State of Langley United Youth Soccer Association Finances
Dear LUYSA members,
You may have recently read about or seen on the news the conviction of the former Richmond Youth Soccer Association treasurer for stealing over $200K from the soccer club. Unfortunately, events like this can happen with any non-profit organization (NPO), and sadly did happen right here in Langley with our local BMX Club last year. The executive of Langley United thought it important to provide our membership with a brief update on the safeguards we have in place to watch over the club’s finances and your money.
LUYSA has more than 1500 boys and 200 girls registered this season. This large number of soccer-playing youth in Langley generates hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash flow and expenditures by our club. It is the board of directors' responsibility to make sure that this money is spent wisely and put back into our programs to the benefit of all. We are an NPO and not here to generate profits and we can assure you our approach in governance is to spend every penny as effectively and efficiently as possible for the benefit of all our players.
Our volunteer club treasurer is Doedy Reisler, and she is directly responsible for the day-to-day oversight of our $600K+ budget. Doedy has spent the last 20 years working in finance and today manages a large company with over 500 + employees right here in Langley. Doedy's son plays in our club and we were fortunate when Doedy stepped up to volunteer as treasurer two years ago.
Since that time Doedy has been instrumental in organizing the club's finances to meet all regulations governing non-profit community organizations. On her watch, we have created a budget process for all departments within the club that is easy for all board members to follow and keep better track of all expenditures throughout the year. Our banking accounts are set up so that there are four signatories with the authority to sign cheques on behalf of the club. All cheques require two signatures, and none are issued without a proper receipt attached as proof of the expenditure. Furthermore, all cheques over $100 are brought before the board each month for approval, and voted on by the entire board.
We are pleased to tell you that we are 100 percent in compliance with the Canada Revenue Agency as it relates to relevant NPO rules and regulations. As part of our compliance measures taken, we changed our accounting practices to make sure we are compliant with all government agencies as it relates to payroll deductions, EI, CPP, HST etc. Once the changes were filed with the CRA, they requested an audit of our books which took place last November. We are happy to tell you that we passed their audit with flying colours and are now in excellent standing with the CRA. Lastly, each spring we hire local accountants Malish & Clark to complete our year-end financial statements, and this process will get underway again shortly.
In addition, as an NPO, LUYSA applies for and receives “gaming grants” from the provincial government. This past spring LUYSA received more than $100K for the period up until June 2012. There are strict guidelines on how we can use this money and failure to follow those could result in the loss of the grant. For example, we can use these funds for uniforms, on-field equipment, etc, but not to pay the salaries of our full-time employees or game day officials. With Doedy’s oversight, we have made sure our club is in full compliance with the rules and regulations that govern this provincial grant money.
The LUYSA Board of Directors is made up of non-paid volunteers. No member of the board is paid for the work and time we each put towards building the club. This is a very important point as to do otherwise would put us in violation of the Societies Act that governs non-profit groups.
Lastly, our on-going budget status is part of every board meeting discussion, and of course a more in-depth budget is presented at the Annual General Meeting each year. Members are welcome to contact Doedy directly to discuss any club financial matters.
We hope you find this update helpful. If you have any questions, feel free to call/email our treasurer on financial matters or call/email any of the board members for further information regarding the operations of your Langley United Youth Soccer Association. If you would like to volunteer and help build one of the strongest soccer clubs in BC, or if your company would like a sponsorship role in our rapidly growing club, please contact any member of the board to find out how you can get involved.
Sincerely,
The LUYSA Executive
Betty Boucas, President
Dave Kasper, 1st Vice President
Roger Gilbert, 2nd Vice President
Brian Leonard, 3rd Vice President
Doedy Reisler, Treasurer