Two Clubs – Double the Power?

Whether it’s children’s gymnastics, the soccer division, or an aerobics course: in any club, sports are the main focus. But finances are a topic every board has to deal with. These days, it’s difficult to keep a club financially healthy on “normal” revenue like membership fees alone. Grants are highly sought after and usually insufficient to finance major projects. But what if the club needs a new artificial turf field or if the clubhouse has been in need of renovation for years? 

Creative income sources can often be found: organizing a big sports festival, hosting a charity run, or selling merchandise on a larger scale. The catch: once income rises above a certain threshold, action must be taken. As a nonprofit, a club may generate revenue, but only up to a current exemption limit of €45,000 (according to §64 (3) of the German Fiscal Code). Once this threshold is exceeded, all income becomes taxable – including corporate and trade tax. In the worst case, the club could even lose its nonprofit status if the funds are not used according to the bylaws. At this point, the board inevitably asks: do we need a booster club?

The advantage is clear: a booster club can conduct business activities without endangering the nonprofit status of the main club. The income is then passed on to the main club in the form of donations or grants. The main club can stay focused on what matters most: the sport itself. Sounds like an easy decision – but along with this major benefit, there are also disadvantages to consider. Let’s take a closer look.

Main Club: The Classic Structure

The main club is the actual sports club, registered in the official register of associations, and responsible for running all sports operations. It handles training and competitions, member services, and organizing club events. 

As a nonprofit, the main club may earn revenue tax-free (or tax-advantaged) up to the €45,000 threshold (as of 2025) – under certain conditions. Revenue is divided into four categories:

• Ideological activity (e.g., membership fees, donations, grants) 
• Asset management (e.g., rental income, interest) 
• Special operations directly tied to sports activities (tax-advantaged) 
• Commercial operations (e.g., events, advertising, merchandising) 

For this commercial activity, the €45,000 limit applies. This creates tight financial boundaries and strict regulations. If the board and treasurer expect future income to exceed these limits, the question of setting up a booster club becomes pressing.

Booster Club: The Supporting Force in the Background

Step 1: Founding the Club

A booster club is an independent, nonprofit registered association whose purpose is to financially support nonprofit organizations. This can be the main club but also schools, preschools, or research institutions.

Like any association, it is officially registered and has the same rights and obligations as the main club. The key difference lies in tax treatment: under §57 of the German Fiscal Code, a booster club can be recognized as nonprofit even if it does not directly pursue a charitable purpose itself but instead raises funds or resources for another nonprofit. Its main role is therefore to provide (financial) support for another organization. 

The advantage: double tax benefits. The booster club may also engage in commercial activity up to the €45,000 threshold; beyond that, it too becomes liable for corporate and trade taxes. This ensures that the main club’s nonprofit status remains intact. Funds, goods, services, or facilities can all be passed on to the main club. Step 

2: The Bylaws 

The founding requirements are the same as for any other registered association under the German Civil Code (BGB): at least seven founding members, election of a board, and adoption of bylaws (§26 BGB). 

Special care is needed when drafting the bylaws. Nonprofit status is only granted if they clearly show charitable purposes and stipulate that funds are passed on to other nonprofits (e.g., the main club). The charitable purposes listed in the bylaws of both the booster club and the beneficiary must match exactly.

It is advisable to define broad goals rather than narrow rules, so the booster club retains flexibility. Legal guidance – ideally in consultation with the local tax office – is highly recommended before finalizing the bylaws. 

Martin from Vereinsstrategen emphasizes: “Setting up a booster club is a demanding project. I would always advise speaking with an expert to see if it’s truly the only way forward. The goal is what matters – founding a booster club is only one possible tool.” 

Step 3: Running the Booster Club 

Unlike the main club, a booster club does not focus on sports activities. Instead, it focuses on raising funds: attracting donors and sponsors, building networks, and passing resources on to the main club. 

This allows a clear division of labor: the main club runs the games and practices, while the booster club takes care of donations, sponsorship, events, merchandising, and recruiting volunteers. With targeted networking and fundraising efforts, it can operate more effectively – though it must invest significant energy in outreach.

4. The Advantages of a Booster Club at a Glance

Financial Advantages:

By focusing specifically on fundraising, a booster club can unlock more revenue opportunities: festivals, sponsorships, merchandise sales, and much more. It also makes donations more attractive for individuals and companies, since it can issue its own donation receipts and clearly allocate funds to defined purposes. In addition, it can build long-term reserves, for example for a new artificial turf field or the planned renovation of the clubhouse. A booster club also relieves the main club from a tax perspective, as its business activities no longer burden the main club’s accounting. This allows the booster club to operate far more flexibly than the main club. Another benefit is a certain risk buffer: if, for example, a large event turns into a financial loss, the legal liability lies with the booster club, not with the main club.

Organizational Advantages:

The division between main club and booster club creates a clear separation of responsibilities, making the organization more effective. This also eases the burden on volunteers: coaches and players can focus on sports, while festivals and events are planned and carried out by the booster club’s volunteers. Whether someone is a member or not is not decisive—non-members can also actively participate in the booster club, for example as event managers or in sponsor acquisition. 

