LISD BOOSTER CLUBS Frequently Asked Questions (Updated for )

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1 LISD BOOSTER CLUBS Frequently Asked Questions (Updated for ) The Leander ISD Booster Club FAQ was created through submissions taken directly from many of our existing booster clubs. This FAQ is a support tool to be used in conjunction with other helpful materials found on the LISD website, including the Leander ISD Booster Club Guidelines. Booster club guidelines were created to assist booster clubs by providing useful information for operating within our school district. We wish you and your club much success and appreciate your commitment and hard work for our youth! For additional booster club questions or concerns not addressed in this FAQ, nor within other documents/information that can be found on the LISD website, please contact your school sponsor. Advertising 1. How long do banner advertisements stay hung up? Advertising banners stay hung up for the entire school year! So, if sponsors purchase their banners at the beginning of the year, they benefit from multiple events and activities that take place in the stadium, athletic field, gym, or tennis court. Check with the Advertising Department if you have additional questions. 2. Do advertising restrictions only apply to district facilities, or any advertising? All advertising should be cleared through School and Community Relations. For more information please contact Laura Weiss at or Laura.Weiss@leanderisd.org. Banquets 1. Can the booster club give gift cards to graduating seniors at the end of season banquet? During high school a student may receive a one- time award not to exceed $70. You can receive an award not to exceed $10 per sport/activity. This ruling can be found in the UIL constitution under subchapter o, section 480. While it is allowed, we as a district would rather see the funds used to benefit the program and not as gifts. 2. Should coaches/sponsors handle money for banquets? (meal tickets) No, the banquet committee or booster club member should handle that. 3. Do we need to collect tax on banquet tickets? No. Bylaws 1. If we amend our bylaws mid-year, do we send in a copy to the district or wait until the end of the year? Anytime an amendment or change is made to the bylaws, the district would like the updated bylaws to be turned in to Becky Burt. Becky.Burt@leanderisd.org LISD Booster Club FAQ 1

2 Donations 1. Can booster clubs provide a donation letter to people that volunteer their equipment for the program to use? Yes. (Example: a parent has allowed a softball booster club to use his trailer for the concession stand.) Fliers 1. What is the turnaround time for approval once a flier is submitted? About 5 days. Follow the link to find out more info regarding fliers: 2. What is the turnaround time if there is a revision on a flier that has to be made? About 5 days. Follow the link to find out more info regarding fliers: Fundraising 1. Can booster clubs have letter campaigns asking for donations rather than selling items? Yes. This would still constitute a fundraiser. 2. Is there a limit to the amount of fundraising events a booster club can do? Limits can be set by the campus principal and/or the F.A. Director / Athletic Director depending on the group. When involving the use of students to sell to the public, best practice has been 2 per program. 3. Can homemade food items be sold as a fundraiser? Can it be done in school? Bake sales may be held at only the high school level during the school day as long as the sales do not take place in the area where meals are sold or consumed. At middle school, a bake sale may be held after school only (after the last school bell). Please note that distribution of food (i.e. meals for teams/groups) must not be provided to the students BEFORE the last school bell has rung. This is a Texas Dept. of Agriculture rule that the school district cannot change. It applies to anyone giving food to students that are not your own children. 4. Can students fundraise to offset costs to attend a trip (not all students will attend the trip)? No. All fundraising done by the boosters (or student groups) must benefit ALL students in the program. You cannot require students to participate nor meet sales quotas. 5. How do we know if our fundraiser has been approved? All fundraising forms are ed to the district office through your campus. Once approved, the forms are then ed back to the campus. Your campus should be forwarding those approved fundraising forms back to you. Please talk to the fundraising approver on your campus for details. LISD Booster Club FAQ 2

