Parent Organizations
 

Our parent group is considering becoming a more formalized entity and we are wondering what other teams have done.

Our functions include fundraising, providing meals during build, organizing travel, tracking finances, mentoring, recruiting additional mentors, providing additional supervision during build, and general overall support.

These our our initial questions we are looking for input on:

How do parent groups handle finances? Does everything go through the school account, or do you have your own account? To what extent do the team members do this? Who decides how money is spent?

Do you have a formal structure with officers and a charter?

Do you hold regular meetings?

Do you charge dues?

We are very interested in learning what we can from other teams before we move ahead.
Thanks

I would like to add one related question. Does your team pay the travel expenses of chaperons, mentors, and the team's school advisor?
Thanks again

Re: Parent Organizations
 

234 has an organized parent crew that does season meals, the team banquet, support at competitions, some meals at competitions and helps with the team open house at the end of the season.

All of the Cyber Blue money goes through the school account.
Parent crew expenses are handled the same.
There are no parent crew dues.
There are designated parent crew leaders, usually co-leads, who organize the crew. There is no other formal structure or charter.
The parent crew meets 4 or 5 times during the year. In December, before the season starts, 1 or 2 during the season, before the IRI, and maybe some others.
Expenses for the activities the parent crew organizes are coordinated between the parent crew leaders and the team lead (a teacher).

Other team expenses are coordinated and managed by the team mentors, with the team lead teacher coordinating payments and reimbursements through the school.

All school groups and clubs must use the school account and school treasurer and are subject to the state board of accounts rules and guidelines. This provides audit oversight and assurances of accurate and legitimate expenses and reimbursements. (The only exception to this is the Band Boosters, which has been in place since the 1970's and has its' own structure and accounting.)

Re: Parent Organizations
 

We have what is know as the RPM (Robotics Parents & Mentors)


The RPM is responsible for Team Parties (Holiday, Kickoff, & Year End), Food during Build Season & other events, Travel & lodging arrangements, and managing team money.

RPM By-Laws

Re: Parent Organizations
 

Thanks for the copy of the by-laws!

Re: Parent Organizations
 

Does your organization have non-profit 501(c)3 status?

Re: Parent Organizations
 

A great resource as always is NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization. Check them out at http://www.firstnemo.org/

Throught the years there have been a lot of discussions on this topic and I know even recently as our team is looking at the same process (and have asked some of the same questions through NEMO.)

Re: Parent Organizations
 

Our parents have an official 501(c) booster organization, much like music boosters (but with less money) or athletic boosters.
Dublin Robotics Boosters

Though the boosters formed in order to support the high school program, they now also support the Lego League programs in the district.

Re: Parent Organizations
 

How do parent groups handle finances? Does everything go through the school account, or do you have your own account? To what extent do the team members do this? Who decides how money is spent?

Our Booster Club is a separate entity with their own accounting.
Outr team operates from two separate budgets: School account & Booster account.
The school account handles basic FIRST expenses: initial registration, robot cost, school bus transportation to local events, stipends for teachers. Large sponsors donate through the school account.
The Booster account handles: additional events (Championship, off-season), off-island travel expenses (coach bus, airline, Marta), give-aways, T-shirts, etc. The Booster account comes from our fundraising efforts & dues. The spending plan is well established, we never raise enough to cover all away event expenses, but that's the goal.

Do you have a formal structure with officers and a charter?

The Booster Club is governed by a parent board (President, Treasurer, Secretary, Committee Chairs) in close association with the student officers and the team advisors. A high level description is in our Parent's Handbook. Most of the Booster Club documentation consists of the committee records (travel, fundraising) and reports addressed to next year's committee chairs. It's really run similar to a PTA, because most of our parents are involved in both.
They take care of all the behind the scenes responsibilities, primarily fundraising and organizing team travel plans and arrangements. They represent team interests at Board of Education meetings, keep the team in the eye of the Administration, and encourage and coordinate parental support. They mentor the students in the areas of fundraising, button making, and spirit activities.

Do you hold regular meetings?

Generally once a month for full meetings, more often for committees. Meetings go with the ebb and flow of the season, a flurry of meetings to startup in the Fall, extra pre-travel meetings with both parents and students for competitions.

Do you charge dues?

We started charging dues ($20) this year. It worked out well and covered the cost of team shirts and some other things such as the year-end party. Money earned is generally targeted for one explicit purpose or another. We make sure dues go back to the students and not to general team expenses.

Does your team pay the travel expenses of chaperones, mentors, and the team's school advisor?

The team covers travel expenses for the teacher advisors through the Booster budget. The school account covers stipends (by contract) for the teacher/school employee chaparones.
Mentors generally are parents and travel on their own dime. Sponsor employee mentors (1 or 2) expenses are covered by the company.

Re: Parent Organizations
 

I believe it does.

Re: Parent Organizations
 

I would think it would also intend what you want to do with it as well. I've seen a boosters club for the school band that I believes works underneath the schools non-profit status.

If you're just looking for a group to support the kids (rides, parties, etc.) I wouldn't recommend going for 501(c)3.

Re: Parent Organizations
 

Team 1730 started a formal Booster Group this year. It is ran as a sub group through our comunity's education foundation. We utilize all the infrastructure set up with the education foundation, checking, 501.c.3 status etc. We have our own board that meets 9 times a year and the group meets twice a year. The members pay a $5 fee/year. The goal of the group is to cover the non-everday expences for the team like major equipment, scholoarships and assisting the 2 teacher sponsors on the team.

Re: Parent Organizations
 

And NEMO has a resource paper called "101 Ways Parents can help"

Re: Parent Organizations
 

NEMO doesn't have a forum, so how did you ask these questions through NEMO. I also searched the CD forums before starting this thread and didn't find much.
Any tips?

Re: Parent Organizations
 

Actually, NEMO does have a forum. It is hidden. When you become a member of NEMO, you gain access to the forum.

In the meantime, I searched the forum we are in, Team Organization. Down in the lower left of the page of the forum, you can do a search through the threads. When I want to do a search like yours, I click on the beginning. That will list all the threads in this forum from the beginning. It is how I re-discovered this one on handbooks.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=48448

There is also some good stuff in the FIRST website in the FRC section under Team Resources.

I'll be glad to help you find more information if you would like but this is a good start. Let me know how I can help,
Jane

Re: Parent Organizations
 

To join NEMO and access the hidden forum: http://www.firstnemo.org/join.htm