Strategic Advantages:

By establishing a booster club, the nonprofit status of the main club is safeguarded, and independent operations are ensured—even if there are changes in the main club’s leadership. Booster clubs also attract sponsors thanks to their more professional structure. This allows the sponsorship area to be developed on a larger, more professional scale, making it a central source of revenue. In addition, booster clubs can take a long-term perspective: reserves can be built specifically for future projects (e.g., construction projects) without blocking the annual budget of the main club.

What Speaks Against a Booster Club?

A booster club also comes with risks and pitfalls that should not be underestimated. Two clubs don’t just mean double the power—they mean double the manpower, double the bureaucracy, and double the workload. Here’s an overview of the disadvantages of a booster club:

More administrative effort

A booster club is a registered association just like the main club. That means it has to be formally established, appoint a board, adopt bylaws, maintain accounting records, file tax returns, meet deadlines, and much more—usually on a voluntary basis. And this immediately leads to the next drawback. 

More personnel needed 

Recruiting people for volunteer work is already a challenge. With the added demand for a second club, this problem intensifies. Volunteering is not all the same: in a booster club, positions carry significant responsibility. By law, the booster club also needs a full board (at least a chairperson, a deputy, and a treasurer). If the same individuals serve on both boards, the risk of overburdening them increases significantly. 

Need for coordination and potential conflicts 

A clear division of roles is crucial. With different stakeholders involved, the risk of conflict, misunderstandings, and uncertainty grows. Effective communication between the main club and booster club must be ensured, coordination processes defined, and workflows established. However, this can also slow down decision-making. Clear responsibilities are essential and should ideally be documented in writing for all involved. 

Martin from Vereinsstrategen warns against underestimating these challenges: “Typical conflict situations can easily arise between the main club and booster club: turf wars, less income than expected in the booster club and subsequent disputes with the main club, coordination problems in joint projects—leading to poor communication and a weak external image toward sponsors and donors.” 

Costs and legal requirements 

Booster clubs incur costs just like main clubs: for example, founding expenses, insurance, bank accounts, or tax advice. And here too, both the club and its board can be held liable for mistakes or breaches of duty—with board members potentially liable with their personal assets. Good liability protection is therefore strongly recommended. 

Strict use of funds

Funds may only be used for the purposes defined in the bylaws (usually: supporting the main club). Any violations can jeopardize nonprofit status. Commercial activities must also be clearly regulated: if the booster club operates too much like the main club, it can lead to tax issues—keyword: false self-employment.

Decision Support: Do We Need a Booster Club?

It is becoming increasingly clear: a booster club is not a sure-fire success. The main club can only benefit from its advantages if there is enough (volunteer) staff, roles and processes are clearly defined, and both clubs work closely and in an organized manner. Only then can a booster club relieve the volunteers in the main club, bring new people on board, create more financial flexibility for the main club, and safeguard its charitable status. Above all, smaller clubs usually cannot provide these resources. 

Booster Club vs. Main Club: Here’s our mini-checklist for you! 

Revenue situation: Do you regularly generate income so high that the €45,000 exemption limit is within reach? 

Project or investment plans: Are you planning larger purchases or construction projects and want to build up reserves for them in the long term—without straining the club’s budget?

Sponsorship & donations: Do you already have or plan to expand sponsorship significantly and bring in large amounts of sponsor and donation funds? 

Grants: Are there grants that you can only access through a booster club? 

Human resources: Are there people willing to take responsibility on the board of the booster club who are not already volunteering in the main club? Are there additional volunteers in sight for the booster club? 

Organization and communication: Can you clearly separate sports operations from financial support? Can you work together in a well-structured way in both the booster club and the main club without creating duplicate structures? 

Club strategist Martin also suggests considering “whether there are risks in the club that I would rather shift to the booster club. But even here, I would first—together with a tax advisor if it’s such a risk—check whether the issue can be solved within the main club.” 

For the strategist, the disadvantages of booster clubs outweigh the advantages: “A booster club means additional work, which you should carefully consider—especially whether you can staff it in the long term. The crucial question is: what do I actually want to achieve? And then I can examine the option ‘booster club’ and compare it with other alternatives.” Because there are indeed alternatives: sometimes working groups, project teams, or fundraising circles without their own legal structure can solve the problem. 

Especially for smaller clubs, the expert considers a booster club to be simply too much effort: “I think that many small and medium-sized sports clubs shy away from the effort, as they already have trouble filling all volunteer positions and the advantages of a booster club are not sufficient in this setup.” 

In our free webinars for clubs, Martin and his colleagues from Vereinsstrategen regularly share their concentrated expertise on topics that sports clubs deal with in practice. Here you can exchange directly with experts and other club members—next time also on the topic of finances. You can find our webinars here (only in german).

Conclusion: Two Clubs Mean Double the Work

Two clubs don’t necessarily mean double the power – more often, they mean double the work. The decision between a “supporters’ association” and a “main club” depends heavily on the size of the sports club, its sources of income, and its personnel resources. For smaller clubs with limited revenue and scarce volunteers, the main club alone is usually sufficient. For growing clubs with many events, sponsors, and ambitious projects, however, a supporters’ association can be a real asset – financially, organizationally, and strategically. 

For those who decide to set one up, it’s crucial to establish clear responsibilities, strong communication, and a solid legal foundation right from the start. That way, a supporters’ association can become a powerful driver of the main club’s future. 

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