3 6. Can fundraisers completed by booster clubs benefit a segment of the group? (Not an individual, but a few kids within the group.) No. (See similar question #4 above for details.) Insurance 1. Does a booster board member purchase insurance with booster club funds? Yes. 2. Can booster club insurance be covered by LISD rather than the individual booster? LISD cannot pay for club insurance for booster groups, nor can a booster club be covered under LISD s insurance. 3. What kind of insurance do you recommend we invest in for the officers? Error & Omissions Insurance LISD Employees 1. Can LISD employees hold office if not at their campus? Yes. An LISD employee can hold an office on or off the campus they work. However, an LISD employee cannot hold a booster club office that has any type of financial responsibility on the campus in which they work. This includes: check-signer on bank account, collecting or distribution of money, fundraising chair, etc Name of Booster Club 1. We know you can t use LISD in the booster club name, but can we use the school name in the title? YES! And it is recommended and encouraged that you do include the school s name in your title. For example: Rouse High School Golf Booster Club. In addition, you must use a term to notate that you are a booster club/foundation/parent support group etc. in your name. This way your group will not be confused with the actual school group s name. It is also suggested that you abbreviate the school name (i.e. Rouse High School to RHS). Purchasing 1. When writing a check to LISD for equipment for a program, who should we give the check to? The check should make its way to Bonnie Edwards in the athletic office. You can give the check to the coach/sponsor and they can get it to the athletic office, or you can bring it by yourself. The athletic office s address is 202 W. South St., Leander, If a non-athletic booster, please check with the campus bookkeeper for instructions. LISD Booster Club FAQ 3

4 2. Can a sponsor request reimbursements from the booster club for items purchased for the program using the sponsor s personal funds? Yes, but this does not apply to travel. Travel reimbursements must come through the district. Does this purchase have to be from an approved LISD vendor? No. 3. Can, or should, the coaches handle funds for purchasing items such as team t-shirts (not for profit)? The coaches can handle funds for the campus only. It is customary for the booster groups to handle the collection of funds for booster club business. The coaches or sponsors cannot handle a booster club s money, and the booster club should not be handling the district/campus group s money. 4. If a Booster Club gives a donation to LISD for the purchase of property desired by the director/sponsor/coach, is there an approval process? Yes, there would be an approval process for facility improvements and technology purchases. Purchases would have to be made with an LISD approved vendor. Salaries 1. How are salaries paid by booster clubs to band techs, choreographers, etc? Boosters pay direct and work out that system between the sponsor and their executive board. Basically: Boosters should collect a W-9 from the individual contractor, Approve a process that includes a regular payment schedule (this is between the booster and sponsor), Process 1099 s to the individual contractor that reports their year s earnings (in January following the end of calendar year), Report to IRS as is appropriate for 1099 vendors. Sales Tax and Exemptions 1. Does sales tax apply to food sales? No. Sales tax does NOT apply to food sales. 2. Is a sales tax exemption a yearly thing, or once we get it, does it last year to year? Sales tax exemption should be a one-time application, but the Texas Comptroller may require monthly or quarterly reporting to stay current. Please check with the Comptroller s website for more information. If you are under a booster umbrella, your reports should be turned over to the parent organization and they should be submitting the required documentation to the Comptroller. Understand that failure to properly report sales and sales tax (monthly or quarterly) can result in fines and interest penalties from the Texas Comptroller for your club. LISD Booster Club FAQ 4

