YCS considers allowing booster club to fundraise through sponsorship banners at fields

As challenges for various clubs, athletic departments and extracurricular activities continue to arise in Yelm Community Schools continue to rise while facing funding uncertainty, the school district is taking a close look at allowing the YHS Booster Club to fundraise through the sale of sponsorship banners to be hung at Yelm High School athletic facilities.

Chris Woods, YCS superintendent, said, during a meeting on Thursday, Aug. 13, that the YHS Booster Club has been doing a fantastic job. He noted that many people and organizations in the local community have stepped up given the financial situation in the absence of several school programs.

“One of the things we’ve talked about, even up here, is the idea of sponsorships,” Woods said. “The booster club has come up with a proposal and I wanted to highlight a few of the things because it was a well thought-out document. I think as a district, we’ve got two ways to go with this.”

Woods specified that the purpose of the proposal is to provide additional funding to programs and meaningful recognition to local businesses throughout the school year. He noted the banners would be hung from Sept. through Aug.

“The booster club, what they would manage as far as the recruitment, production, installation and maintenance,” Woods said. “Then, as far as the district, we’d be giving approval and then also making sure the ads meet our policy and the theme would be appropriate for us.”

These funds would support student athletes, extracurricular activities, equipment purchases and transportation — all of which are areas that YCS has seen reductions in due to loss of levy dollars.

“The benefits can generate additional revenue, ongoing fundraising opportunities,” Woods said. “I’ve seen this done in other districts, other communities where it does truly become a community thing – where businesses look forward to doing this.”

The superintendent said there are two options going forward with the sponsorship banners. One would take a lot more work and would require revising board policy, the district playing an active role in this process and changing policy to allow this type of advertising and fundraising. Additionally, option one would see YCS oversee the process and collect the funds.

“The other option is to allow the booster club to do it as a fundraiser and then our oversight is much less,” Woods said. “Our oversight is more along the lines of making sure that the advertising is appropriate and also guidance on where the banners can be put up. That would really be the extent of it. Pros and cons to each.”

Woods added that YCS is trying to build more trust with the community, and he believes that the option that builds more trust is allowing the booster club to handle this process and run with it — while YCS serves as a “silent partner” and the “approval piece.”

“They’re soliciting it. They’re managing the money,” Woods said. “We don’t even see the money here. They would come to us and probably ask for insight on ways to spend the dollars, whether that’s for coaches or uniforms or things they’ve mentioned here.”

One of the concerns that Woods has with the funding going directly through the district is if some funds are raised and they’re “not enough to do what we’d like to do across the board.”

“We have some limitations as a district, as opposed to a non-profit organization who could probably maximize the use of those dollars a little easier than we can,” Woods said. “But there’s pros and cons in each.”

According to Woods, Jessica Kelso has been leading the YHS Booster Club group forward and he appreciates the work they’ve been doing.

Before asking school board members for their initial thoughts, Woods said he’s already cross referenced with district policy and created a document that details the steps YCS would have to take in order to change the policy. He also outlined what it would look like if YCS was serving as an advisor to the booster club throughout this process.

School board director Ryan Jewell said that he likes the idea of allowing for sponsorship banners throughout the school’s athletic facilities. He also believes that the booster leading the charge on selling the sponsorship banners would create more “buy in.”

School board director Frank King agreed with Jewell.

“I think the booster running it is a great idea,” King said. “It gives us less to do and more for them to do. I think that’s the right way to go about it.”

School board director Bill Hauss, who said he agrees with Jewell and King, posed a question about the sponsorship banner process.

“One question I had, there seemed to be someplace in the paperwork that says the banners would be hung on the fence of the football field,” Hauss said. “My question was, does that mean wrestling and baseball can’t have them?”

Woods told Hauss that what it typically looks like is banners would be hung on the football field’s fence, but you’d also see banners hung on the fastpitch outfield fence and on the baseball outfield fence.

“There are going to be particular businesses who want to support particular sports,” Woods said. “It’s not uncommon for businesses to say ‘I’d like it to go on the outfield of the baseball field,’ or ‘I’d like it to go on the fastpitch field.’ In the gyms, typically, banners are up on the walls. All of those would be options for the community.”