Last updated 2026-07-25
TL;DR
A club treasurer tracks all money coming in and going out, keeps bank and cash records straight, reports finances to the board and members, and handles tax filings like the IRS Form 990-N or 990-EZ. Most small clubs owe an annual IRS filing even with zero income tax due, and missing it three years running triggers automatic loss of tax-exempt status.
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer is the person a club, PTO, or booster organization trusts to track every dollar that comes in and goes out, and to tell everyone else the truth about the money on a regular schedule. That's the whole job in one sentence. Everything else is detail. In practice it breaks into four buckets: recordkeeping (deposits, receipts, bank statements), reporting (treasurer's report at each meeting, annual summary for members), compliance (state registration, IRS filing), and controls (making sure no single person, including you, can move money without a paper trail). Small clubs often skip the controls part until something goes wrong. Don't be that club. The IRS itself doesn't define "treasurer" as a formal legal role. State nonprofit law usually does, though the wording varies. Many state nonprofit corporation acts require at least one officer responsible for financial records and reports, sometimes without using the word "treasurer" specifically [1]. Your own bylaws are the real job description. Read them before you touch a checkbook.
What is a treasurer, exactly?
A treasurer is the officer (elected or appointed, depending on your bylaws) who is legally and practically accountable for an organization's money. Legally accountable means the treasurer can be held to a standard of care under state law, sometimes called the "duty of care" that applies to all nonprofit officers and directors, not treasurers alone [1]. Practically accountable means the buck stops with you when someone asks "where did the $3,200 in concession revenue go?" You don't need an accounting degree. You do need to be organized, honest, and willing to say no when someone wants to skip a receipt. Most booster clubs and PTOs are set up as nonprofit corporations under state law and many seek federal tax-exempt status under IRC Section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) [2]. Being incorporated and being tax-exempt are two separate steps, and a treasurer who confuses them tends to miss filings. Incorporation is a state matter. Tax exemption is a federal (IRS) matter, plus often a separate state tax matter too.
What do treasurers do day to day, month to month, year to year?
| Ongoing | Deposit funds, log transactions, keep receipts |
|---|---|
| Monthly | Bank reconciliation, board report |
| Before fundraisers/raffles | Confirm state raffle or charitable gaming license requirements |
| Fiscal year end | Prepare annual financial summary |
| Within 5 months, 15 days of fiscal year end | File IRS Form 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990 [3] |
| Ongoing | Renew state charitable registration if applicable |
Daily-ish: deposit checks and cash promptly (don't let money sit in someone's car or backpack), log every transaction, keep receipts. Monthly: reconcile the bank statement against your own ledger, prepare a treasurer's report for the board meeting showing balance, income, expenses, and anything unusual. Quarterly-ish: check in on budget vs. actual spending, follow up on any outstanding reimbursements or unpaid invoices, confirm your state charitable registration (if required) is still current. Annually: prepare or help prepare the annual financial summary for members, file the appropriate IRS return (Form 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990 depending on gross receipts, more below), renew any state charitable solicitation registration, and help with the transition if a new treasurer is taking over. That handoff moment is where clubs lose the most institutional knowledge, and it's worth building a simple binder or shared folder specifically so the next person isn't starting from zero. Here's a rough shape of the annual cycle: | Timing | Task |
What does a treasurer do in a club specifically (vs. a company)?
A corporate treasurer manages cash flow, investments, and debt for a business with paid finance staff behind them. A club treasurer is usually a volunteer with no staff, no accounting software budget, and a shoebox of receipts from three different parents. The core duties overlap: tracking money, reporting to leadership, staying compliant. But a club treasurer also tends to be the only line of defense against sloppy cash handling at bake sales, concession stands, and car washes, where cash moves fast and receipts are easy to lose. That's a control problem more than an accounting problem, and it deserves its own section below. A club treasurer also usually has to explain the books to other volunteers, not finance professionals. Keep your reports plain. A one-page summary with beginning balance, income by category, expenses by category, and ending balance beats a spreadsheet nobody else can read.
What does a club treasurer do that a president or secretary doesn't?
The president runs meetings and represents the club externally. The secretary keeps minutes and official records. The treasurer owns the money, full stop. In a well-run club, no single officer should be able to sign a check and also approve the expense without another set of eyes, that's a basic separation-of-duties control. The treasurer proposes and tracks the budget; the board approves it. The treasurer reports spending; the board (not the treasurer alone) approves anything unusual or large. If your club is small enough that the treasurer is also the president, that's a real risk factor worth naming out loud at a board meeting, even if you can't fix it immediately. At minimum, have a second person review bank statements monthly.
What is Form 990, and does a small club actually have to file it?
