Handling of team/player finances

[Rick M]

There should definitely be some way to monitor an individual account that may have money in it due to fundraising that is sponsored by the team. DD plays for a large state-wide org, and there is someone who is responsible for finances and will share your account information upon request.

I don't know if that person is being paid, I assume she is. How much she's being paid is none of my business. It's also none of my business what the coach of our team is being paid, or how much the organization as a whole has left over at the end of the season. I know what the team costs, and I know what DD is getting out of it. I hope our non-parent coaches are making enough money to make their continued involvement worth their while.

 

[Silver 2200]

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..)

If a tournament gets canceled you just sign up for another tournament. Partial refund for a canceled- tournament - parents have to make up the difference if they want to make the tournament up.

You should have known what your fees are being spent on before you signed up for the team. You should have been told how many tournaments the team will play in. The teams uniform package, and the team teams practice arrangements, etc. If you don't like what the team charges go find another team.

I do not run an organization. If I did and someone asked about the organization finances, I would tell them to go pound sand.

 

[marriard]

Organization:
Central account: Organizational Dollars and tournament/sponsorship/org revenue accounts
Each team has a sub-account: All team funds must run through this account
Treasurer/Board Oversight & Review. Treasurer is a CPA which is great
There are NO refunds on team dues and payments

Team:
Each team has to have a non-coach who handles finances
Initial potential Team Budget, Schedule and payment plans must be presented to the team and shared with board
Finances must be available on request of board or parent oy any player on the team
Any financial disputes that can't be resolved at the team level are brought to the board
Most of our teams are either 1 upfront payment or 2 payments. A couple are month to month

We do not monitor week to week changes in budgets/tournaments/etc but the board has oversight to make sure everything looks OK and that ALL money runs through the bank accounts. Board has a lot of travel experience - we can see when there is anything unusual or concerning. There in no 'open access' requirement - teams can run their team budget as they see fit.

All works well.

 

[_MIA_]

If a tournament gets canceled you just sign up for another tournament. Partial refund for a canceled- tournament - parents have to make up the difference if they want to make the tournament up.

You should have known what your fees are being spent on before you signed up for the team. You should have been told how many tournaments the team will play in. The teams uniform package, and the team teams practice arrangements, etc. If you don't like what the team charges go find another team.

I do not run an organization. If I did and someone asked about the organization finances, I would tell them to go pound sand.

Wow you are really being obtuse about this. Sometimes tournaments are not made up. Sometimes extra money comes in because of fundraisers. When we are told what we owe for that quarter, it is just a fixed amount. Our account balance is not taken into account. Like I said, there have been times where we did not need to pay the quarterly org fees because of the balance we had in our account. If I hadn't known my balance and continued to do this over the course of a couple years it is entirely possible that I could have a multiple hundred dollar balance in my account...e.g. money sitting in there which is not being used for anything. Maybe you are wealthy..I am not. I'd rather have that money in my own bank account.

How you got the bolded from my original post is beyond me.

 

[justanotherguy]

Silver has to be either a coach or a parent of a 10u or lower child with no older children!

The simple fact is, the only way to run a travel team is to be 100% open about EVERYTHING! Why? Because parents will find SOMETHING to bitch about. Finances should never be a part of it. If you're joining a travel team then you are joining, essentially, a "commune". In such an idea, everyone's finances are pooled together to reach a final goal. If little Suzy doesn't attend 3 out of 10 practices, that's too bad. Her finances went to fund the purchase of field time, regardless of whether she makes the practice or not. Same with tournaments. Doesn't matter if she makes 10 of 10 or 3 of 10. She (or parents) agreed to be a part of the team and all finances were figured out ahead of time for a team of xx number to compete based upon practice and tournament time cost.

The problem comes when Suzy's dad starts questioning the costs and how much he spent. "I never agreed to pay for that tournament we signed up for, 11 of 10!!!" So you always have an open expense sheet showing how much has been taken in and how much has been spent. Period. End of discussion. Let's go for drinks. (Not on the team's cost of course!)

