Booster Membership and Meeting Attendance; makes a difference for your team!

 

It is demonstrated that participating in structured extra-curricular activities make for better students and a more rewarding high school experience. Oak Ridge has one of the top Athletic Programs in the State of California, boasting 21 sports. An estimated 1200 students will participate in the Oak Ridge Athletics program this year.  One of the most critical and influential ingredients in a quality athletics program is good coaching!

 

Nearly all of the funding for the Oak Ridge Athletics Program is provided through the support of our generous parents and team fundraising.

 

Oak Ridge Sports Boosters, a  501-(c)(3) non-profit corporation, is the volunteer parent  club chartered solely for the charitable purpose of sponsoring functions and raising monies to support Oak Ridge Athletics.  The goal for the Sports Booster Membership Drive is to raise roughly $40,000. There are three options:

·      $25 Single membership, 

·      $50 Family membership,

·      $100 Gold Card member, which is appreciated and recognized by the school Administration with complimentary entrance to all home regular season sports events for the entire (immediate) family!

The Booster Membership Drive is structured to provide all teams with equal opportunity to participate, and the monies raised through this fundraiser are redistributed back to the teams based upon each team’s participation in the Sports Boosters Club.

 

The Sports Booster Membership Drive is structured to route funds directly back into the individual team accounts so as to best support their individual needs and priorities.  This year, there are 3 different redistribution programs directly associated with the membership drive:

·      Booster General Meeting Attendance

·      Booster Match to Team Fundraiser

·      Board Directed Stipend

 

(IMPORTANT NOTE: - All Monies go into team accounts for team directed spending, Booster volunteers (e.g., parents and coaches) do not receive any compensation for attending Booster meetings or working Booster Board Jobs.

 

Meeting Attendance  This year, $10,500 is ear-marked for redistribution back to the team accounts based upon their respective attendance at Booster General meetings. Each team can receive as much as $250 per semester when a team representative (parent or coach) attends the Booster General meetings (pro-rated per meeting). There are 2 General meetings in the 1st semester (=$125 per meeting dollar value to team) and 4 in the 2nd semester (=$62.50 per meeting dollar value to team). The team dollar value is the same irrespective of the number of parents and coaches that attend the meeting for any one team. A parent may also represent more than one team at a meeting, e.g. they have multiple children in different sports or a single student athlete that participates in more than one sport in different seasons, all their teams receive the same dollar value benefit.  

 

So, regardless if one team had 1 person and another had 10 people attend the last meeting on September 24th, both teams receive $125. If a single parent represented 3 teams at the meeting, all 3 teams receive $125.

 

Clearly, it is very important for parents to identify all of the teams they represent when they sign the meeting attendance sheet. 

 

I’m sure you are asking “Then why send more than one parent to the meetings, why not just get 7 parents to represent all the teams”?

 

The benefit for additional parents from the same team to attend is for more parents to get firsthand information.  It's difficult for one parent to disseminate everything they take from the meetings to all the other parents on the team, many with whom they may have little or no contact outside of the time spent at their student’s sporting event. The more parents that have good first hand information, the more people will be able to respond to questions other parents will ask from an informed perspective.

 

The next General meeting is scheduled for 7pm Monday, November 5th , in room B3. B3 is the large lecture hall with sloped theater style seating that is adjacent to the school library.

 

Membership   Another $21,000 from the membership drive is ear-marked for redistribution back to teams as a Booster match to a qualified team fundraiser. When a team coordinates a fundraiser through the Athletic Director and deposit’s the monies in the Sports Booster account, the Head coach can apply for a Booster match up to a maximum of $1000, given the team roster has 70% of its parents as Booster members. The match is prorated if the team has less than 70% Booster Membership participation.  The $25 single membership credits parent membership participation for a single team, the $50 family membership credits parent membership participation to two teams (with a maximum of a single credit to any one team), and the $100 Gold Card membership credits parent membership participation to all the teams the family supports (with a maximum of a single credit to any one team).

 

More information on Booster membership and a donation form are posted on the school website:  www.orhs.eduhsd.k12.ca.us, see affiliates / booster groups / sports.

 

Board Directed Stipend   Finally, $7750 is ear-marked for redistribution back to teams at the individual direction of the parents or coaches that volunteer a significant amount of time to support the day-to-day operations of the Booster Club performing a specific job of the Booster Board or by providing tax preparation services.  As part of the fundraising charter, the Sports Booster Club is a small volunteer company that provides back-office financial processing support to the Oak Ridge Athletics Program, i.e., depositing donations and fundraiser proceeds, maintaining a balanced checkbook registry, cutting checks for the payment of team expenses, and filing income taxes.  All of this is managed by parent volunteers. In recognition for their timeless efforts in running this company for the benefit of all 21 teams in the Oak Ridge Athletics Program, each Board Member directs $1000, and $750 for CPA services, to the team account of their choice; the stipend can be split across multiple teams.

 

 

These three programs account for $39,250 in monies ear-marked for redistribution directly back to teams based upon 3 very critical areas of parent participation in the Booster Club. This is roughly equivalent to supporting the cost of a full-time assistant coach for each team, one of the best investments that can be made into the operations of a Quality Sports program and perhaps your student’s HS experience!

 

Obviously, this is only possible if the funding is available. Booster Membership is easy, it benefits the whole sports program, and your donation is tax deductible. Feel free to drop me an email at orsbpres@aol.com if you have any questions.

 

Make a difference for your team, get out of the bleachers and into the game, get involved, Join Sports Boosters!  

 

Bill

Bill Wagner

President, Oak Ridge Sports Boosters Club