Can Booster Club Officers Be Personally Liable? How to Protect Your Board and Volunteers

Can Booster Club Board Members Be Personally Liable?

Yes, booster club officers and board members can potentially face personal liability in some circumstances. Volunteering for a nonprofit organization does not automatically guarantee that an individual can never be named in a lawsuit or held responsible for his or her own actions.

That statement can sound alarming, especially to someone who agreed to become booster club president simply because nobody else volunteered.

It should not discourage people from serving. Instead, it highlights why a booster club should operate responsibly and maintain appropriate insurance. Volunteers who generously give their time to support students should understand the risks they are taking and make reasonable efforts to protect themselves.

Association Insurance Management (AIM), which specializes in insurance for booster clubs and parent-run volunteer organizations, warns that an individual member or officer can potentially be held personally liable in connection with an accident at an organization event. AIM also notes that personal assets could potentially be exposed depending on the circumstances.

The exact legal protections available to a volunteer depend on the facts and applicable law, so this article should not be treated as legal advice. But there is an important practical lesson every booster club leader should understand: do not assume that being a volunteer makes personal liability impossible.

Why Would Someone Sue a Booster Club Officer Personally?

Most lawsuits involving a booster club will not begin because someone wants to punish a volunteer. They usually begin because someone believes he or she was injured, treated improperly, financially harmed, or otherwise wronged.

When a dispute becomes serious, a claim may name multiple parties. That can include the organization itself, individual officers, board members, volunteers, vendors, or other people involved in what happened. Consider a few common booster club situations:

An Accident Happens at a Booster Club Event

Your booster club organizes a large fundraising event. Someone is injured and alleges that the event was not operated safely. The organization may be named in a claim, but people who planned, managed, or supervised the activity could potentially be named as well.

Whether those individuals are ultimately responsible is a separate legal question. The important point is that a volunteer should not assume he or she cannot become involved in a lawsuit simply because the activity benefited students.

A Board Decision Is Challenged

Booster club boards make decisions that affect money, members, vendors, volunteers, students, and programs. A board might decide:

• How club funds will be spent
• Which fundraiser to conduct
• Which vendor to hire
• How membership rules will be applied
• Whether a request for funding will be approved
• How bylaws should be interpreted
• How organization policies will be enforced
• Who is authorized to act on behalf of the club

Most decisions never lead to a dispute. But sometimes a member, vendor, parent, volunteer, or other person believes a decision was improper.

Claims involving wrongful, misleading, or negligent acts, discrimination, misrepresentation, inappropriate use of organization funds, and failure to follow bylaws are examples of the types of management-related allegations that can arise.

A Volunteer Acts Outside Normal Club Procedures

Another risk occurs when someone acts independently without proper approval. For example, an officer might sign an agreement the board never authorized, spend money outside the club's approved procedures, organize an activity without confirming insurance coverage, or make commitments on behalf of the organization without authority.

Clear policies, written approvals, and accurate meeting minutes can make it easier to determine what the board actually authorized.

Does Being a Nonprofit Protect Booster Club Officers?

No. Nonprofit status is often misunderstood as a broad form of legal immunity. It is not.

A booster club may be organized as a nonprofit corporation and may also qualify for federal tax-exempt status. Those characteristics can provide important organizational benefits, but they do not mean that nobody associated with the organization can ever be sued.

The same caution applies to volunteers. There may be legal protections for volunteers under federal or state law in certain circumstances, but those protections are not a substitute for responsible conduct, proper organizational procedures, or appropriate insurance.

Your board does not need to become expert in liability law. It simply should not base its risk-management strategy on the assumption that "we're a nonprofit, so nobody can come after us."

Does the School Protect Booster Club Officers?

Do not assume that it does. Booster clubs can be closely connected to schools while still operating as separate organizations. Your club may:

• Use the school's name
• Support a school team or activity
• Meet inside the school
• Work closely with coaches or teachers
• Hold events on school property
• Raise money exclusively for school programs

None of those facts, by themselves, prove that the school's insurance protects your independent booster club or every person serving on its board. Do not assume that school insurance automatically covers all of their activities.

Ask the school district exactly what coverage, if any, applies to the booster club. Then ask your own insurance provider what coverage protects the organization and its volunteers. Do this before a problem occurs.

What Is Directors and Officers Insurance?

Directors and officers insurance, commonly called D&O insurance, is designed to provide protection against certain claims arising from decisions made while managing an organization.

AIM refers to this protection as professional liability coverage for the organizations it serves. This type of insurance is different from ordinary general liability coverage. A useful simplified distinction is:

General liability often protects against things that happen. D&O insurance often protects against decisions people make.

For example, someone slipping and being injured at a covered fundraiser is generally the type of situation associated with general liability. A claim alleging that the board improperly administered club funds, failed to follow its bylaws, discriminated against someone, or made a negligent management decision is more closely associated with D&O or professional liability coverage.

The actual boundaries between policies depend on their specific language, exclusions, and circumstances, so clubs should review coverage with their insurance provider rather than relying only on these general descriptions.

What Can D&O Insurance Cover?

AIM identifies several examples of management-related allegations that may fall within its professional liability coverage, subject to policy terms. Examples include allegations involving:

• Wrongful or negligent acts
• Misleading statements
• Misrepresentation
• Discrimination
• Failure to follow organizational bylaws
• Inappropriate use of organization funds
• Other decisions made while managing the organization

These examples help explain why D&O coverage can matter even to a small volunteer organization. A booster club may not have employees, shareholders, or a corporate office, but its board still makes management decisions. It controls money, adopts rules, approves activities, enters relationships with vendors, and represents the organization. Those responsibilities create risk.

