Handling of team/player finances

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Jun 8, 2016
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Our org does the finances in what I think is a somewhat antiquated way. Basically a parent/person associated with the team handles it themselves and if you want to find out what your balance is or find out an itemized list of spending, you have to ask them. I can see this being ok (maybe..) for a private 1 team sort of deal but we are with a fairly large org and I would think there should be a better way (e.g. something everybody can access online) of doing this. So I am looking to see what others out there are doing for this, in particular those with fairly large local/national orgs.
 
May 6, 2015
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Ideally, all team finances would be put on google sheet, with a separate sheet for individual player finances. individual google sheets protected so only family of that girl and treasurer (maybe couple of other team officers) can see, everyone involved in team can see team expense sheet. of course all those but treasurer would only have view, not edit access. simple, transparent, private. no need to ask questions.

If you are running a team, and are not open about finances, invites suspicion.
 
Mar 4, 2018
126
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Why do parents feel they deserve to see an itemized spreadsheet of all the costs to run the team or organization?

Last year my daughter played for a large organization. At no point in the season did the team's finances ever cross my mind. At the beginning of the season, we were told how the cost, and what we would get for the cost. Parents agreed to the cost. End of story.

IMO, it would be ignorant to ask to see a team's finances that you have nothing to do with.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Why do parents feel they deserve to see an itemized spreadsheet of all the costs to run the team or organization?

Last year my daughter played for a large organization. At no point in the season did the team's finances ever cross my mind. At the beginning of the season, we were told how the cost, and what we would get for the cost.

IMO, it would be ignorant to ask to see a team's finances that you have nothing to do with.
Because I want to see how my money is being spent? We pay org fees quarterly. Those go towards tournament fees etc but sometimes tournaments get cancelled, team has fundraisers, etc. hence my balance before the next payment may be such that I only have to pay a fraction of the org fee as opposed to the full payment. I would rather have my money sitting in my bank account rather than the team's account...If that is ignorant than I guess I am ignorant (interesting choice of an adjective to describe this but I will go with it..)
 
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Jun 12, 2015
3,848
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Why do parents feel they deserve to see an itemized spreadsheet of all the costs to run the team or organization?

Last year my daughter played for a large organization. At no point in the season did the team's finances ever cross my mind. At the beginning of the season, we were told how the cost, and what we would get for the cost. Parents agreed to the cost. End of story.

IMO, it would be ignorant to ask to see a team's finances that you have nothing to do with.

I would be suspicious of a coach/whoever who would not provide an itemized budget or accounting when asked. That said, if my player is getting what we were promised (uniforms, # of tournaments and practices, etc) and the fees are in line with that, I don't need to see what happens to every dollar.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I would be suspicious of a coach/whoever who would not provide an itemized budget or accounting when asked. That said, if my player is getting what we were promised (uniforms, # of tournaments and practices, etc) and the fees are in line with that, I don't need to see what happens to every dollar.
They provide it if asked. The suggestion by @bmakj was in line with what I was thinking e.g. there should be a way to do it where I don't have to ask...
 
May 6, 2015
2,397
113
They provide it if asked. The suggestion by @bmakj was in line with what I was thinking e.g. there should be a way to do it where I don't have to ask...
absolutely, it should be available without having to ask. having to ask gives someone time to "gussy it up"
 
May 29, 2015
3,731
113
Why do parents feel they deserve to see an itemized spreadsheet of all the costs to run the team or organization?

Last year my daughter played for a large organization. At no point in the season did the team's finances ever cross my mind. At the beginning of the season, we were told how the cost, and what we would get for the cost. Parents agreed to the cost. End of story.

IMO, it would be ignorant to ask to see a team's finances that you have nothing to do with.

I completely disagree with that, but I understand what you are saying. You were told a price up front and you agreed to the price. It is all a matter of your expectations and the purpose of the organization.

However I think it helps to know where the money is going to help understand the priorities of the organization.

Is it being put back into benefits for the players, or is the coach/director running a business and trying to squeeze profits? Are the expenses funding team needs or buying equipment the coach will be using in his back yard with his kids or with another team?

If the coach/director is getting paid, was that something that was agreed to up front or something he decided should happen after the fact?

Are coaches with kids playing paying also paying their fair share? Or are you funding his/her kids as well? Are you paying for the coach’s family’s meals and hotel stays? How about the beers around the pool?

Again, I’m not saying any of that is inherently wrong. Just saying those things should be clear up front and there shouldn’t be any issues if you ask.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
I completely disagree with that, but I understand what you are saying. You were told a price up front and you agreed to the price. It is all a matter of your expectations and the purpose of the organization.

However I think it helps to know where the money is going to help understand the priorities of the organization.

Is it being put back into benefits for the players, or is the coach/director running a business and trying to squeeze profits? Are the expenses funding team needs or buying equipment the coach will be using in his back yard with his kids or with another team?

If the coach/director is getting paid, was that something that was agreed to up front or something he decided should happen after the fact?

Are coaches with kids playing paying also paying their fair share? Or are you funding his/her kids as well? Are you paying for the coach’s family’s meals and hotel stays? How about the beers around the pool?

Again, I’m not saying any of that is inherently wrong. Just saying those things should be clear up front and there shouldn’t be any issues if you ask.
Our org fees go consist of a fixed monthly fee which goes to the org directly and the rest goes towards tournament costs and basic team costs (balls, etc). We also have fundraisers which a percent go to the org, which pays for the running of the org, and a percent goes back to the player and fundraisers which all of it go to the player. I am not really so much interested in how the money that is being sent to the org is spent, although that would be nice, but really about the money that we have sitting in our account. Like I said, there have been times where we would have enough money in our account such that we actually didn't need to pay any org fees that quarter. If I didn't ask, over the course of a few years our account could have $400 dollars sitting in there not being used. I'd rather not be the case.
 
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May 6, 2015
2,397
113
Why do parents feel they deserve to see an itemized spreadsheet of all the costs to run the team or organization?

Last year my daughter played for a large organization. At no point in the season did the team's finances ever cross my mind. At the beginning of the season, we were told how the cost, and what we would get for the cost. Parents agreed to the cost. End of story.

IMO, it would be ignorant to ask to see a team's finances that you have nothing to do with.

I would only expect to see a teams finances, not an entire orgs (but any fees paid to the org should be detailed in team expenses). I guess if you are given a definite fixed up front price, it might be different, but each team we have been on, it has simply been estimated when we signed (it a range, X-Y, and they have always stayed in that range). teams are part of larger orgs, but outside of org fees (which is mostly insurance, etc.), team finances were separate. orgs ran some fundraisers, but profits all went to teams based on participation/sales.

I want and feel I do deserve to know if the coaches with DDs on the team are getting travel expenses paid, what sort of equip was/will be purchased, what was spend on unis, facility rental, etc.

If coaches are to be paid, that should be known up front (and we have been on teams with paid coaches and teams with all parent coaches, if it is the latter, to me the assumption is that they are not paid).

if you run a team and are not willing to provide that (our team will be doing so, budget not finalized), they I immediately think something shady is going on, because there is no reason not to, unless you are hiding something (like paying a premium for the name). I have been part of orgs in other sports that were very large, but all the focus was on the elite/premier/A team, the rest of us were there to provide cash flow for those teams.
 

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