C-O-M-M-I-T-T-E-E, double “M,” double “T,” double “E,”--even the word itself seems to have superfluous elements. Nine letters for a word that seems like it could get away with five or six. yet, “comite” doesn’t sound right, and “komity,” doesn’t look right. Luckily there’s an authoritative source--the dictionary--to prescribe the spelling of committee. There’s no authoritative source, however, which prescribes size of a committee. So we’re doing a study of our own. Boosterland needs your help … [Read more...]
posted on August 29, 2013 by
Spend It This Year
What should a booster club do with an unexpected surplus? I attended a booster club meeting this spring where board members discussed this desirable dilemma in the context of their own school’s athletics program. Some members wanted to save the surplus as a safety. Others wanted to spend the funds on useful items--neither essential nor frivolous--such as tractors to cut grass on athletic fields and netting to protect track athletes from stray lacrosse balls. After listening attentively to … [Read more...]
posted on August 27, 2013 by
Does your help hurt?
Creating Dependency In developing countries, aid programs give things and services. They compensate for the state’s shortcomings in education, food, or shelter. I was reminded of this by a Forbes article which highlighted the failures of an NGO in Eastern Europe. By pursuing the classic charity model--giving locals things they didn’t have--the NGO created dependency on their services (mostly clothing and food programs). They choked development. Recognizing this, the NGO switched gears. Instead … [Read more...]
posted on August 22, 2013 by
Kill Bad Fundraisers
Sometimes fundraisers stop generating value. Good booster clubs must know when to kill them. Behind the Ben and Jerry’s ice cream factory lies a peaceful graveyard of discontinued flavors. Marked by grey headstones, they sit memorialized on a windswept carpet of fallen leaves. These ideas were put to rest after they ran their course, buried but remembered. For Ben and Jerry’s, the graveyard’s humor suits their quirky brand image, a kind of anti-corporate, self-deprecating humor engraved in the … [Read more...]
posted on August 20, 2013 by
Contest! Prizes! Booster Club!
Boosterland is giving away $500 and an iPad mini. Here are the details: Spring is the time for booster club scholarships, but now is the time to start thinking about them. We’re hoping our contest gets students working on these types of projects now. Then, in the spring, they can recycle them for scholarships from their local booster clubs. Boosterland is looking for talented teens for our booster club arts contest. We’re awarding $100 prizes in each of the following … [Read more...]
posted on August 19, 2013 by
5 Ways to Help Your Booster Club—After the Fundraiser
How do you help a booster club aside from fundraising? If there isn't a fundraiser or a concessions shift open, what are you supposed to do? These 5 tips are for booster club supporters who are not sure how to help. Board members will have no problem finding work for themselves (see #3). But I hope they can pass some of these suggestions on for that volunteer who doesn't have a role yet. 1) Drive Students: I know school budgets often don’t cover transportation. Many clubs end up spending a lot … [Read more...]
posted on August 15, 2013 by
How Good Record-Keeping Saves Nonprofits from High-Turnover
Watching the 2000 film Memento again, I realized that high-turnover volunteer organizations such as booster clubs suffer from serious amnesia. In the film, 30-something Leonard can’t create new memories because of brain trauma suffered during an assault. Imagine a person who can’t remember the lessons of the past, or the opportunities set to present themselves in the future. Lacking a system of good record-keeping, that’s the situation of most booster clubs. In Memento, Leonard compensates for … [Read more...]
posted on August 12, 2013 by
The Problem with Competition Between Booster Clubs
In sports, competition brings mixed blessings. In fundraising it can bring disaster. Would another booster club “steal” your fundraiser? I've seen booster clubs encroach on existing fundraisers, and it is ugly. In one Northern California town, High School X produced a successful crab feed fundraiser in March. The next year, the booster club from High School Y did a crab feed in February. X and Y were in the same town, in the same school district. There’s nothing wrong with borrowing … [Read more...]
posted on August 5, 2013 by
Mission to Metrics 4: Promote Interest in Academics
Academic booster clubs seek to inspire more than high grades. The booster club I’m profiling in this post is more concerned with promoting interest among their participants than a perfect GPA. Grades aren't even mentioned in their mission statement. As with the other posts in the Mission to Metrics series, I show how booster club officers can develop appropriate metrics to measure the goals outlined in their mission statements. (See the intro post to metrics, and links to the other posts in … [Read more...]
posted on August 1, 2013 by
Mission to Metrics 3: Beyond GPA & Winning (Sports)
Athletic booster clubs value winning on the field and in the classroom. How can they show it? I sometimes question why extracurriculars, particularly athletic programs, feel the need to justify their existence based on participants’ grades. After all, sports teach us how to work with teammates, make friends, adjust strategy on the fly, lose gracefully, and win gracefully. Perhaps that’s why some schools are actually lowering GPA standards for athletes, so as not to alienate struggling … [Read more...]
