by Gary
18 March 2010 04:00 PM Eastern
Being Treasurer of a brand new organization is a lot of work! Not as much work as the skaters and coaches of course, but still enough to make me say "Phew" each time a deadline is met.
One milestone recently met is the acceptance by the IRS for our tax-exempt status. Just because an organization is formed without shareholders doesn't mean that it can solicit and receive tax-deductible contributions. I am pleased to say that we now have that status and are permitted to accept contributions now. Donations to Team Excel might be matched by your employer too so please check with me if you have a matching gift program at your work and don't know if we are eligible. Although most gifts to charities are in cash, we are happy to accept gifts of stock too for savvy donors who want to avoid the capital gains on their appreciated securities.
Another recent accomplishment of the Board is the passing of revised Bylaws that will help us be a better organization. Good governance comes from clear rules and we now have them. More on that and our membership structure as we approach the Annual Meeting in the Spring.
The Treasurer also has the task of keeping up with the monthly payments but the more fun job of ensuring that we have the structure in place to audit our books at year-end, reconcile the bank accounts, and approve expenses as they come up. We're still actively looking for volunteers to help us with the detailed tasks of allocating expenses to the correct lines and making sure we are sticking to our budget. We use QuickBooks to process the transactions so if you have skills in that area and would like to work (much can be done at home or while at the rink on a laptop) please let me know by dropping me a line at treasurer@excelsynchro.org.
The Finance Committee is already looking to next season’s budget and learning from the lessons of this season to improve on the efficient flow of information about finances to the hardworking volunteers who make the team run.
It's been an exciting year. From the financial side it couldn't have run any smoother. Thank you to everyone for making your monthly payments as required and a special thank you for those who were in positions of leadership and saw to the efficient purchasing of what we've needed to keep the team rolling!
Gary Pforzheimer is the Treasurer for Team Excel and is therefore an officer of the Board.
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