Did you just get chosen to start a booster club? If so, you might have even been unofficially selected as the club’s inaugural president. Talk about feeling the pressure.
At this point in the journey, you are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed with ideas and are being pulled in a million different directions. The question is, what should you do first?
When you’re starting a booster club, one of the first things you will need to do is come up with a name for your club. Here are some practical tips for choosing a memorable, practical, and engaging name.
Keep It Simple
Naming your booster club might sound like the perfect opportunity to flex your creativity and come up with a clever title for the organization. It’s best that you resist this urge, though. You will have plenty of opportunities to get creative when planning events, designing flyers, and launching fundraising campaigns.
When naming your club, keep it simple. A basic, easy-to-remember club name is great for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. SEO is all about making your club’s site easy for supporters to find on search engines like Google.
Avoid Jargon
It’s also best that you avoid sports-specific jargon, even if you are running a sports-specific booster club. In other words, don’t use phrases like “gridiron” or sports-related acronyms. Instead, stick with something simple and obvious like “Central High School Football Booster Club.”
If you are running an athletic booster club that supports all sports and teams at the school, you should drop “Football” from the name. Instead, formulate your club name by adding the phrase “Booster Club” to the school’s name.
Using obvious phrasing makes it easy for older donors like grandparents to find your website and social media pages. When you make it easy to support your club, you’ll have a lot more donors and more opportunities to support your teams.
Beware of Common School Names
In the example above, the school name is incredibly common. In these instances, add something to differentiate your club from others at similarly named schools. For instance, if your school is located in Florida, add “FL” to your club’s formal name. This will ensure that supporters can easily find the right organization.
Get Your Team Involved
Get your team involved in the naming process. While coming up with a name should be pretty simple, collaborating with other club founders can be an excellent team-building exercise. The goal is to start building chemistry, as the next stages of forming a booster club will be a bit more challenging and complex.
You’ve Chosen a Name — Now What?
Choosing a name for your booster club is step one. After you’ve done that, it’s time to get incorporated, file for a 501(c)(3) exemption, and find some user-friendly software to power your club activities.
Be diligent, as the initial process can seem daunting. However, it is also incredibly rewarding and worthwhile. Forming a booster club will empower you to raise funds and support student-athletes at your school.
