Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
A booster club treasurer tracks every dollar in and out, keeps bank and cash records straight, files the club's annual IRS return (often Form 990-N), reports to the board monthly, and hands over clean books at year-end. It's a compliance job as much as a bookkeeping job.
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer is the person legally and practically responsible for an organization's money. In a booster club, PTO, or youth sports league, that means tracking income (dues, concessions, fundraisers, sponsorships), paying bills, reconciling the bank account, and reporting the numbers to the board and members on a regular schedule. It is more than "the person who's good with numbers." Most nonprofit bylaws name the treasurer as an officer with specific fiduciary duties, meaning you owe the organization honesty, care, and loyalty in how you handle its funds. If your club is incorporated as a nonprofit corporation, your state's nonprofit corporation act likely spells out officer duties in general terms; the details of what a treasurer specifically does usually live in your own bylaws. Think of the job in four buckets: record-keeping (every transaction, logged and backed by a receipt or invoice), controls (making sure no single person can move money without a second set of eyes), reporting (monthly to the board, annually to members and the IRS), and compliance (filing the right tax form on time, following state charitable solicitation and raffle rules if you fundraise that way). A lot of new treasurers underestimate the compliance piece. The bookkeeping is the easy 80%. The tax filing and internal controls are the 20% that actually gets clubs in trouble.
What is a treasurer, exactly?
A treasurer is an elected or appointed officer of a club, association, or nonprofit who holds custody of and accounts for the organization's money. That's the plain-English definition. Legally, the role usually comes with fiduciary duty, meaning you're required to act in the organization's financial interest, not your own, and to keep accurate records you can show to the board on request. In a small booster club, the treasurer is often the only person who understands the finances in any depth. That's a risk, not a badge of honor. Good practice is to make sure at least one other board member, usually the president or a designated financial review committee, can see the bank statements and the books at any time, without asking you first. The treasurer is not usually the person who decides how money gets spent. That's a board decision, ratified through a budget or specific motions. The treasurer's job is to execute those decisions accurately, flag problems, and refuse to spend money the board hasn't approved.
What do treasurers do day to day and month to month?
| Deposit and log transactions | Weekly | 30-60 min |
|---|---|---|
| Bank reconciliation | Monthly | 1-3 hours |
| Board financial report | Monthly | 30-60 min |
| Budget prep | Annually | 3-5 hours |
| Annual IRS filing (990-N) | Annually | 15-30 min |
| Annual IRS filing (990-EZ/990) | Annually | Several hours to a full day, or a preparer |
| Handoff to next treasurer | Annually | 2-4 hours |
Daily or weekly, a treasurer deposits cash and checks promptly (many clubs set a 48 to 72 hour rule), logs every transaction in a ledger or accounting software, and keeps receipts filed by category. After a concession stand shift or a fundraiser, that means counting cash with a second person present and both of you signing the count sheet. Monthly, the treasurer reconciles the bank statement against the internal ledger, catching errors, missing deposits, or unauthorized charges early. This should take an afternoon, not a weekend, if the weekly habits are solid. The treasurer then prepares a simple financial report for the board meeting: cash on hand, income and expenses since the last report, and anything unusual. Annually, the treasurer builds or updates the budget with the board, prepares for (or conducts) a financial review or audit, and files the club's federal tax return. If the club raises money through raffles, bingo, or similar games, the treasurer usually tracks the state licensing deadlines too, since those are separate from IRS deadlines and vary by state (confirm with your state's charity office or attorney general). Here's a rough time breakdown for a mid-size booster club (a few thousand dollars to $50,000 a year in revenue): | Task | Frequency | Typical time |
What does a club treasurer do that's different from a company bookkeeper?
A club treasurer is closer to a part-time controller than a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper just records transactions. A treasurer records them, explains them to a volunteer board that may have zero accounting background, protects the money from theft or honest mistakes, and represents the club's finances to the IRS and, sometimes, to a state charity regulator. The stakes are also different. A company's bookkeeper answers to paid management with real oversight capacity. A booster club treasurer often answers to a rotating volunteer board that changes every year or two, which means institutional memory about "how we've always done it" can vanish fast if the treasurer doesn't document things clearly. That's part of why a clean handoff matters so much in this world specifically. If you're the outgoing treasurer, your last real duty is making the next person's first ninety days painless: organized files, a written procedures memo, login credentials transferred (not shared informally), and a final reconciled bank statement.