What Doesn't D&O Insurance Protect?

D&O insurance is not permission to act improperly. Exclusions exist for conduct such as criminal acts, knowingly wrongful conduct, willful or reckless actions, and dishonesty. That distinction should be intuitive.

Insurance is intended to protect people carrying out legitimate organizational responsibilities. It is not designed to guarantee protection for someone who deliberately steals money, knowingly violates the law, or intentionally causes harm.

The exact exclusions vary by policy, which is another reason your board should understand the insurance it purchases rather than treating "D&O" as a magic phrase that covers everything.

7 Ways to Reduce Personal Liability Risk for Booster Club Leaders

Insurance matters, but the best approach combines appropriate coverage with good organizational practices.

1. Follow your bylaws. Your bylaws establish the rules for how the organization operates. If your club requires a board vote before spending a certain amount, follow that procedure rather than improvising.
2. Document important decisions. Meeting minutes should accurately record major approvals, elections, expenditures, contracts, and other significant board actions.
3. Use appropriate financial controls. No one person should have unchecked control over club money. Use independent review, documented expenditures, proper approvals, and periodic financial reviews.
4. Confirm insurance before unusual activities. Do not assume every fundraiser or event is automatically covered. Ask your insurer before conducting higher-risk or unfamiliar activities.
5. Use qualified and insured vendors. When your club hires outside companies, ask for appropriate proof of insurance and clarify who is responsible for the work being performed.
6. Keep organization business separate from personal business. Use club accounts, club records, and established club procedures. Avoid casually mixing personal finances or commitments with organization activities.
7. Carry appropriate insurance. General liability, D&O, fidelity bond, and other coverage can provide financial protection when unexpected problems arise.

None of these steps can guarantee that your club will never be sued. They can, however, reduce unnecessary risk and make it easier to demonstrate that the organization and its leaders acted responsibly.

Following Your Bylaws Is More Important Than You May Think

Bylaws are sometimes treated like a document that gets created when the booster club forms and then disappears into an old folder.

That is a mistake.

Your bylaws usually establish important rules involving elections, voting, officer authority, financial approvals, meetings, membership, and other organizational decisions. If the board consistently ignores those rules, disputes become more likely.

Imagine that your bylaws require board approval for major purchases, but the president spends thousands of dollars without a vote. Or imagine that the bylaws establish an election process, but the current board decides to appoint new officers differently because it seems easier.

Even if nobody intended harm, inconsistent procedures create opportunities for people to challenge the board's actions. Failure to follow bylaws among the types of allegations that can generate professional liability claims.

BoosterSpark recommends reviewing your bylaws at least annually and publishing them on your website so everyone understands the rules they agreed to follow.

Good Records Can Protect the Board

Imagine someone challenges a financial decision made eighteen months ago.

Why did the board choose that vendor? Was the purchase approved? Who voted for it? Was the expenditure allowed under the bylaws?

If the only answer is "I think we talked about it at a meeting," the organization has a documentation problem.

Good records provide institutional memory. Meeting minutes, financial reports, receipts, contracts, approvals, policies, and transaction records can help demonstrate what the board decided and how the decision was made.

This is especially important for booster clubs because leadership changes frequently. The people who made a decision may no longer be on the board when someone questions it later.

BoosterSpark helps clubs centralize important operational information rather than allowing critical records to disappear inside individual volunteers' email accounts, spreadsheets, or personal files. Better organization cannot eliminate liability, but it can improve transparency and continuity from one board to the next.

Do Liability Waivers Protect Booster Club Volunteers?

Waivers can be useful, but booster club leaders should not treat them as complete protection from liability.

An organization cannot simply have participants sign away all liability. A waiver may help document that participants understood certain risks, and it may discourage some disputes, but it does not necessarily prevent someone from filing a lawsuit if the organization is alleged to have caused an injury.

Waivers are therefore one risk-management tool, not a substitute for insurance or safe practices. If your club regularly uses liability waivers, particularly for activities involving minors, consider having an attorney familiar with your state's law review the form.

Insurance Protects More Than the Booster Club Bank Account

When boards discuss insurance, the conversation often focuses on protecting club money. That is important, but it is only part of the reason insurance matters. The people running the organization matter too.

Your president may spend hundreds of volunteer hours each year. Your treasurer manages money while also working a full-time job. Your secretary keeps records at night. Committee chairs organize events on weekends. Parents take on responsibilities because they want to help students and their school community.

Those volunteers should not unknowingly accept unnecessary personal financial exposure.

A well-run booster club should therefore ask not only, "Is the club insured?" but also, "Are the people serving the club appropriately protected?"

Make Volunteer Protection Part of Your Annual Board Review

Personal liability does not need to dominate booster club meetings. In most organizations, a straightforward annual review is enough to keep the issue from being forgotten. Once a year, preferably when new officers take office, review:

• Your current insurance policies
• Who is insured under those policies
• Your general liability coverage
• Your D&O or professional liability coverage
• Your fidelity bond or embezzlement coverage
• Major policy exclusions
• Your bylaws and financial procedures
• Any new activities the club plans to conduct

If nobody on the board can explain what protection the organization has, contact your insurance provider and ask. Association Insurance Management specializes in coverage for organizations such as booster clubs and can help explain which protections apply to the organization, its officers, and its volunteers.

A booster club that maintains appropriate insurance, follows its bylaws, uses good financial controls, documents important decisions, and keeps organized records is not just protecting itself. It is respecting the people generous enough to volunteer their time.