Form 990 is the annual information return that most tax-exempt organizations file with the IRS to report income, expenses, and activities. The version you file depends on your gross receipts and assets. Organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less can file the simplest version, Form 990-N (the "e-Postcard"), an eight-question online form [3]. Organizations above that threshold but under certain asset and receipt limits may file Form 990-EZ; larger organizations file the full Form 990 [4]. The IRS states plainly: "Most tax-exempt organizations are required to file an annual return" [3], and that includes small booster clubs and PTOs with federal tax-exempt status, more than big nonprofits. See the hub pages on Form 990, [990](https://boosterledger.com/articles/treasurer-basics/990), and 990-N for the filing details for each version. If you're not sure which form applies to your club, confirm current thresholds directly on irs.gov before you file, because the dollar cutoffs have shifted over time and get indexed periodically.
What is a 990 tax form, in plain English?
Think of it as an annual report card the IRS requires from tax-exempt organizations, not a bill. Most small clubs that file the 990-N owe nothing and just confirm they still qualify as small and still exist. It's not really a "tax form" in the sense of calculating tax owed; it's an information return. That said, some tax-exempt organizations do owe unrelated business income tax (UBIT) on certain revenue streams, reported separately on Form 990-T, and that's a genuinely different animal worth flagging to whoever handles your club's taxes if you run something like regular concession sales unrelated to your exempt purpose [5]. The 990-EZ and full 990 are longer and ask for more detail: program service accomplishments, compensation, balance sheets. If your booster club runs a $150,000-a-year concession and fundraising operation, you're probably past the 990-N threshold and into 990-EZ territory. See 990 tax form and IRS Form 990 for more on which applies.
What happens if the club misses a 990 filing?
One missed year usually isn't fatal, though the IRS can assess penalties for late 990-EZ or 990 filings (990-N late filings don't carry a direct penalty, but skipping the requirement entirely does). The real danger is cumulative: "Automatic Revocation occurs when an organization does not file required Form 990 series returns for three consecutive years" [6]. Once revoked, the organization loses its tax-exempt status, donations stop being tax-deductible for donors, and the club may owe income tax on revenue going forward until it's reinstated. Reinstatement involves filing Form 1023 or 1023-EZ again (for 501(c)(3) status) along with the delinquent returns, and the IRS has a streamlined retroactive reinstatement process for organizations that qualify and apply within 15 months of revocation . If your club shows up on the IRS Auto-Revocation List, don't panic, but don't wait either. Pull your last known EIN, check your filing history, and start the reinstatement paperwork. This is one area where a fresh treasurer inheriting a mess should get help from someone with nonprofit tax experience rather than guessing.
What financial controls should a treasurer set up on day one?
Separation of duties is the single highest-value control a volunteer treasurer can put in place, and it costs nothing. One person collects and counts cash, a different person deposits it, and a third (or the board) reviews the bank statement. In a two-person club, at minimum have someone other than the treasurer glance at the bank statement every month. Other basics: require two signatures on checks above a set dollar threshold your board picks (many clubs use something like $250 or $500, there's no legal minimum, it's a board policy decision), never let cash sit uncounted overnight without two people signing a count sheet, and reconcile the bank account every single month even if nothing seems wrong. For cash-heavy events like concession stands, use a simple count sheet with two signatures at start and end of shift. It feels like overkill until the one year it isn't. See more in financial controls resources built specifically for booster and PTO cash handling.
Does a club treasurer need to deal with state raffle or charitable gaming rules?
If your club runs raffles, bingo, or similar games as a fundraiser, almost certainly yes. Most states require a specific charitable gaming or raffle license before you sell a single ticket, and the rules (who can run it, what percentage of proceeds must go to charity, reporting after the event) vary a lot state to state. This is squarely a "confirm with your state charity office" situation; there is no single federal raffle rule. Start with your state Attorney General's charities division or state gaming control office, since many states house raffle licensing there specifically for nonprofits. Do this before you promise a prize, not after tickets are printed.
What does the treasurer report to the board and members look like?
Keep it simple: opening balance, total income by category (dues, fundraisers, donations), total expenses by category, closing balance, and a one-line note on anything unusual. That's a treasurer's report most boards can absorb in two minutes. Annually, many clubs also produce (or are required by their bylaws to produce) a fuller financial summary for the general membership, sometimes reviewed by an independent person or small audit committee who isn't the treasurer. This isn't the same as a CPA audit, and small clubs rarely need one, but an internal review by a non-treasurer board member catches honest mistakes early and builds trust. Good records also make your eventual 990-series filing dramatically easier. If you're already tracking income and expenses cleanly by category all year, filling out a 990-EZ takes an afternoon instead of a weekend of archaeology through a shoebox.
How does a new treasurer handle the handoff from the last one?
Ask for the EIN, the last three years of filed 990-series returns (or confirmation of 990-N submission), current bank statements, the check register or ledger, any state charitable registration confirmations, and login credentials for the bank and any online payment tools. If the outgoing treasurer can't produce most of that, don't assume the worst, but do start building a clean record from today forward immediately, and check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool to confirm the club's exempt status and filing history are current . A messy handoff is extremely common in volunteer organizations. It's fixable. It just takes a focused first month. This is exactly the gap a State-Personalized Treasurer Kit is built to close: a one-time $99 setup that gives a new volunteer treasurer the state-specific forms, filing calendar, and record templates instead of reconstructing everything from scratch or guessing at deadlines.