What is Form 990, and does the treasurer have to file it?
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires most tax-exempt organizations to file, including federal Form 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N depending on the organization's gross receipts. The treasurer is usually the person who prepares this or manages the preparer, because you're the one holding the numbers. According to the IRS, "Most tax-exempt organizations are required to file an annual return" and the specific form depends on financial activity and organization type [1]. There is no dollar threshold below which a booster club can skip filing entirely; even organizations with essentially no income still generally must file the electronic 990-N postcard. The IRS states the 990-N (e-Postcard) is for organizations "whose gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less" [2]. Above that threshold, you typically move up to Form 990-EZ (gross receipts under $200,000 and total assets under $500,000) or the full Form 990. For details on which version fits your club's numbers, see our guides to form 990 and the 990 tax form requirements generally. Missing this isn't a minor paperwork slip. The IRS automatically revokes tax-exempt status for organizations that fail to file for three consecutive years [3]. If your club got a revocation letter, that's a treasurer-level emergency, not a someday problem.
What is the 990-N and how is it different from the full 990?
| 990-N (e-Postcard) | Smallest orgs | Normally $50,000 or less | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 990-EZ | Small/mid orgs | Under $200,000, assets under $500,000 | |
| 990 (full) | Larger orgs | $200,000+ or assets $500,000+ | For a walkthrough of the actual filing steps, our 990n and form 990-n explainers cover the online submission process in more detail, and our irs form 990 page covers the larger forms. |
The 990-N, sometimes called the e-Postcard, is the simplest of the 990 family. It's an eight-question online form for small tax-exempt organizations, filed through the IRS's website, with no financial detail required beyond confirming you're under the gross receipts threshold [2]. The full Form 990 and the mid-size 990-EZ require actual financial statements: revenue by source, expense categories, balance sheet detail, and (for the full 990) governance questions about board composition and conflict of interest policies. These take real time to prepare, and many small nonprofits hire a preparer or accountant once they cross into 990-EZ territory. Here's the breakdown as the IRS defines it [1] [2]: | Form | Who files it | Gross receipts threshold |
What happens if the treasurer doesn't file the 990 on time?
The consequence escalates over three years. Miss one year, and generally nothing dramatic happens beyond a note in IRS records. Miss three consecutive years, and the IRS automatically revokes the organization's tax-exempt status by law, under section 6033(j) of the Internal Revenue Code, which the IRS summarizes plainly: organizations that don't file required 990-series returns for three consecutive years "will lose its tax-exempt status" [3]. Once revoked, your club shows up on the IRS's public Tax Exempt Organization Search as revoked, donations may no longer be tax-deductible to donors, and you may owe income tax on revenue you didn't owe before. Reinstatement usually requires filing Form 1023 or 1023-EZ again and paying a filing fee, plus back-filing missed returns; the IRS lays out the reinstatement procedures, including streamlined retroactive reinstatement for organizations that missed the deadline for the first time but file within 15 months of the revocation date, in Revenue Procedure 2014-11 [4]. If your club is already revoked, don't panic and don't guess. Confirm your organization's status on the IRS's search tool, then confirm with the IRS what reinstatement path applies to your situation before spending money on a preparer.
What financial records does a treasurer have to keep, and for how long?
At minimum: bank statements, deposit records, receipts for expenses, board-approved budgets, meeting minutes referencing financial decisions, and copies of every tax filing. For raffle or gaming activity, add the state license application, the win/loss log, and prize documentation. The IRS recommends keeping records that support items on a tax return for as long as they might be needed to verify income, deductions, or credits, and generally suggests a minimum of three years, though it notes longer periods apply in specific situations (for example, seven years if you claim a loss from worthless securities) [5]. For a nonprofit's information return, treat three years as the floor, not the ceiling; many treasurer handbooks and CPA guidance recommend keeping core financial records for at least seven years, and permanent records (articles of incorporation, IRS determination letter, bylaws) forever. Store records somewhere that survives a change of treasurer: a shared cloud folder the board president can also access, more than a personal laptop. Losing three years of records because a treasurer's hard drive died is a common, entirely avoidable disaster.
