Financial Policy

Challengers Cricket Club · Effective 30 April 2026

🏛️Governance status — volunteer-based organization

Volunteer-based. Challengers Cricket Club is a Canada Not-for-Profit Corporation (#1746974-8) under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act. All roles — Director, Officer, Captain, member, player, volunteer, contributor — are volunteer roles. The Corporation does not employ any individual, has not registered as an employer with the Canada Revenue Agency, has never operated a payroll, and has never issued a T4. No wage, salary, fee, or honorarium is paid to anyone for service to the Club.
Voting governs appointments and removals. Officers (President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer) are appointed by Ordinary Resolution of the Board of Directors and may be removed by the same process, with documented good-faith grounds and notice to the officer. Directors themselves can be removed only by Ordinary Resolution of the members at a duly-called special meeting. The Board cannot remove a Director by board vote alone. See By-Laws Article IV.
Informal appointments become formal only after signing. Any individual who has been informally referred to as an officer of the Club becomes a formally appointed officer only upon their e-signed acceptance of the Officer Appointment Letter and the Volunteer Agreement via the Club's Officer Hub. An informal designation that has not been accepted by signing is not a binding officer appointment under CNCA. The published deadline for signing is 30 May 2026; informal designations not accepted by that date lapse and the position is deemed vacant.
Replacement is “in progress” — never automatic. When an officer position becomes vacant (through non-acceptance, removal, or resignation), the Board determines whether and when to appoint a replacement. Replacement appointments are not automatic and may take time to identify a suitable candidate. The Board may leave a position vacant or designate it as “in progress” for as long as is in the best interests of the Corporation. The duties of a vacant officer position may, in the interim, be performed by the remaining officers or by the Board collectively.
Protection against bad-faith motions. No motion to remove a Director or officer, and no motion to recuse a Director from voting, may be entertained without documented good-faith grounds. Mere accusation, threat, or unsupported allegation does not trigger recusal or removal. A pattern of bad-faith motions or knowingly false claims may itself constitute grounds for the originator's removal or expulsion under By-Laws Articles 3.6 and 4.9.

Principles

The Club is a Canada Not-for-Profit Corporation (Corporation #1746974-8, incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act on 12 November 2025). No surplus is distributed to directors, members, or volunteers. Any surplus is reinvested in club operations.
The Club has no paid staff or contractors. All operational work is donated by volunteers.
All financial transactions are recorded, traceable, and reviewable.
Two unrelated signatures (different households, no family relationship) are required for any payment over $500.
Cash transactions are avoided wherever possible. Bank transfers, e-Transfers, and card payments are preferred.

Bank account

The Club operates a single primary bank account at CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) under the Club's legal name. The account is dedicated solely to Club operations. Personal funds are never commingled with Club funds.

Signing authority: Mohammed Saad is currently the Club's signing authority. The Club's banking follows a dual-signatory policy; a second signing authority will be added and reflected here once in place.

Bank statements are reconciled monthly by a board member who is not a primary signatory (the Treasurer or designate), to provide a separation-of-duties check.

Income

All Club income — registration, season, league and practice fees, sponsorship, donations and grants — is recorded and deposited into the Club's bank account.
Payment is accepted by card / online payment, Interac e-Transfer, and cash. However it is received, income is recorded in the Club's books with date, amount, source, and category (registration / sponsorship / donation / grant / other).
A receipt or proof of payment is available on request.
For donation-receipt and charitable-status details, see Receipts and tax status below.

Receipts and tax status

Challengers Cricket Club is a registered Canadian not-for-profit corporation, not a registered charity. Under the Income Tax Act (Canada), only a registered charity holding a CRA charity registration number may issue official donation receipts that qualify for a tax credit. Accordingly, at this time:

The Club does not and cannot issue charitable / tax-credit (“donation”) receipts.
Registration, membership, practice and league fees are not tax-deductible, as they are paid in exchange for participation in Club activities.
Members who pay by card or Interac e-Transfer receive a payment confirmation from the payment platform; members who pay in cash may request a written proof of payment from the Club. These confirmations, and any proof-of-payment the Club provides, are records of payment for your own files only — they are not tax receipts, and do not entitle the payer to any tax credit or deduction.
After the end of a season, the Club may, on request, provide a simple proof-of-payment statement (PDF) showing the amount a member paid. This is a payment record only — again, not a tax receipt.
If and when the Club obtains CRA charity registration, it will notify members and issue official tax receipts for eligible donations in accordance with CRA rules.

