Classes may be out for the summer months, but marching bands have just begun to prepare for the fall semester’s coming events. Whether your child plays the flute, clarinet, or tuba you know a marching band is no small operation. It takes funding, coordination, and a dedicated Booster Club to pull it all off.
Coordinate with your Booster Club
Working as a group without school days to keep you structured can be difficult. Coordinating meetups and communicating effectively may become more of a challenge, but all hope is not lost.
To be organized all you need is an accessible space with all the important information available.
Such as a website. Don’t feel overwhelmed, a website can be incredibly simple when you use a website builder such as GoDaddy or Squarespace. Your website should include directors’ and members’ contact information, volunteer opportunities, and schedules. Remember, this website doesn’t have to be a work of art, it is simply a tool to help your Booster Club be more efficient.
Once your website is created, you’ll still need a place where members can effectively communicate with one another. A Facebook group could give you the space and organization you need to handle a large group. You can add all your Booster Club members, create events, ask questions, and make large-scale announcements.
Fundraise Over Summer Vacation
It takes a lot of work and a lot of money to keep the band marching on. Unfortunately, schools can’t afford to give bands all that they require. It’s left up to Booster Clubs to fund trips, pay for instruments, equipment, uniforms and more.
With so many necessities, you don’t want to miss out on valuable fundraising time. However, having a fundraiser when most of the school is on vacation means you’ll have to be creative with how you do it.
What about a fundraiser that doesn’t require a large school gathering? Or any gathering at all?
This summer take a new approach to fundraising by going to today’s most popular online shopping site: Amazon. Register your organization with the AmazonSmile Foundation to start receiving 0.5% of the purchase price on eligible purchases. Once that’s complete, spread the word! Tell everyone to search your organization’s name any time there are products eligible for donations. That means anyone from anywhere can donate to your Booster Club and all you had to do was fill out a little paperwork.
If you’d like to get local, try applying for Kroger Community Rewards. With Community Rewards, once approved, encourage Booster Club members, teachers, friends, family, etc. to register their Kroger Plus card and link your organization. Now every time members shop at Kroger and swipe their Plus card, your Booster Club automatically starts earning a rebate.
Kroger might not be available in your city, however, you can check with your local supermarkets and see if they offer similar programs.
Protect your Booster Club with insurance
You know exactly how important each and every dollar is to your group’s success. However, when the unexpected occurs, such as accidents, thefts, and lawsuits, your funds can be in danger. With constant traveling, hundreds of kids and instruments to look after, and large sums of money to handle there are many risks to your organization. To protect your Booster Club, consider these insurance plans below:
- Event Insurance helps protect you if someone is hurt at one of your events and decides to take legal action against you
- Embezzlement insurance if someone runs off with your money, AIM will replace the missing funds
- Property Insurance will cover your property from fire, theft, vandalism, and more
- Directors and Officers Liability Insurance will pay to defend you if someone takes legal action against one of your officers
AIM Insurance makes protecting your organization easy, affordable and most importantly, worth it.