What does a treasurer do in a club? full role breakdown

Last updated 2026-07-25

What is a treasurer?

A treasurer is the person in a club, PTO, or booster organization responsible for the money. more than counting it. Tracking it, reporting on it, and making sure someone besides them could reconstruct what happened if they got hit by a bus tomorrow. In most small nonprofits, the treasurer is a volunteer, usually a parent or member with zero accounting background. That's normal. The IRS doesn't require a CPA to run a booster club's books, and most don't have one. What the IRS does require is that the organization files something every year, keeps decent records, and can show where the money went if asked. The treasurer title carries legal weight in some states too. If your club is incorporated, your bylaws or state nonprofit corporation law may name the treasurer as an officer with specific duties (custody of funds, accurate accounts, financial reports to the board). Check your own bylaws first; they usually spell out more than people expect.

What does a treasurer do, day to day?

Most of the job is unglamorous and repetitive. Here's what it actually looks like across a typical month for a booster club or PTO treasurer: - Deposit checks and cash from fundraisers, dues, and concessions within a few days, not weeks.

• Pay approved bills (uniforms, referees, event supplies) and keep the receipts.
• Reconcile the bank statement against your ledger every month, more than at year end.
• Track cash separately from checks; cash is where sloppy records turn into real problems.
• Give a short financial report at every board meeting: balance on hand, money in, money out, anything unusual.
• Keep a simple budget and flag when a program is running over. None of this requires QuickBooks. A well-organized spreadsheet with a running balance, category tags, and monthly reconciliation covers 90% of small booster clubs. The failure mode isn't fancy software, it's inconsistency, one month tracked well, three months not tracked at all.

What does a treasurer do in a club specifically (vs. a company)?

A club treasurer's job is smaller in scale than a corporate finance role but bigger in personal exposure. You're often the only person who touches the money, which means you're also the only line of defense against errors, and the first person anyone blames if something looks off. In a company, there's an accounting department, internal audit, and a CFO signing off. In a volunteer club, it's usually just you, maybe a co-treasurer, and a board that trusts you because they have to. That's exactly why two-signature checks, a second set of eyes on deposits, and a written handoff document matter so much more here than in a business with real internal controls. The club treasurer role also carries a filing responsibility the corporate version doesn't: if your organization has federal tax-exempt status (or claims it should), you personally are usually the one making sure the IRS return gets filed on time. Miss it three years running and the IRS auto-revokes the exemption, no warning letter required by law, just a published list ^[1].

What is Form 990, and does my club have to file it?

Form 990-N (e-Postcard)	Small orgs	Gross receipts normally ≤ $50,000 [2]
Form 990-EZ	Mid-size orgs	Gross receipts < $200,000 and total assets < $500,000 [3]
Form 990 (full)	Larger orgs	Gross receipts ≥ $200,000 or total assets ≥ $500,000 [3]	The IRS states plainly that most tax-exempt organizations must file an annual return, and which form applies generally depends on the organization's financial activity [3]. If you're not sure which bucket your club falls into, pull your last three years of bank statements and add up total revenue, more than fundraiser profit, actual gross receipts. For the specifics and current thresholds, see our guides on Form 990, the 990 tax form generally, and IRS Form 990 filing mechanics.

Form 990 is the annual information return that tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report income, expenses, and activities. It's not a bill; it's a disclosure. Most booster clubs, PTOs, and youth sports groups file some version of it every year if they have (or are seeking) 501(c)(3) or similar tax-exempt status. There are three main flavors based on gross receipts and assets: | Form | Who files it | Threshold |

What is Form 990-N and who has to file it?

Form 990-N, also called the e-Postcard, is the short electronic filing for small tax-exempt organizations whose gross receipts are normally $50,000 or less ^[2]. It's genuinely an 8-question online form, no financial statements attached, filed through the IRS's website. The IRS is specific about what counts as "normally": it's based on a rolling average over your most recent three tax years, more than the current year ^[2]. So a club with one unusually big fundraiser year isn't automatically bumped into 990-EZ territory; averaging matters. There's no paper option for 990-N. It's due by the 15th day of the 5th month after your fiscal year ends ^[2]. Miss it, and nothing happens right away. Miss it three years straight, and the IRS revokes your tax-exempt status automatically under Internal Revenue Code section 6033(j) ^[1]. See 990-N and Form 990-N for the filing walkthrough.

What is the 990, in plain terms?

Think of it as your club's public financial diary for the year. The 990 asks what money came in, where it went, who got paid, and whether the organization is still doing what it told the IRS it would do when it applied for exemption. It's public. Anyone can look up a 990 or 990-EZ filing through the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search tool or on sites like ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer. That transparency is the tradeoff for tax-exempt status: the IRS lets you skip corporate income tax, but the public gets to see your books. 990-N filers don't have this same public financial detail since the e-Postcard only confirms basic identifying info and that receipts are under the threshold ^[2], but 990-EZ and full 990 filers disclose real numbers: revenue by source, largest expenses, officer compensation (if any), and program descriptions.

