How to Be a Club Treasurer

Whether voluntarily or out of necessity, you’ve been tasked with being your club’s treasurer. This can be a very rewarding responsibility, and it’s a vital one to your club’s success. So, first, be proud of your newly assigned role.
Next, it’s time to make sure you know what the heck you’re supposed to do. Don’t worry. We’re here to help with our tips on how to be a club treasurer. If your experience brings anything new or different to this list, please add it in the comments below.

1. Review what’s been left for you. If you’ve been bequeathed the role from the former treasurer, take a little inventory of what’s been left for you. Perhaps it’s a cash box and some scratch pad notes. Maybe it’s a spreadsheet and a password to an online bank account. Better yet, maybe you’re fortunate enough to be part of an organization that uses club accounting software. Whatever you’ve been handed, be sure you have these ducks in a row before diving in.
2. Take an assessment of the club’s finances. Next, it’s time to get an idea of where the organization stands. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a full financial report; that will come later. Just get a high level gauge on your Balance (how much money you have), Accounts Receivable (who owes money), and Accounts Payable (who you owe money to). Having this understanding will help you determine whether a certain aspect of the treasury has been lacking, and where you might need to pick up the slack.
3. Organize information & track everything. When it comes to nonprofits, trust and organization are key. Regardless of how things were handled before your time, you must establish accountability and absolute dissent of any leniency with the organization’s finances. If there are any security questions or if you get audited, you will have your t’s crossed and i’s dotted. Learn how to prevent nonprofit treasury fraud.
4. Set up a budget. If your predecessor wasn’t a stickler for budgets, this is where you have a chance to outshine him or her, leaving your organization in a better financial state for the next group of administrators. You can easily set up a nonprofit operating budget using the free BudgetBuilder software.
5. Review the year end checklist. To ensure you’re taking steps to make your life easy at the end of the fiscal year, review what you’ll need to do at that time. You’ll be able to factor these end goals in with decisions and actions you take throughout the year. Here’s our nonprofit treasurer checklist for your review. You may decide to alter it or create your own based on your organization’s specific needs.

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