[EdTalks] $100K a Year: The Power of Booster Clubs

Did you know over half of high school students participate in athletics, yet district budgets rarely cover the full cost of keeping these programs running? On this episode of EdTalks, we uncover the financial engine driving high school sports: the booster club. Tune in to learn exactly how these parent-led organizations bridge the gap between basic district funding and the essential resources student-athletes need to succeed on the field. 

Derek Lewis sits down with Greenville High School Booster Club leaders Rebecca Gault and Josh Morris to explore the massive financial and operational impact of their volunteer organization. The trio dives into the strategic framework of an "umbrella" model, revealing how high-revenue events like Friday night football concessions directly fund sports like golf and swimming. They also break down the surprising reality of funding six-figure capital projects for local schools without burdening the district budget. You'll walk away with a fresh perspective on why corporate sponsorships and community events are the ultimate secrets to sustaining equitable, high-quality high school athletics for every student. 

If you want to better support your local student-athletes or learn how to get involved in your own community's sports programs, hit play and subscribe to Simple Civics: EdTalks. Be sure to check the show notes for more resources on school funding and how you can connect with Greenville County Schools!

Introduction to Booster Clubs

Catherine Schumacher:

For many students, their time on high school sports teams is as important as anything they do in the classroom. Our schools rely on booster clubs to help make up the difference between what the district can fund and what students need to succeed on the playing field. 

This is Catherine Schumacher with Public Education Partners, and on today's Simple Civics: EdTalks, we learn more about how booster clubs work in Greenville County Schools and how they help build connections between families and schools. 

Derek Lewis from Greenville First Steps speaks with two members of the leadership team for the Greenville High School Booster Club: Rebecca Gault, co-chair, and Josh Morris, treasurer.

Defining the Role of a Booster Club

Derek Lewis:

Thank you guys for joining us. We're going to talk a little bit about booster clubs today. I have to admit, when I joined the school board, there were a few things I knew less about than high school athletics. 

A booster club was a new concept for me. For the uninitiated, what is a booster club?

Rebecca Gault:

A booster club is, for us at Greenville High, all athletics. We support our teams and our coaches, raising money to give back to them for uniforms, fields, rentals, buses, travel expenses, and whatever they see fit related to that athletic program.

Comparing Booster Clubs to PTA and SIC

Derek Lewis:

You all have done a lot with school improvement councils and PTAs, and booster clubs are a little different than those organizations. Can we talk a little bit about some of the differences between a booster club and a PTA?

Josh Morris:

The Booster Club as a whole is a group of parents who are all volunteers and whose whole job is to support athletics. You get involved because you have a kid that's doing swim or a kid that's doing football, and that progresses into an interest in helping volunteer for that. 

Then with the Booster Club, you elevate and you support all of the sports, like Kimberly just said.

Derek Lewis:

It is like the PTA in that it's providing that kind of support to enhance the services that are happening, unlike the SIC, which is actually required by law to be there. 

Booster clubs are this bubbled-up thing from the parents to recognize the need and then support that ongoing need. Not all the booster clubs are the same. At Greenville, you have one booster club.

Rebecca Gault:

Yes. Greenville High is one booster club that supports all of our athletic teams. There are schools in our district where each team has a booster club, but ours is one whole and we support every team from swimming to football and everything in between.

Relationship Between the School and the Booster Club

Derek Lewis:

When we talk about booster clubs, there are some generalities, but also specifics. At Greenville High specifically, what is the relationship between the school and the booster club? 

Is the principal telling you they need jerseys for lacrosse, so you go out and raise money? Who is helping?

Josh Morris:

With Greenville High, the athletics director, Mike Anderson, is the one that is talking to us consistently about what his needs are and how much money he's looking for or how much he hopes that we raise. We're in constant contact with him about that. 

While we don't necessarily dive down into a specific team, he's talking to us consistently about how much money he's looking to raise.

Rebecca Gault:

He's specifically talking to us about big projects down the line. We know at Sirrine Stadium, we've got to get a new Jumbotron. That's a big thing. 

We know at some point in the near future, we're going to have to do the basketball gym scoreboards and big-picture stuff. He's talking big numbers. We don't know exactly who needs uniforms when, or tennis balls, or travel expenses.

Funding Athletics: District vs. Booster Club

Derek Lewis:

One of the misconceptions is that with a district that's got a $1 billion budget, why don't we just have facilities and athletic programs like Byrnes High School or some of the other high schools in the district? 

In general, the district covers the necessary operating expenses to make sure that there is a basketball court and that there is turf going up on the field. They're responsible for the facility, but really the district isn't funding a lot of those other things like transportation or materials.