What does a treasurer do if the club has never filed anything?

This is more common than people think. A booster club forms, someone's parent handles the money informally for a few years, nobody applies for tax-exempt status or files anything, and eventually a new treasurer inherits a mess with no paper trail. First step: figure out if the organization actually has a formal tax-exempt determination from the IRS, or if it's just been operating like a nonprofit without ever applying. Check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search database for your EIN or name. If you find nothing, you may need to apply for exemption from scratch (Form 1023 or 1023-EZ) before any 990 filing makes sense; confirm with the IRS which path applies to your situation. If the club does have an EIN and exemption but simply hasn't filed, don't guess at back years. Pull whatever bank records exist, reconstruct year-by-year income and expenses as best you can, and confirm with the IRS what's owed and whether reinstatement procedures (Revenue Procedure 2014-11 covers streamlined retroactive reinstatement for small orgs) apply to your situation ^[4].

What does a treasurer do if the club got auto-revoked?

Auto-revocation happens when an organization fails to file its required 990 (in any version) for three consecutive years. The IRS publishes an Auto-Revocation List, and once you're on it, the exemption is gone as of the filing due date of the third missed year, not the date someone notices ^[1]. The practical effect: donations made after revocation aren't tax-deductible to donors, and the organization may owe corporate income tax on income earned during the revoked period. That's the part that scares treasurers, and reasonably so. The fix, for many small organizations, is Revenue Procedure 2014-11's streamlined retroactive reinstatement process, available to organizations that were eligible to file 990-N or 990-EZ for the years they missed ^[4]. It generally requires filing Form 1023 (or 1023-EZ) again along with the missed 990s, with a reduced or waived user fee in some cases; confirm current fees and eligibility with the IRS since these change. This isn't something to guess your way through with a Google search at midnight; read the actual revenue procedure or call the IRS Exempt Organizations customer account line before filing anything.

What financial records should a treasurer keep, and for how long?

At minimum: bank statements, deposit records, receipts for every expense over a small dollar threshold your board sets, board meeting minutes approving major expenses, the prior year's 990 filing, and a simple annual budget-vs-actual report. The IRS doesn't hand small nonprofits a single universal retention schedule, but general guidance for exempt organizations points to keeping records that support items on your filed returns for as long as they might be relevant to an IRS examination, which in practice means most treasurers keep at least 3 to 7 years of records, and permanent files (articles of incorporation, IRS determination letter, bylaws) forever. A good habit: at every handoff, the outgoing treasurer hands the incoming one a folder (physical or digital) with the last 3 years of bank statements, the last 3 filed 990s, current bylaws, the EIN letter, and a one-page "how we do things" memo. Nobody does this by default. Everybody wishes someone had.

What controls should a small club treasurer have in place?

You don't need a fraud department. You need a few basic habits that make errors visible fast and make theft much harder to hide. - Two signers on the bank account, and require two signatures above a set dollar amount for checks.

• Someone other than the treasurer counts cash at events and both people sign a count sheet.
• Monthly bank reconciliation reviewed by a board member who isn't the treasurer.
• A written expense approval process, even if it's just "anything over $100 needs board sign-off before it's spent, not after."
• Deposits made within a few business days of any cash-heavy event (concessions, raffles, car washes). These aren't paranoid overkill. They protect the treasurer as much as the organization. A treasurer with no second signer and no review is the first person suspected if money goes missing, guilty or not.

What does a treasurer do around raffles and fundraisers?

If your club runs a raffle, most states require a separate charitable gaming or raffle license, on top of (or sometimes instead of) general nonprofit registration. Rules vary hugely: some states cap prize values, some require a bond, some require reporting of winnings to the state and to the IRS on Form W-2G above certain thresholds. The treasurer usually ends up owning this paperwork by default, since it touches money and reporting. Before running any raffle, confirm current rules with your state's charity registration office or attorney general's charitable/gaming division. Don't rely on what last year's treasurer did; these rules change and enforcement varies by state.

How does a treasurer hand off the role to the next person?

Badly, most of the time, which is why so many clubs end up scrambling to reconstruct records when a new treasurer arrives to find a shoebox and a login nobody remembers. A clean handoff includes: current bank balance verified against the bank's own statement, list of all account logins and who has signing authority, copies of the last 3 filed 990s, current EIN and IRS determination letter, current year budget, list of outstanding bills and expected income, and a walkthrough meeting where the outgoing treasurer explains anything unusual from the past year. This is exactly the gap a State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built to close: a one-time $99 packet organized around your specific state's filing and raffle rules, so the next volunteer isn't starting from zero. It's not tax or legal advice, and it doesn't guarantee any filing outcome, it's a head start on the paperwork trail.

What's the difference between a treasurer and a bookkeeper or accountant?

