Wagner Community School officially changed its booster club fundraising program on August 1st for the 2024-2025 school year. What used to be individual booster clubs raising funds has since become the W Club which encompasses all of the WCS fundraising organizations. The purpose of the W Club is to organize donations given from the community to school sponsored events. The goal of this new program is to eliminate fundraising that the individual booster clubs were doing that involved selling items to the people in the Wagner community.

For the 2024-2025 school year, the W Club is looking to raise $44,000. This amount came from each organization’s supervisor from the 16 WCS organizations submitting a budget for their specific yearly needs, with $44,000 figure being the grand total. Under the previous boosters club program, not every activity had a booster club, but under this new program all school activities will receive money from the W Club. There are 16 WCS organizations that benefit from the W Club including football, golf, gymnastics, wrestling, student activities council, National Honor Society, volleyball, cross-country, cheer, basketball, track and field, HOSA, Oral Interp, Student Council, JAG and softball.

One of the great things about the W Club is that kids of all ages can benefit from the money raised. Donations for the W Club will be used towards feeding the students when they leave school early for events, team camps, individual camps, volunteer coaches pay, pay for coaches to attend clinics and classes, gas money and lodging for team camps and team building activities, extra money for students attending state events, entry fees for youth tournaments, incentives, startup money for concession stands and tailgates.

When asked why the change in how money is raised for WCS booster clubs, Athletic Director, Josh Davies, said “The community and school both felt that the number of fundraisers was getting out of hand”. This new system of donation would mean that businesses would be able to make a one-time donation and be done for the year that way at the end of the year the business will know exactly how much that they donated. It is also very beneficial to the different school organizations as well because the hassle of fundraising is eliminated and the W Club will get 100% of the donations which is not the case when fundraising items are sold. In the past when booster clubs would sell food or other items as a fundraiser, the company that owned the products was receiving a large percentage of the money raised.

One thing that is very important for the community to know is that the new W Club will eliminate all types of fundraisers. According to Davies, “People in town still may see fundraisers that involve selling items but they will not be raising any money for any school-based organization”. As of August 1st, booster club-based fundraising will cease and donations for the W Club will be collected in early January 2025. Each individual booster club will remain separate from each other and any funds that already exist will remain in each individual booster club’s account.

The idea to restructure how the WCS booster clubs raised their money was an idea that was brought to the school by some of their biggest donors and supporters as a result of the community feeling overwhelmed by the numerous fundraisers that were taking place throughout the year.

Businesses that donate to the W Club will be mentioned in the WCS advertisements on the school radio station that will be playing prior to home events. The businesses will also be listed on the back of the athletic programs. WCS is currently working on a way to get the business sponsors viewable on the school’s live event stream as well. Another interesting aspect to the new W Club will be that the school has come up with four dates that the students that benefit from the W Club will be out in the community and in the businesses that are donating performing community service for a few hours on each date.

Even if someone would like to donate but cannot afford to there are other options. According to Davies, there are many ways that people from the community can help out, if interested just reach out to the school and they will find a way.

When asked what he sees are the benefits of changing the current system of booster club fundraising, Davies said “I feel like the W Club simplifies the way our booster clubs budget needs are met. The overall goal of the W Club is to help improve the relationship between the school and our community and I feel that this a step in the right direction”.

As with anything new, this being the inaugural year, there is always the potential for challenges. There will need to be an organization of account, a board to oversee and make sure that the W Club comes up with transparent ways to collect the funds, give the money to the individual booster clubs and have an open communication with the community as to how the money donated is being used. If anyone from the community has any questions or would like to talk about the new W Club program, feel free to email Athletic Director, Josh Davies at josh.davies@k12.sd.us.