What internal controls should a booster club treasurer set up?
Internal controls are the boring-sounding rules that stop both theft and honest mistakes. For a volunteer-run club handling cash from concession stands, car washes, and raffles, cash controls matter more than almost anything else in the treasurer's job. Basic controls that cost nothing and take an hour to set up: Require two people to count cash after any event, both signing a count sheet. Require two signatures (or board approval) for any check or transfer over a set dollar threshold your bylaws or board define. Never let the person who collects cash also be the only person who deposits it. Give the board president or a finance committee member read access to the bank account, so the treasurer isn't the only person who can see the real numbers. Reconcile the bank statement every single month, even in slow months. Most embezzlement in small nonprofits isn't sophisticated. It's one person having sole, unchecked access to cash over a long period. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners' Report to the Nations has repeatedly found that small organizations (under 100 employees, which covers essentially every booster club) suffer disproportionately large median losses relative to their size, largely because they lack basic separation-of-duties controls. You don't need an accountant to fix that. You need a second signature and a habit of showing the books to someone else regularly.
What does a treasurer report to the board, and how often?
At minimum, monthly: cash on hand, a summary of income and expenses since the last report, and the bank-reconciled balance. Some boards want a simple profit-and-loss by fundraiser (how much the car wash actually netted after supplies) so they can decide which fundraisers are worth repeating. Annually, the treasurer should present a full-year financial summary alongside the proposed budget for the next year, plus confirmation that the annual IRS filing was completed (or is scheduled) and, if applicable, that state charitable registration or raffle licensing is current. Confirm with your state's charity office or attorney general what registration and renewal is required for your club specifically, since rules vary widely by state and by how much you raise. Write the report so a parent with no finance background can understand it in two minutes. A table with categories, budgeted amount, actual amount, and variance beats a wall of transaction detail every time.
How does a treasurer hand off the books to the next person?
Badly, most of the time, which is exactly why it deserves a real checklist. A clean handoff includes: a written procedures document (how deposits are made, who has bank access, when reports go to the board), current bank statements and a final reconciliation, all passwords and account access transferred through the organization's admin channels rather than a personal login shared verbally, copies of the last three years of tax filings, and any outstanding compliance items flagged explicitly (a raffle license renewal date, a pending 990 deadline, a revocation notice that hasn't been resolved). The outgoing and incoming treasurer should sit down together, ideally with the board president present, and walk through the actual bank account and the actual ledger side by side. Reading a memo is not the same as watching someone reconcile a statement. If your club has never done a handoff this way, the next transition is a good time to start. A one-page compliance calendar (IRS deadline, state filing deadline, raffle license renewal, insurance renewal) saved and passed down every year eliminates most of the "nobody told me" crises that hit new booster club treasurers.
Where does a new treasurer even start?
Start with three questions: what's our current bank balance and does it match the last bank statement, when did we last file with the IRS and what form did we use, and does anyone else besides me have access to the bank account and the books. If you can't answer all three confidently in your first week, that's your actual to-do list, not the budget or the fundraiser calendar. Next, pull your organization's IRS status using the Tax Exempt Organization Search on irs.gov to confirm you're not already sitting on a revocation you didn't know about. Then check your state's charity registration office or attorney general's nonprofit division to see whether your club is currently registered to solicit donations or hold raffles, since many states require this separately from anything the IRS handles. If you're building this out from scratch, a state-specific reference that already maps your state's raffle licensing office, registration deadlines, and IRS thresholds together saves real hours compared to hunting through a dozen agency websites. That's the exact gap our $99 one-time State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built to close: your state's forms, deadlines, and a plain-English compliance calendar in one place, so you're not guessing which office to call first.