A bookkeeper (or accountant, if the club can afford one) handles the mechanics: entering transactions, reconciling accounts, preparing statements. A treasurer is the person accountable for the money and the decisions around it, even if some of the mechanical work is done by someone else or by software. In most booster clubs and PTOs, there's no separate bookkeeper. The treasurer is doing both jobs: the data entry and the accountability. That's fine for a small organization with modest revenue, but it's also why the two-signer and second-reviewer habits above matter so much, since there's no separate professional double-checking the treasurer's own entries.

Frequently asked questions

What does a treasurer do?

A treasurer tracks all money coming into and going out of an organization, keeps bank records reconciled, reports financial status to the board regularly, and handles required tax filings like Form 990 or 990-N. In a small club, it's typically a volunteer role covering both bookkeeping and financial oversight.

What is a treasurer?

A treasurer is the officer or volunteer responsible for an organization's money: collecting it, spending it according to approved budgets, keeping accurate records, and reporting to the board or membership. In incorporated nonprofits, bylaws often make the treasurer a formal officer position with specific legal duties.

What does a club treasurer do that's different from a general treasurer?

A club treasurer usually handles smaller, more informal money flows (dues, concessions, fundraisers) with less institutional support than a corporate treasurer. The core job is the same, track money, report accurately, but the club treasurer often works alone with no accounting department or CFO backing them up.

What is Form 990?

Form 990 is the IRS's annual information return for tax-exempt organizations, reporting revenue, expenses, and activities. Which version applies (990-N, 990-EZ, or full 990) depends on gross receipts and total assets ^[3]. It's public record, viewable through the IRS's Tax Exempt Organization Search.

What is a 990 tax form?

It's the informational return, not an income tax bill, that tax-exempt nonprofits file yearly to disclose their finances to the IRS. Despite the nickname "tax form," most filers owe no tax; it's a transparency and compliance requirement tied to keeping tax-exempt status.

What is Form 990-N and who needs to file it?

Form 990-N (the e-Postcard) is the simplified online filing for tax-exempt organizations whose gross receipts normally run $50,000 or less ^[2]. It's 8 basic questions, no financial detail, filed directly through the IRS website with no paper option and no extensions.

What happens if a club treasurer never files anything with the IRS?

Missing 990 filings for three consecutive years triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status under IRC section 6033(j), no warning letter guaranteed ^[1]. After that, donations may stop being tax-deductible and the organization could owe corporate tax on income earned while revoked. Reinstatement is possible but requires a formal process.

How do you fix an IRS auto-revocation for a small booster club?

Small organizations often qualify for the streamlined retroactive reinstatement process under Revenue Procedure 2014-11, which involves refiling Form 1023 or 1023-EZ along with the missed 990 returns ^[4]. Eligibility and current fees change, so confirm details directly with the IRS before filing anything.

Does a small booster club need an accountant?

Not usually. Most small clubs run fine with a diligent volunteer treasurer, a simple spreadsheet, monthly bank reconciliation, and a two-signer check policy. An accountant becomes worth the cost once gross receipts push into full Form 990 territory or the books get too tangled for a volunteer to untangle alone.

What records should a treasurer keep and for how long?

Keep bank statements, receipts, board minutes approving spending, and prior 990 filings for at least 3 to 7 years, and keep permanent documents (IRS determination letter, bylaws, articles of incorporation) indefinitely. There's no single universal IRS retention rule for small exempt organizations, so err on the side of keeping more, not less.

Who has to sign off on a club's expenses?

That depends on your bylaws, but good practice is requiring board approval for anything above a set dollar threshold and two signatures on checks above that amount. The treasurer shouldn't be the sole approver and sole signer on significant expenses; that setup makes both errors and suspicion much more likely.

Does a club need a raffle license if the treasurer already files a 990?

Usually yes, those are separate requirements. Filing a 990 relates to federal tax-exempt status; a raffle license is a state-level charitable gaming permit, often issued by the state attorney general's office or gaming commission. Confirm requirements with your specific state's charity registration office before running any raffle.

Sources

1. IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Organizations that fail to file required returns for three consecutive years automatically lose tax-exempt status
2. IRS, Annual Electronic Filing Requirement for Small Exempt Organizations (Form 990-N): Form 990-N is for organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less, filed electronically with no paper option
3. IRS, Form 990 (2023), instructions for gross receipts and total assets thresholds: Which 990 form to file depends on gross receipts and total assets thresholds
4. IRS, Revenue Procedure 2014-11, 2014-3 I.R.B. 411: Small organizations eligible for 990-N or 990-EZ can use a streamlined process to retroactively reinstate exemption after auto-revocation
5. 26 U.S.C. 6033(j), Cornell Legal Information Institute: Failure to file required annual returns for three consecutive years results in automatic revocation under section 6033(j)
6. IRS, Form 1023-EZ, Streamlined Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3): Organizations seeking exemption from scratch or reinstating after revocation may file Form 1023 or the streamlined Form 1023-EZ