What's the single biggest mistake new club treasurers make?
Assuming a small, informal club doesn't need to file anything with the IRS. It almost always does, even at zero revenue, once it has recognized federal tax-exempt status. The 990-N takes maybe ten minutes online once you have the EIN and a login, and skipping it three years running is how clubs end up on the automatic revocation list and have to restart the exemption process from scratch [6]. A close second: treating cash fundraisers casually because "it's just a bake sale." Small amounts of ungoverned cash, repeated over years, is exactly how good volunteers end up in uncomfortable conversations about missing money that almost certainly wasn't stolen, just poorly tracked. A count sheet and two signatures fixes this for free.
Frequently asked questions
What does a treasurer do?
A treasurer tracks all money coming in and going out of a club, reconciles bank records monthly, reports finances to the board and members, and handles required tax filings such as the IRS Form 990-N or 990-EZ. The exact duties are usually spelled out in the club's bylaws, which every treasurer should read on day one.
What is a treasurer?
A treasurer is the officer of a club, PTO, or nonprofit responsible for its money: recordkeeping, reporting, and compliance. State nonprofit law generally requires officers accountable for financial records, though the exact title and duties vary by state and by the organization's own bylaws.
What do treasurers do that's different from other board members?
Other officers run meetings (president) or keep minutes (secretary); the treasurer owns the money specifically: deposits, disbursements, reconciliation, budget tracking, and tax filings. Good practice keeps at least one other board member reviewing bank statements so the treasurer isn't the only person who sees the full financial picture.
What does a treasurer do in a club versus a company?
A company treasurer manages cash flow, investments, and debt with paid staff support. A club treasurer is usually a volunteer handling the same core functions, tracking, reporting, compliance, but often alone, with cash-heavy fundraisers (bake sales, concessions) adding extra control risk that corporate treasurers rarely face.
What is Form 990?
Form 990 is the IRS annual information return most tax-exempt organizations must file. Small organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less can file the simplified Form 990-N; larger ones file Form 990-EZ or the full Form 990 depending on receipts and assets. Confirm current thresholds on irs.gov.
What is a 990 tax form?
It's an annual information return, not a tax bill for most small clubs. It reports income, expenses, and activities to the IRS so the agency can confirm the organization still qualifies for tax-exempt status. Some organizations with unrelated business income may owe separate tax reported on Form 990-T.
What is the 990-N e-Postcard?
Form 990-N is an eight-question online filing for tax-exempt organizations with gross receipts normally $50,000 or less. It's filed through the IRS website, takes a few minutes, and has no fee, but skipping it for three consecutive years triggers automatic revocation of tax-exempt status.
What does a club treasurer do if the club has no paid staff?
The same core job, just without backup: deposit and log all money, reconcile the bank account monthly, report to the board, and file the required IRS return each year. Small clubs should still separate duties where possible, for example having a different person deposit cash than the one who counted it.
How often should a club treasurer report to the board?
Most clubs expect a treasurer's report at every regular board meeting, typically monthly, showing opening balance, income and expenses by category, and closing balance. An annual summary usually goes to the full membership as well, sometimes required by the club's own bylaws.
What happens if a club treasurer never files the required IRS return?
Nothing dramatic happens after one missed year, but after three consecutive years of not filing any required Form 990-series return, the IRS automatically revokes the organization's tax-exempt status. Reinstatement requires reapplying for exemption and filing the delinquent returns, sometimes through a streamlined retroactive process.
Does a club treasurer need a raffle or gaming license?
Usually yes, if the club plans to run a raffle, bingo, or similar game as a fundraiser. Requirements are set state by state, often through the state Attorney General's charities division or a gaming control office. Confirm with your specific state charity office before selling tickets.
What records should a new treasurer request during a handoff?
Ask for the EIN, the last several years of filed IRS 990-series returns, current bank statements, the check register or ledger, state charitable registration confirmations, and login access to banking and payment tools. Also check the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search to confirm the exemption status is current.
Sources
- IRS, Governance and Related Topics for 501(c)(3) Organizations: Officers and directors of nonprofits are held to a duty of care standard under state law
- IRS, Exemption Requirements - 501(c)(3) Organizations: Booster clubs and PTOs often seek federal tax exemption under IRC Section 501(c)(3)
- IRS, Form 990 Series Which Forms Do Exempt Organizations File: Filing thresholds determine whether an organization files 990-N, 990-EZ, or the full Form 990
- IRS, Unrelated Business Income Tax: Tax-exempt organizations may owe unrelated business income tax reported on Form 990-T
- IRS, Automatic Revocation of Exemption: Automatic revocation occurs when an organization fails to file required Form 990-series returns for three consecutive years
- IRS, Tax Exempt Organization Search: New treasurers can confirm an organization's current exempt status and filing history using this IRS tool