Defining the Entity
What is a soccer club?
Legal Details
What you need to function properly
Legal Details
Nonprofit Corporation
• As a member of OYSA, your club is a nonprofit corporation
• A corporation only exists and has the right to conduct business while it is
registered with the Oregon Secretary of State
• Best Practice:
• More than one person in the club should know when the renewal is due
• The Secretary of State sends a reminder notice, but there should be a reminder in
the calendar for several board members so renewal is not missed
• Know where to look to check your corporate status. It is all on line. The URL is:
http://egov.sos.state.or.us/br/pkg_web_name_srch_inq.login
• You can renew online. When renewal is due, there will be a link on the information
page when you look up your club.
• You can also access the Annual Report at
http://sos.oregon.gov/business/Pages/domestic-nonprofit-corporation-forms.aspx
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Legal Details
Nonprofit Corporation
• A corporation is an artificial person
• Everything about the organization is defined by:
• Bylaws and policies
• The way its people run it
• Best Practice:
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Review bylaws and policies regularly
Make sure your documents support the way you want to operate
Be thoughtful about the people encouraged to run for office
Hire with care
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Legal Details
Public Charity
• Your corporation should be registered as a Public Benefit corporation
• Public Benefit corporations are classified as a Public Charity by the Oregon
Department of Justice
• The DOJ has supervisory authority over public charities
• The public charity is required to register with the DOJ and submit an annual report
• Annual reports are due the same time as the federal tax return
• Best Practice:
• Know when your club’s tax returns are due
• Make sure the person preparing the tax return also prepares the DOJ report
• Check the DOJ website at
http://www.doj.state.or.us/charigroup/Pages/searchcharities.aspx to confirm that
your corporation is registered
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Legal Details
Taxes
• Your corporation should be tax exempt
• A public benefit non profit is eligible to be exempt
• The club just needs to have submitted the application to the IRS
• Exempt means you don’t pay income taxes, but you do have to file returns
• Returns are due the 15th day of the 5th month after the end of the tax year
• The return will be a 990, 990-EZ, or 990-N, depending on income and assets
• Best Practice:
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Verify your exempt status at http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/
The corporation board is responsible for making sure tax returns are filed
Use an outside accountant to prepare the returns
Keep an electronic copy of the return with other corporate records
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Club Culture
What is your club’s way of doing things?
Club Culture
The Big Picture
• There are different ways of looking at clubs:
• Purpose / Goals:
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Winning championships
Develop elite players
Develop players for high school soccer
Provide quality playing opportunities
Develop good people
Provide opportunities for players to have fun
Provide jobs for coaches
• Play Type:
• Recreational only
• Competitive only
• Combined recreational and competitive
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Club Culture
The Big Picture
• There are different ways of looking at clubs:
• Club size
• Big clubs
• Small clubs
• How the club is managed
• Volunteer run – all operations are managed by volunteers
• Professionally run – paid staff manages operations
• Who are the coaches
• Volunteer parent coaches
• Volunteer coaches who do not have a child on the team
• Paid coaches
• How teams are formed
• Club centered: the club places players on teams and assigns coaches
• Coach centered: players join a particular coach’s team
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Club Culture
The Big Picture
Are any of these views of clubs
the “right” way to operate?
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Club Culture
The Big Picture
Are any of these views of clubs the “right” way to operate?
NO!
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Club Culture
The Big Picture
Are any of these views of clubs the “right” way to operate?
NO!
Many clubs are successful with very different
views of their purpose, different sizes, and
different methods of operation.
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Club Culture
The Big Picture
There are some things that successful clubs have in common.
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
What Works
Best Practices For Success
Know Your Purpose
• Successful clubs know their purpose and that purpose drives
their decisions
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Bylaws and policies support the purpose
Coaches are hired/selected and trained to fulfill the purpose
Operations are placed in the hands of competent people to support the
purpose
• Best Practice:
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The board of the club consciously decides the club’s purpose
The purpose is a prominent part of club communications
Important decisions (e.g., hiring, policy) are made with consideration of the
question, “Will this decision support our purpose?”
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
Play types offered support the Club’s
Purpose
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
Club Size
• The club must be large enough to support the way
the club wants to operate
• Must be large enough to provide needed volunteers
• Must be able to support paid staff
• Best Practice:
• Within reason, bigger is better
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
Club Management – Volunteer or Paid Staff?
Best Practice:
• At least some staff is paid
• Volunteer operations are usually small
• Suffer from lack of available volunteer time
• Turnover, training, real life
• Removal?
• Paid staff can be scaled to operations
• Part-time to full-time, to multiple positions
• Paid staff can be fired
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
Coach Selection
Both Volunteer and paid coaches can be successful
Best Practice:
• Limit volunteer parent coaches to recreational teams
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Monitor parent coaches for their interactions with their child
Replace parent coaches who inappropriately favor their own child
Provide training
• Hire/select paid coaches who support your club purpose
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Promote ongoing training
Align coaching assignments to match coach skills with appropriate teams
Use written coaching agreements
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
Team Formation
Very few clubs are completely either club-centric or coach-centric.
Best Practice:
• Be as club-centric as your purpose allows
• Recreational clubs
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Appoint coaches who support the club purpose
Train coaches
Educate parents about the Club Purpose
• Competitive clubs
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Hire/select a coaching staff that supports the club purpose
Form teams based on your purpose
Assign coaches appropriate to the age/gender/skill levels/goals of each team
Be wary of coaches who want to bring a ready-made team to your club
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What Works
Best Practices For Success
The most important best practice tip for a club:
Understand that you are
running a business
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THANK YOU