Member fees — variable, set by Board, fund operations

Member fees — including registration fees, membership fees, indoor practice fees, outdoor practice fees, and league fees — are not a fixed annual rate. They are reviewed and set by the Board for each season based on:

The number of members enrolled in that season (more members → lower per-member share);
The actual operational costs of the season — league registration fees, venue rental for practices and matches, insurance, equipment (balls, nets, training gear), jersey production, scoring/league-software subscriptions, communications, and other costs of running a community cricket club;
Any sponsorship and grant revenue offsetting these costs;
The Board's judgement on what is reasonable and accessible to the Club's members.

Final fee amounts are confirmed before payment is collected and communicated to members via the Club's WhatsApp group and email. Payments collected before final confirmation may be refunded, applied to the next season's fees, or adjusted as appropriate.

100% of member fees fund Club operations. No part of any member fee is paid to any director, officer, or volunteer as compensation. See No payment for services and No retroactive compensation below.

Per By-Laws Article 3.3, members are given at least thirty (30) days' notice of any change to membership dues before the change takes effect.

Withdrawal and refunds

The Club operates on a substantially pass-through basis. Fees collected for a season are paid out as that season is arranged — to leagues (registration and team-entry fees), venues, insurance, equipment, jerseys, and other operating costs. The Club retains only a minimal operating balance — enough to keep the bank account in good standing and to cover statutory costs such as incorporation and annual government (federal / provincial) filing fees — and does not build reserves to fund refunds.

Before the season is committed: if a member withdraws before the Club has paid the season's league, venue and related costs, their fees may be refunded, applied to a future season, or adjusted — at the Board's discretion.
Once the season has started, or once league / team-entry fees have been paid: fees are non-refundable. After league registration, venue bookings, insurance, equipment or jerseys have been paid or committed on a member's behalf, that money has already left the Club and cannot be returned — even if the member later decides to leave or stops participating.
A member who withdraws mid-season remains responsible for their share of costs already committed on their behalf and is not entitled to repayment of fees already paid.
This follows directly from the Club's not-for-profit, volunteer-run nature: the Club pays out substantially all of what it collects, retaining only the minimal balance needed to keep the bank account operating and meet statutory filing fees, and does not profit from member fees.

Expenses

All Club expenses must:

Match an approved budget category (insurance, equipment, league fees, field rent, administration, etc.)
Be supported by an original receipt or invoice
Be approved in advance for amounts over $200, by either the President or the Treasurer
Require two co-signatures for any single expense over $500, OR for any expense to a director-affiliated entity (see Conflict of Interest Policy)
Be paid from the Club's bank account or processor — never in cash from a personal wallet

Volunteer expense reimbursement

Volunteers may be reimbursed for direct out-of-pocket expenses incurred on behalf of the Club. To be reimbursed:

Get prior approval from a board member, in writing (email or WhatsApp), before spending the money. This is critical — un-approved expenses are not guaranteed reimbursement.
Keep the original receipt with date, item, and amount visible.
Submit the receipt within 60 days of the date the expense was incurred, either by email to contact@challengerscc.ca or in person to the Treasurer. Submissions after the 60-day window are forfeit and may be paid only at the board's sole discretion.
Reimbursement is paid by e-Transfer or cheque within 14 days of approval.
Final claim window on departure. Any outstanding reimbursement claim must be submitted within thirty (30) days of the volunteer ceasing to participate in the Club. After that window, any further reimbursement claim against the Club is waived.

Reimbursement is not compensation. It does not create an employment relationship. It is reimbursement of money the volunteer has already spent on the Club's behalf.

Eligibility — signed Volunteer Agreement required

Reimbursement is available only to individuals who have signed the Club's Volunteer Agreement by the deadline of 30 May 2026. Members who have not signed by that date are not entitled to expense reimbursement, squad selection, Club gear, or any other Club-issued benefit. Expenses incurred before signing — even by a willing volunteer — are not automatically reimbursable; pre-deadline expenses may be reimbursed only at the board's discretion and once all required agreements are signed.

Reimbursement payment routing

Reimbursements are paid only to the personal bank account or e-Transfer email of the individual who personally incurred the expense. The Club does not route reimbursements through corporations, partnerships, or other entities controlled by the recipient — regardless of preference, convenience, or internal accounting reasons on the recipient's side. This applies equally to all directors, officers, captains, players, and volunteers.