5 3. Is the tax free day selected by the main booster club and then offered for/to the subcommittees? It is customary for the main booster club to involve the various booster groups in the decision making process. It is up to the booster club as to how they go about doing this. For many clubs it is the early season Meet The night and homecoming. 4. If the booster club purchases uniforms for a team, does tax get charged? The booster club should donate the money to the district. Then the district purchases the uniforms. There would NOT be tax if the uniforms stay with the district/campus, they are not for resale, and they are not going to be given to the student athlete for personal use. Scholarships 1. What is included in a scholarship? Camps? Training for students? Is it only for college or can they be used for other training events? Scholarships are only for seniors and should be made payable directly to the university or college the student has registered with. 2. Can scholarship winners be announced before the UIL eligibility is completed? No. Trademarking & Licensing 1. If spirit wear does not have a school logo on it, does it still need a hangtag/sticker? Example: Shirt says Rouse Football The first question to answer is, Is the product a RETAIL item? (If the product is a FUNDRAISING item then it is a RETAIL item. By fundraising that means that the booster club will make a PROFIT off the sale of the item, no matter WHO the purchaser is parent, student, etc.., and no matter HOW MUCH the profit - $.01 or greater.) - If the answer is YES, then it needs a hangtag/sticker. - If the answer is NO, then it does not need a hangtag/sticker. (What s ON the shirt is irrelevant, as far as Licensing & Trademark goes.) The second question to answer is, Is the INTENT of the message, wording, artwork or logo meant to CONVEY the spirit, or image, that the product belongs to the group? - If the answer is YES, then it needs a licensed hangtag/sticker. (In this case, what IS on the shirt is relevant, as far as Licensing & Trademark goes.) - If the answer is NO, then it does not need a hangtag/sticker. (But in the example given of COURSE the intent is to convey a connection to Rouse!) 2. What are the steps to purchasing hangtags/stickers from SABRE? A booster club really shouldn t need to purchase hangtags/stickers directly from SABRE. The manufacturer/vendor should be buying the hangtags, through Sabre, and selling you items already tagged. There are a few special circumstances in which a booster club might need to purchase their own hangtags/stickers (i.e.: adding bling that conveys spirit/image). Hangtags/stickers are purchased through SABRE, based on the cost of the product you are seeking the license for. But please check with SABRE if you are uncertain. LISD Booster Club FAQ 5

6 3. Where can we find a list of vendors already registered with SABRE? A list of approved vendors that are already signed up with SABRE (as well as other Q&A for this topic) can be found on the LISD Trademarking & Licensing webpage at 4. Who pays the trademarking fees? The vendors or the boosters? In best practice, the vendor pays for the licensing fee, to use the trademark when manufacturing products. All SABRE approved vendors are well aware of how the process works and have entered in to an agreement to do so. * Leander ISD exempted booster and PTA sales from the revenue portion, waiving the district s 75% share. Booster retail sales only contribute to the legal cost of administering the program (monitoring and enforcing violations), at a rate of 25% of 10% (.25 on a $10 item). 5. Do we need a hangtag if we are selling shirts to theatre students and to attendees of a show? Anytime you are selling spirit wear for a profit, the item must have a hangtag or sticker. Training 1. Have new coaches/sponsors been through the booster club training? No, they have not. We are going to start training LISD coaches and FA directors this year. 501 (c) 3 1. Is it ok to use Parent Booster USA to file for a 501 (c) 3 status? Yes. 2. Does a 501 (c) 3 ever expire or need to be renewed? No, it does not expire. However, it can be revoked if the proper paperwork is not submitted to the IRS on a yearly basis (Exp. Completing the 990). 990 s 1. When do we file 990 s? End of fiscal year? 990s are filed at the end of your booster club s fiscal year What does over $600 payment mean? Vendors? Individuals? Services? This could be a payment to a vendor or individual for services (not supplies) rendered. A 1099 would need to be issued for payments totaling $600 or more for the calendar year. LISD Booster Club FAQ 6

7 2. How do we get information for a 1099? Before the services are rendered, you would need to get a W-9 form completed by the vendor or individual. This form would have their tax ID or social security number on it so you could report the income. The W-9 form and the 1099 form can be found on the IRS.gov website. Note: any questions regarding 501(c)(3), 990 s, 1099 s refer to the IRS.gov website. Also, review IRS Publication 557 (on the LISD website) for more guidance on how to conduct business as a booster club. Volunteers 1. Do all booster club participants need to be approved LISD volunteers? Yes. If the booster club participant (i.e. parent, non-student friend, neighbor, etc.) is interacting with students at an LISD sponsored event or school, they must complete the required background check and approval though LISD PRIOR TO PARTICIPATING IN THE ACTIVITY. 2. How can we find out if our members have completed their volunteer paperwork? Your campus volunteer coordinator should be able to let you know if your members have completed their volunteer paperwork and have been approved. For other information on volunteering, visit ### LISD Booster Club FAQ 7