registration office or attorney general's office.
what happens if the treasurer doesn't file (auto-revocation)
If a tax-exempt organization fails to file a required Form 990-series return for three consecutive years, the IRS automatically revokes its tax-exempt status. This isn't discretionary on the IRS's part; the Pension Protection Act of 2006 built this into the law, and the IRS confirms that organizations "that do not file for three consecutive years automatically lose their tax-exempt status" [4]. Recovery is possible but takes real work: the organization typically must file Form 1023 or 1023-EZ (or the applicable form for its exempt category) to apply for reinstatement, and can sometimes get retroactive reinstatement to the revocation date under the streamlined procedures in Revenue Procedure 2014-11 if it qualifies and applies within specific deadlines [5]. Until reinstated, the organization is treated as a taxable entity and donations to it may not be tax-deductible, which is a real problem for booster clubs relying on donor write-offs. The treasurer isn't always the one who caused this (boards change hands, records get lost, nobody realizes the filing was due), but the treasurer is almost always the one who has to fix it. Confirm your organization's current status using the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search tool before assuming everything is fine [6].
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do on a nonprofit board?
A nonprofit board treasurer tracks all income and expenses, reconciles bank accounts, prepares a financial report for every board meeting, oversees budgeting, and makes sure required IRS and state filings (like Form 990) happen on time. The role carries fiduciary duty, meaning the treasurer must act in the organization's financial interest, not their own.
What is a treasurer, in simple terms?
A treasurer is the board officer in charge of an organization's money: recording it, reporting on it to the board, and making sure it's protected by basic controls like two-signer bank accounts. It's usually an elected or appointed volunteer position defined by the organization's bylaws, not a paid staff job.
What do treasurers do differently in a small club versus a large nonprofit?
Small club treasurers (boosters, PTOs, youth sports) usually do hands-on bookkeeping themselves, plus cash handling from events like concession stands. Larger nonprofit treasurers oversee a paid finance staff or bookkeeper and focus more on board reporting, audit oversight, and strategy, delegating the day-to-day entry work.
What is Form 990 and who has to file it?
Form 990 is the annual information return most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report revenue, expenses, and governance details publicly. Which version applies depends on gross receipts and assets: Form 990-N for orgs with receipts normally at or under $50,000, 990-EZ or the full 990 for larger organizations [2][3].
What does a treasurer of a club actually do week to week?
Week to week, a club treasurer records deposits and payments, deposits event cash promptly (many clubs use a 48 to 72 hour rule), keeps receipts filed, and answers board questions about upcoming expenses. Monthly, that turns into a bank reconciliation and a written financial report for the board meeting.
What is a 990 tax form used for?
A 990 tax form is used by the IRS and the public to see how a tax-exempt organization raises and spends money, who its officers are, and whether it follows basic governance practices. It's public information, not a private tax return, and sites like ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer publish filed 990s.
What is the 990-N and when does it apply?
Form 990-N, called the e-Postcard, is the simplest annual filing, for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less [2]. It's filed electronically directly through the IRS website and asks only basic identifying information, not detailed financials.
Does a treasurer need accounting experience?
No formal accounting credential is required to serve as a treasurer for most small nonprofits, booster clubs, or PTOs. Bylaws rarely require a CPA. That said, some bookkeeping comfort helps a lot, and organizations with six-figure budgets often benefit from either training the treasurer or bringing in outside bookkeeping support.
What happens if a booster club loses its tax-exempt status?
If an organization fails to file a required 990-series return for three straight years, the IRS automatically revokes its exempt status [4]. Reinstatement requires filing an exemption application again, sometimes with retroactive relief available under Revenue Procedure 2014-11 [5], and donations made while revoked may not be tax-deductible.
How long should a treasurer keep financial records?
Retention periods vary by document and state, but many nonprofit finance guides suggest keeping bank statements and tax filings at least 3 to 7 years, and keeping records related to real estate, loans, or corporate formation permanently. Confirm specific retention rules with your state charity office or an accountant familiar with nonprofit recordkeeping.
Can one person be both treasurer and bookkeeper for a small club?
Yes, and it's common in small booster clubs and PTOs. The risk isn't in combining the roles, it's in having zero second-person review. Even a volunteer treasurer who does all the bookkeeping personally should have another board member check the bank statement monthly.
What's the difference between a treasurer and a financial secretary?
Some clubs split the role: a treasurer manages banking, budgeting, and filings, while a financial secretary records incoming dues or donations and hands deposit records to the treasurer. This split adds a natural second set of eyes on cash intake, which is good practice, but it's optional and depends on your bylaws.
Sources
- Uniform Law Commission, Model Nonprofit Corporation Act summary: Model Nonprofit Corporation Act framework allows flexibility in officer roles including treasurer duties, adopted in various forms by states
- IRS, Annual Exempt Organization Return: Which Forms to File: Filing thresholds for Form 990-N, 990-EZ, and full Form 990 based on gross receipts and total assets
- IRS, About Form 990: Purpose of Form 990 as required by Internal Revenue Code section 6033, direct quote on filing requirement
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption for Not Filing Annual Return or Notice: Organizations that fail to file required returns for three consecutive years automatically lose tax-exempt status
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11: Streamlined and other reinstatement procedures including retroactive reinstatement for automatically revoked organizations
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: Tool for confirming an organization's current tax-exempt status, including automatic revocation status