If an expense was paid from a corporate or third-party account, that entity must invoice the Club as a vendor under arms-length terms (see No payment for services below) — it is not handled as a personal reimbursement. Any exception to this rule requires advance board approval recorded in the minutes, with the conflicted recipient recused from the vote, and is treated as a related-party vendor transaction under the Conflict of Interest Policy.

No payment for services

Consistent with the Volunteer Agreement:

The Club does not pay any individual a wage, salary, fee, honorarium, or stipend for services rendered.
The Club does not engage independent contractors who invoice for hours worked. (Exception: arms-length suppliers like printers, venue operators, or insurance brokers, paid for goods or third-party services delivered, are not contractors of the Club's personal labour.)
If the Club ever needs to pay an individual for skilled work it cannot get donated (e.g. a one-time legal review), this requires advance board approval, a written quote, and a written engagement letter documenting the arms-length nature of the engagement.

No retroactive compensation

The Club does not, and shall not, pay retroactive compensation, fees, honoraria, salary, or remuneration to any individual for past volunteer service rendered to the Club, regardless of the title held (Director, Officer, Treasurer, Secretary, Captain, Vice-Captain, Coach, Scorer, committee member, or any other role), the hours invested, the work delivered, the fundraising secured, or the outcomes achieved.

Past service is treated as fully volunteer and finally settled by the Volunteer's signature on the Volunteer Agreement (Section 2 — No Compensation). Holding any title within the Club does not create an entitlement to retrospective payment.
A future board may not, by resolution or member vote, retroactively pay a former volunteer for past service. Any future engagement of an individual for paid work must be a fresh, forward-going, arms-length engagement with prior advance board approval, written engagement letter, conflict-of-interest disclosure, and arms-length pricing — never a retrospective payment for past unpaid time.
Documented out-of-pocket expenses already approved and recorded on the Schedule of Founder Advances remain repayable to the volunteer's personal account when funds permit. This is reimbursement (return of money already spent on the Club's behalf), not compensation.

Annual reporting

At the end of each fiscal year (calendar year for now), the Treasurer prepares:

An Annual Financial Statement showing total income, total expenses by category, and net surplus/deficit
A list of significant income sources (sponsors, grants over $1,000)
A confirmation that no funds were paid to any director, officer, or member as compensation
A balance-sheet snapshot of cash on hand

This statement is presented to members at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and posted to the website in summary form within 60 days of fiscal year-end.

External review

If the Club's annual revenue exceeds the threshold required by the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (CNCA) for review-engagement or audit, the Club will engage an external accountant to review or audit the annual financial statement. Below the threshold, an internal review by a board member who is not a signing authority is sufficient.

Once CRA charity status is registered, the annual T3010 charity return will also be filed publicly.

Record retention

Financial records (bank statements, receipts, invoices, payment processor reports, accounting books) are retained for at least 7 years, in accordance with Canadian tax record-keeping rules.

Reporting concerns

If any member or volunteer suspects financial mismanagement, fraud, or a violation of this Policy, they should report it confidentially to a board member who is not implicated, or by email to contact@challengerscc.ca. Reports will be investigated promptly. No retaliation will be taken against good-faith whistleblowers.

Document version: v1.3 · Effective 19 June 2026 · Pending pro-bono lawyer review.
v1.3 (2026-06-19) — simplifies the “Income” section: removes named payment processors and accounting-software references, the fixed deposit-timing and receipt-threshold figures, and states plainly that payment is accepted by card, e-Transfer or cash with income recorded however received. Adds a “Withdrawal and refunds” section: fees are non-refundable once the season has started or league / team-entry fees have been paid, reflecting the Club's substantially pass-through operation (it retains only a minimal operating balance for account upkeep and statutory filing fees).
v1.2 (2026-06-15) — adds “Receipts and tax status” section clarifying the Club is a non-profit (not a registered charity), cannot issue tax-credit/donation receipts, that fees are not tax-deductible, and that any proof-of-payment provided is a payment record only, not a tax receipt; corrects the bank signing-authority line to reflect a single current signing authority (Mohammed Saad) under a dual-signatory policy, with a second authority to be added.
v1.1 (2026-05-08) — adds “Member fees — variable, set by Board, fund operations” section; tightens reimbursement to require 60-day claim window + personal-account routing only + eligibility tied to signed Volunteer Agreement; adds “No retroactive compensation” section closing the historical-claim loophole.
v1.0 (2026-04-30) — initial Financial Policy adopted by the Board.