Josh Morris:

Transportation for sure. I think they do it from a bus standpoint, but the teams will pay for their own drivers. The booster club will support concessions. 

We help organize volunteers for concessions, and then we will order the supplies and make sure everything's clean for them. We let parents run that and then we'll split that money with those teams that volunteer during those events.

Supporting Diverse Sports Through Shared Resources

Derek Lewis:

If you think about one district, one school, one booster club, there is some value in that. The concessions at football will probably help cover the fact that there won't be a lot of concessions at the JV lacrosse game. 

It makes sure that all the sports are getting some of those participant fees and ticket fees, too.

Josh Morris:

That's right. For football alone this year, we had six home games, and we had six separate teams provide volunteers for it. We were able to give swim money, golf money, and lacrosse money.

Rebecca Gault:

Girls basketball.

Josh Morris:

Girls basketball. Those coaches helped get parents to volunteer for that as a fundraiser.

Derek Lewis:

Golf would be a great example of a sport that's not a huge spectator sport. You can't rely on ticket fees to cover the golf or even the transportation to the golf course.

Josh Morris:

Exactly. You've got to have a good connection in the community for a golf course to donate time on the course. The golf coach has great relationships with their home course, and they give them practice time at the end of the day.

Fundraising Goals and Financial Impact

Derek Lewis:

In some ways, you think about the pushback to why we would need a large display board at a basketball game or a football game. But it's because those sponsorships may actually be paying for the lacrosse team.

Josh Morris:

That's exactly what it is. Those sponsorships go into the booster club fund. When we distribute that money at the end of the year, hopefully, it's a good number. 

Greenville High’s Booster Club has given $100,000 back to the school the past couple of years.

Derek Lewis:

$100,000 a year.

Josh Morris:

Yes. That's a mix of Booster Club membership, concession sales, parking tickets, and game tickets. Our oyster roast is coming up at the end of March for Greenville High. 

That's always a big fundraiser. It’s historically been about $40,000 raised from that event that goes directly back to the school or to the sports teams.

Derek Lewis:

If you think about $100,000 a year for a school like Greenville, which is not the largest school in the district, we're talking about $1.5 million across the district that booster clubs are needing to generate just to keep those sports moving. 

That is without asking the school district to add a $1.5 million recurring expense to its budget just to fund those sports.

Josh Morris:

It's real money for them. The athletic director is really hoping that number is that, if not more this year, for what he's wanting to do.

Student Participation and Capital Projects

Derek Lewis:

With a school like Greenville, I think there's about 600 students per grade. How many students participated in sports?

Rebecca Gault:

I think we have about 800 participating in sports out of our whole school.

Josh Morris:

We've got about 1,500 total students at Greenville High and 800 are student athletes. It's a little over half.

Derek Lewis:

When we think about the Booster Club here at Greenville, you got a new turf on the field, which will be a football, soccer, and now I'm learning, lacrosse field. What are some of the other major projects that this booster club is looking at?

Rebecca Gault:

The next thing is we've got to replace the Jumbotron at Sirrine Stadium. It is on its last leg. We are working to raise money for sponsorships and naming rights for that. 

That's about a $450,000 purchase. It's expensive. It didn't last 10 to 15 years, so we are pushing hard for that.

Derek Lewis:

When you think about how much that field is going to get used in a year, it's not just Friday night football.

Josh Morris:

It's a year-round field now for soccer, lacrosse, and football. That scoreboard is now a year-round scoreboard. Hopefully, we're putting sponsorships up year-round and every team can benefit from it.

How to Get Involved and Support the Booster Club

Derek Lewis:

What are ways that people can get involved in booster clubs?

Rebecca Gault:

You can get involved by volunteering or being on a committee, whether it's an oyster roast committee or being a team rep for your child's team. There are endless ways to get involved.

Josh Morris:

A couple of the easiest paths are to ask your kid's coach. Join the booster club as another way, and then you're on a list. 

We look at that sometimes to see how we can replenish the board and get more people involved in it. Team parents are a great way. Ask your coach, ask the athletic director, or ask your principal.

Derek Lewis:

There are opportunities for corporate sponsorships. A corporate sponsorship helps all the teams from all the sports, so you don't have to be an individual sponsor for every one of your child's sports.

Josh Morris:

In a perfect world, the corporate sponsorships allow us to give that money back to the school every year, and then the ticket sales just help supplement it.

Derek Lewis:

It's a really incredible volunteer organization. I really appreciate that you guys have put countless hours into your schools in addition to the work you do with the Booster Club. Thank you both for the work you do to keep athletics at the forefront in our schools.

Rebecca Gault:

Absolutely. Happy to. I enjoy it.

Josh Morris:

Thanks for having us on this. This is great.