 

[Silver 2200]

Wow you are really being obtuse about this. Sometimes tournaments are not made up. Sometimes extra money comes in because of fundraisers. When we are told what we owe for that quarter, it is just a fixed amount. Our account balance is not taken into account. Like I said, there have been times where we did not need to pay the quarterly org fees because of the balance we had in our account. If I hadn't known my balance and continued to do this over the course of a couple years it is entirely possible that I could have a multiple hundred dollar balance in my account...e.g. money sitting in there which is not being used for anything. Maybe you are wealthy..I am not. I'd rather have that money in my own bank account.

I am not asking to see how the org uses my fee which goes to them, I am only asking for my team balance and how that balance came about.

That seems like a very odd way of handling teams finances for a large orgainzation. How big is the organization you are talking about? I think we might be comparing apples and oranges.

My daughter played for an organization with over 100 teams last year. Can you imagine how big of a pain in the rear it would be to run the finances of 100 teams the way your team is being run?

.

 

[_MIA_]

That seems like a very odd way of handling teams finances for a large orgainzation. How big is the organization you are talking about? I think we might be comparing apples and oranges.

My daughter played for an organization with over 100 teams last year. Can you imagine how big of a pain in the rear it would be to run the finances of 100 teams the way your team is being run?

.

The org probably has 30 to 40 teams. Like I said it wouldn't be a big deal if everybody had easy access to what their balance was. Then everybody would just pay what they needed to cover all the expenses for that quarter.

My guess is that our family and maybe 1 other are the only ones who ask for their balance. The rest, some of which have been with the team much longer, just pay the amount they are told every quarter and probably have hundreds of dollars in their account which are untouched. In a perfect scenario at the end of every quarter there should be no more than a small buffer amount in the accounts which would take care of any unforseen expenses. That buffer for us is $50. I don't want any more of my money sitting in my team account than that.

Also I have no idea how other teams in the org are doing it. They may already have the access that I think is appropriate. I don't think the org heads get involved in how the individual team treasurer operates.

 

[Orange Socks]

Our families pay a fixed cost for both the fall and summer. We pretty much play the same tourneys every year. We don't travel in fall but will travel to out of state to 2 or 3 big tourneys. Some years there is money that spills over from one year to another. Sometimes the team loses money. This could be based on number of players on the team vs expenses. In the past 5 years I have not heard of one parent questioning what their money goes to. We keep it simple. It's all about the girls. We don't pay our volunteer coach but she gets reimbursed for travel expenses. If you happen to get a sponsor, those funds will cover your expenses and any left overs go to the team. No refunds. Most of the tourneys we play in, are paid well in advance.

This could be it's own thread:
I heard that a local start up team pays their coaches $1000 a month, and only play 2 tourneys a month. That coach is only concerned about her "brand" and building something for herself. As a parent, I might take issue with that, but then again I wouldn't want to be on that team. Do you homework and ask questions. Are you playing enough tourneys? Adequate amount of practice time? Player development? Too much travel? Not enough? Playing time? Btw, I don't have a problem with paying coaches fairly. If you can monetize this softball thing the right way, more power to ya.

 

[murphdog]

In 9 years of travel ball I never felt the need to ask how the money was being spent.
Each team she joined we were given a tuition amount and a payment schedule which we followed. We were promised bat bags, helmets, practice and game uniforms etc which were all supplied as spelled out in the paperwork given each fall. On one of the teams we ran our own tournament to cut expenses and that money would go to add a tournament to the schedule and for extra gear for the girls.
I never felt the need to get an accounting of every penny spent and most years we received extras whether it be an extra few weeks of winter indoor practice or sweats for the girls.

 

[_MIA_]

In 9 years of travel ball I never felt the need to ask how the money was being spent.
Each team she joined we were given a tuition amount and a payment schedule which we followed. We were promised bat bags, helmets, practice and game uniforms etc which were all supplied as spelled out in the paperwork given each fall. On one of the teams we ran our own tournament to cut expenses and that money would go to add a tournament to the schedule and for extra gear for the girls.
I never felt the need to get an accounting of every penny spent and most years we received extras whether it be an extra few weeks of winter indoor practice or sweats for the girls.

Again I DON'T CARE ABOUT HOW MUCH IT IS COSTING ME as long as my money is being spent for something. If they told me that any balance I had in my account would go to the org I would be fine with it. If it is not then I should be able to use it for future costs. In our case extras left over are not used for anything..it just sits there and hence I should know about it in this case and knowing about it shouldn't be me having to ask the treasurer every damn time hence the original topic question...