The league treasurer is usually the person who said yes to “just helping with the books” and discovered it was a part-time job. Fees come in over six weeks. Some families pay in full, some in pieces, some after three reminders. Refunds arrive in March. A sponsor wants to know what their donation did.
None of this requires an accountant. It does require a clear set of decisions made before registration opens, and a system that keeps the numbers in one place. This guide walks through those decisions in order. It is written for a treasurer or board member of a volunteer-run league, not for a business.
Step 1: Work out what a registration has to cover
Start from costs, not from what the league next door charges.
- Field and facility fees. Permits, lights, line marking.
- Insurance and association dues. Often per player.
- Equipment. Balls, goals, first aid kits, nets.
- Uniforms. Included in the fee, or ordered separately.
- Referees. Paid per game or per season.
- Software and card processing. See below.
- Reserve. A small cushion for rainouts and surprises.
Divide the total by the number of players you expect, not the number you hope for. Then decide whether the fee is the same for every division or scales with age. Older divisions usually cost more because of fields, referees and travel.
Step 2: Discounts, kept simple
Discounts are kind, and they are a puzzle if you stack them.
- Early-bird. A lower price until a set date. It brings in money sooner and helps you plan teams.
- Sibling discount. A fixed amount or a percentage for the second and later children.
- Promo codes. For sponsors, volunteers or special offers.
- Need-based help. A private way for a family to ask for assistance, handled by one person.
Decide whether discounts combine. In Bloomz they do not stack: the largest single discount applies. That is easy to explain and hard to abuse. Whatever you pick, write the rule on the registration page.
Plan your total discount budget before you publish. Ten percent of families using a sibling discount is a different number from forty percent.
Step 3: Payment plans
A fee that is easy for one family is a barrier for another. A payment plan lets families join without asking for a favor.
A simple structure is a deposit at registration, then equal payments over the following months, bi-weekly or monthly. In Bloomz you set the plan on the program, and parents choose it at checkout.
Rules to decide:
- Deposit size. Enough to protect you if a family drops out, small enough to be reachable.
- Last payment date. Before the season ends, not after.
- Missed payment. A reminder first, then a conversation. Don’t bench a child automatically.
- Who contacts the family. One person, kindly, privately.
The director queue in Bloomz lists past-due payments, with a suggested action that a person approves before any message goes out.
Step 4: Who pays processing
Card payments cost money. Somebody pays that cost, and you should decide who on purpose.
- Families pay it. The registration page adds a processing line. The league nets its full fee.
- The league pays it. Families see one clean price. The league receives slightly less.
- Split it. Some leagues absorb it for payment plans or for need-based families.
In Bloomz, the league chooses whether to pass processing fees to families or absorb them. For comparison, TeamSnap states that it charges no administrative fee on registration and passes processing fees to registrants by default, with admins able to absorb them; it does not publish a rate on its help page (as of October 2026). Whichever tool you use, ask for the rate in writing and run the number on your own collections. The true cost worksheet shows how.
Step 5: Refund policy
Write it before the first refund request, because that request will be emotional.
A workable policy has three parts:
- Full refund until a set date, before teams are formed.
- Partial refund after teams are formed, minus costs you have already incurred, such as the uniform order.
- No refund after a set point in the season, except for injury or relocation with documentation.
Add a line for league-initiated changes: if you cancel a division, everyone is refunded in full.
In Bloomz, refunds can be full or partial, and recorded on the family’s account. Keep the same discipline by hand: log who, how much, why, and who approved.
Step 6: Jerseys and kit
If you sell uniforms, separate them from registration or the books turn muddy. Bloomz has kit orders: you import a supplier’s catalog, open an order window for each team or division with a deadline, and parents choose size, number and print name and pay at checkout or as part of registration. You get a dealer sheet to send to the supplier. Bloomz does not send money to the supplier; you pay them yourself. See kit orders.
Step 7: Sponsor credit, done carefully
Local sponsors are a lifeline for many leagues. A sponsor can lower or cover part of a family’s registration cost through sponsor credit.
How it works in Bloomz: a sponsor pledges an amount, and each registration gets a discount such as “Sponsored by [business]: minus $10,” up to the pledge. A ledger shows what was pledged, applied and remaining, so you can tell the sponsor exactly what their money did. See sponsors.
Guardrails matter here:
- Sponsor messages are shown to adults, not to players.
- Placement is contextual, not targeted at children.
- Some categories are never allowed: alcohol, gambling, tobacco, vaping, cannabis, adult content, firearms, payday lending and dating. Bloomz approves each sponsor.
- Do not promise a sponsor results you cannot deliver. Report what you can measure: impressions, clicks, credit applied.
Write a one-page sponsor policy and share it with your board before the first pledge.
Step 8: Reporting to the board
Give the board the same four numbers each month:
- Collected to date.
- Outstanding and past due.
- Refunds issued.
- Sponsor credit pledged, applied and remaining.
Export transactions to CSV for your year-end review. If you are moving systems, take a full transaction export from the old one first. The switching guide lists what to pull and when.
A treasurer’s setup checklist
- Total costs and expected player count.
- Fee per division.
- Early-bird date and sibling rule.
- Payment plan terms.
- Processing: who pays.
- Refund policy, written.
- Uniform plan and order window.
- Sponsor policy and credit rules.
- Monthly board report template.
- Export schedule for year-end.
Where to go next
Pricing and registration are connected, so read the registration guide alongside this one. For the Bloomz side, see payments and pricing.
When you are ready to look, start at Bloomz for Leagues or the switching page.
