How to hand off the league treasurer role

Most board roles can survive a rough handoff. The treasurer role can't — it's the one job with legal deadlines, the one that touches every family's money, and the one where a gap doesn't just lose knowledge, it loses receipts. It's also the role volunteers are most nervous to take over, because they suspect (correctly) that a lot of it lives in the outgoing treasurer's head.

Here is what a complete treasurer handoff covers. Do it in one sitting if you can, with both treasurers at the same table.

The bank

• ☐ Signatories changed at the bank itself. This usually requires meeting minutes recording the board's vote, both treasurers, and a branch visit. It is the single most commonly skipped step in league transitions — and until it's done, the old treasurer is still legally attached to the league's money.
• ☐ Debit cards in the old treasurer's name cancelled, new ones issued.
• ☐ Online banking access transferred — and the account's contact email moved to a league-owned address, not anyone's personal one.
• ☐ Every account found. Checking, savings, PayPal, Venmo, Stripe, the concession cash box. Leagues collect accounts over the years; find them all.

The books

• ☐ Whatever the system is, hand it over running. A spreadsheet, QuickBooks, Wave — the tool matters less than the incoming treasurer being able to open it, read it, and produce the same monthly summary the board is used to seeing.
• ☐ Walk one full month together. Registration income, a field invoice, a reimbursement — watching the outgoing treasurer process real transactions teaches more than any document.
• ☐ The categories explained. Every league's books have three entries that make no sense to an outsider. Ask about them now, while the person who created them is in the room.

The money calendar

Money in a league is seasonal, and the treasurer's real job is knowing what hits when. Build this list together, January to December:

• ☐ When registration income arrives, and how much of the year's budget it is.
• ☐ When the insurance premium is due, and how it's paid.
• ☐ When field fees, permit costs, and affiliation dues land.
• ☐ When the league's fiscal year ends — because the tax filing clock starts there.

The filings

• ☐ The federal return. Most volunteer leagues file a Form 990-N (the "e-Postcard") — short, free, and due by the 15th day of the 5th month after the fiscal year ends. Miss it three years running and the IRS revokes tax-exempt status automatically. Know which form your league files, and put the date on the calendar before the handoff meeting ends.
• ☐ State obligations. Many states require an annual report or charity registration renewal. Know yours by name.
• ☐ Where the proof lives. The 501(c)(3) determination letter, the EIN, past filings — the incoming treasurer should be able to put a hand on each.

Two habits that protect everyone

Small-league fraud stories all start the same way: one person, no second set of eyes, years of nobody asking. Protect your volunteers from suspicion and your league from risk with two habits that cost nothing:

• ☐ A board member who isn't a signer looks at the actual bank statement — not a summary — once a month.
• ☐ Two people count cash whenever cash exists, and both initial the total.

If your league does nothing else from this guide, do those two.