When you're in high school, you don't have to worry about your team's finances at all. Your Athletic Director probably took care of everything for lacrosse and all your other varsity sports. But what happens if you want to keep playing lax after high school? Most players end up joining club lacrosse teams during their college years. And those teams don't have fancy school officials (usually) to help manage the team's bank account. If you're one of the bold few to step up and offer to manage your team's finances, here are a few tips to help you get started.
1.) Use technology to help you manage the team's finances.
You should use some method of accounting beyond a cheeto-stained piece of notebook paper to keep track of all your team's expenses. When in doubt, track it. Who's paid their dues? Who hasn't chipped in for the bus ride to your cross-state rivals' campus? You don't want to leave this stuff to memory. Get it down somewhere. Preferably all in one place. The last thing you want is to lose track of who owes the team money. You'll end up fronting the difference yourself.
2.) Get a bank account for the team.
Using your own personal bank account for your team's expenses gets a little tricky. That means it will be your credit/debit card that goes down when you need a deposit for the team bus or hotel room. Don't be the guy that gets hit for unexpected charges. It's college. You're broke enough already. Plus, having an account that's exclusively for the team will make organization even simpler.
3.) Don't Accept Cash. Ever.
We all know someone who learned this lesson the hard way. You're going to collect a good amount of money from each person on your team, and if a large portion of this is in cash, you're exposing yourself to a lot of potential risk. If a check gets lost, you can always void it and get another. But once cash changes hands, you're responsible for it. If something happens, you're the one who has to replace it. Sure, you'll probably be fine. But it's not really worth the risk. It's college. You're broke enough already. Don't take chances with money you can't easily replace.
4.) Be Transparent!
When I played club lacrosse in college, there was a lot of griping about how expensive our dues were. It wasn't until our treasurer actually showed me a breakdown of all our team's expenses that I understood why dues had to be so high. Had I known, I never would have complained! Save yourself the potential hassle, and just put everything out in the open.
My team uses WePay as a solution to the above problems. WePay makes it simple to collect and manage your team's finances, and do so transparently with other members of your group. Check it out for yourself at WePay.com. You won't look back!