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Dear Booster........

A clubs most valuable asset is its parent volunteer base.

The number of active volunteers dramatically effects the level at which your club will be able to support your extra-curricular program.

Learning how to increase parent participation is time consuming and ongoing but it is the #1 most important club building task you can undertake. Here are a couple of quick ideas to help increase parent participation:
1. Invite them to attend a meeting with you as your guest.
2. Be a visible part of parent and freshman orientation nights.
3. Gain the support and active endorsement of your coach and administrators, and
4. Always remember to make everyone feel welcome and invited.

We can never have enough help.

Dear Readers,
We welcome those of you who are just receiving Booster Trends for the first time. You join a growing list of fellow booster associates from around the country.

We encourage you to keep your letters, emails, comments and questions coming. Staying in touch with your needs is our key focus. As we work to help provide a support system for booster clubs we thank you for allowing us the ability to play a part in helping you and your club succeed. Together, we are making positive progress that counts!

Now, on to this month's issue.

THE 7 KEYS TO BUILDING A SUCCESSFUL BOOSTER CLUB

With the assistance from numerous booster club officials the NBCA has created a club building guide designed to assist in helping to build successful booster clubs. I would like to share some of the key club building topics outlined in the guide as I feel that each area plays an important role with all booster clubs - regardless of your current status. The following are short excerpts from the guide.

Organizational Structure: When and how to establish a tax exempt 501c3 club and then keeping your club compliant and current are key issues that can help make or break your organization.

Fundraising: We all realize that fundraising or successful fundraising is a necessary evil to the success of a booster club. Our ability to raise funds to help cover equipment, supplies, camps and such is vital especially given today's slow economic picture.

Accounting: Proper handling and distribution of funds can not only keep your volunteers intact but it can also keep your club from facing IRS troubles.

Internet: Taking advantage of the power that the Internet provides can help put your club in a position where it can more efficiently and effectively communicate with members, staff, coaches, business supporters and alumni. It can also help establish an ongoing revenue stream as well as provide for retaining vital club documents and database information.

Effective & Ongoing Training: Each year new officers and volunteers face a mountain of challenges associated with helping their club achieve it's goals. Providing them with ongoing educational training in areas such as increasing parent participation, conducting effective meetings, establishing duties and responsibilities and a variety of topics can be the difference between a well organized club and a club in disarray.

Club Building Activities: Although this area may not appear as important as insuring your club is structured and organized, providing your club with opportunities that allow your volunteers to interact, socialize and validate your mission puts the "fun" in all of the work and helps to create an atmosphere where others want to get involved.

Legacy Builders: This is the most overlooked area of all 7. The ability for an organization to establish activities that will carry on for years and generations after they have left. Establishing a scholarship program to help insure that you never have to tell a kid they cannot participate due to financial constraints or establishing a foundation that will insure the integrity and compliance of your groups tax exempt status with minimal effort. These are legacy builders, events that help to position your club for long-term success.

I would like to encourage you to make plans to attend one of the upcoming Booster U Seminars or the Booster Kickoff Tour where you and your club officers and volunteers can gain the knowledge of the 7 Keys to Building a Successful Booster Club.

I welcome your emails and look forward to assisting you in success.

Dear Booster,
We need guidance in developing all aspects of our cheerleading booster club, can you tell us where to begin?
Tammy, Parent Volunteer
Harris, TX


Dear Tammy,
Again this month we seem to have received a very large number of emails from clubs just like yours. Clubs who are seeking guidance starting from the development stages.

Our staff of booster club advisors and mentors anxiously welcome the opportunity to work with your group as it provides the perfect opportunity to help insure that we can get your club started on the right foot. From helping develop a mission statement to defining positions and duties our staff provides step-by-step guidance and mentoring to help insure success.

Without making some false assumptions I would like to invite you to visit the following link (http://www.boosterclubs.org/club_questionnaire.shtml) where you can provide our staff with some helpful information that will give us a better understanding of what your group may have already accomplished. This information will be reviewed and assigned to a staff member who can then provide you with a plan of action which will help your club expand and grow.

Send us your Dear Booster.... article and we will select one each month to share with the readers of Booster Trends. To submit your email send to: dearbooster@boosterclubs.org.

Fact of the month-
CONVICTION
• He lost his job in 1832.
• He was defeated for the legislature in 1832.
• He failed in business in 1833.
• He was elected to the legislature in 1834.
• He lost his sweetheart to death in 1835.
• He had a nervous breakdown in 1836.
• He was defeated for Speaker of the House in 1838.
• He was defeated for a bid for Congress in 1843.
• He was elected to Congress in 1846.
• He lost the nomination for Congress in 1848.
• He was rejected for Land Officer in 1849.
• He was defeated for Senate in 1854.
• He lost his nomination for Vice Presidency in 1856.
• He was again defeated for the Senate in 1858.
• He was elected President of the United States in 1860.

Who was this man? Abraham Lincoln

Quote of the month-
"Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it. - Michael Jordan"