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do in a club?
A club treasurer tracks all money coming in and going out, keeps the bank account reconciled, reports financial status to the board regularly, maintains records for tax and audit purposes, and often files the club's annual IRS return. In many clubs, they also manage the budget process alongside the board.
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer manages an organization's finances: recording transactions, reconciling bank accounts, reporting to the board, preparing budgets, and ensuring required tax filings (like Form 990 or 990-N) get submitted on time. It's a fiduciary role, meaning the treasurer is legally responsible for handling funds honestly and accurately.
What is a treasurer?
A treasurer is an officer of an organization responsible for its money: recording income and expenses, safeguarding funds, and reporting financial status to the board or membership. In nonprofits, the role usually carries fiduciary duty, a legal obligation to act in the organization's financial best interest.
What do treasurers do on a weekly or monthly basis?
Weekly, treasurers deposit cash, log transactions, and file receipts. Monthly, they reconcile the bank statement against internal records and prepare a financial report for the board meeting. Annually, they build the budget, prepare for a financial review, and file the required IRS return.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the annual information return the IRS requires most tax-exempt organizations to file, reporting revenue, expenses, and governance details. Smaller organizations file simplified versions: the 990-N e-Postcard for gross receipts normally under $50,000, or Form 990-EZ for receipts under $200,000, per IRS guidance.
What is a 990 tax form used for?
It's used by the IRS and the public to see how a tax-exempt organization raises and spends money, and to confirm the organization still qualifies for tax-exempt status. Failing to file it for three straight years triggers automatic revocation of that status under IRS rules.
What is the 990, in plain terms?
It's the tax return equivalent for nonprofits, except most of the information is public. Instead of calculating tax owed, it reports income, spending, and organizational details so the IRS and donors can see the organization is operating consistently with its tax-exempt purpose.
What does a treasurer of a club do that a secretary doesn't?
The secretary keeps meeting minutes and organizational records; the treasurer keeps financial records specifically. Some small clubs combine the roles informally, but bylaws usually treat them as separate officer positions with separate reporting duties to the board.
Does a small booster club really have to file taxes every year?
Yes. Most tax-exempt organizations, including small booster clubs with little or no income, must file an annual return with the IRS, usually the 990-N e-Postcard if gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less. There's no exemption for very small or inactive clubs; skipping it for three years triggers automatic revocation.
What happens if a booster club's tax-exempt status gets revoked?
The club loses its federal tax exemption, appears as revoked on the IRS's public search tool, and donations made to it may no longer be tax-deductible. Reinstatement generally requires filing Form 1023 or 1023-EZ again, paying a fee, and back-filing missed returns; a streamlined process exists for organizations that apply within 15 months of revocation.
Who should have access to the booster club's bank account besides the treasurer?
At least one other officer, typically the board president, should have read access or be a signer, so the treasurer isn't the sole person who can see or move the club's money. This basic separation of duties is one of the simplest ways to prevent both fraud and honest bookkeeping errors.
How long should a treasurer keep financial records?
IRS guidance generally suggests keeping tax records at least three years, though many nonprofit finance guides recommend seven years for financial records and permanent retention for founding documents, bylaws, and the IRS determination letter. Store records somewhere the board can access even after a treasurer transition.
What should a new treasurer do first when taking over the books?
Confirm the bank balance matches the current statement, check the club's IRS filing status using the Tax Exempt Organization Search, and confirm who else has access to the accounts and records. These three checks surface most existing problems before you take on anything new.
Sources
- IRS, Annual Exempt Organization Return: Who Must File: Most tax-exempt organizations must file an annual return, with the required form depending on financial activity
- IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): 990-N is for organizations whose gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Organizations that fail to file required returns for three consecutive years automatically lose tax-exempt status
- IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11, Streamlined Retroactive Reinstatement: Streamlined retroactive reinstatement is available for organizations that file within 15 months of revocation
- IRS, How long should I keep records?: IRS recommends keeping tax records generally for at least three years, longer in specific situations