Question: PTA President Signed contract, no longer a PTA and this was NOT approved!

Just received the package for a fundraiser that our prior PTA president signed a contract for last year in April. This was not approved by the board last year, and we disbanded our PTA and have become PTO this year. They say we are still legally obligated to do the fundraiser or pay the $500 cancellation fee. We don't have approval from our school district to do a fundraiser at this time. What do we do?

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
If you officially closed down your PTA chapter and have legally created a new PTO, the contract is with a group that doesn't exist any more and I doubt you are under any legal obligation to honor it. However, there was an expectation created with the fundraising company, so you might try to come to some sort of compromise -- running the fundraiser at a later time, for example.

Community Advice

newburylm writes:
Unfortunately, it's a holiday shop so running it another time is just not viable. There are also some oddities in the contract such as we do not begin to make a profit until we've paid them $1500 and that is completely unreasonable for our school, there is no way we're going to make that much.

Advice from PTO Today

Rockne writes:
Yeah, I tend to agree with Craig on this one. All of these relationships have to be ongoing partnerships. It doesn't sound like you're trying to pull a fast one here and -- honestly -- it doesn't sound like the fundraising company is either. If you guys really don't want to run that fundraiser (or even more clearly if you can't), then there should be a next step. First step would be having a good discussion with the company as to why it's not a good fit. if your old president mis-stated the earning power ofn your group/school then that's a really relevant fact that the FR company would want to know (that's likely where the minimum comes in). If that discussion isn't reasonable, then you start moving into "what are they going to do?" territory. Worst case, they send you materials, you don't sell any and you send all their materials back. Is there anything in the contract that says you must do X or you must sell Y? Like I said, I understand where the FR company is coming from. they had a commitment from your group (in their eyes) and maybe even mae some plans or purchases with that commitment in mind. But if they work in the school/volunteer world, then they also know that the school market can be finicky or unpredictable. If your school has disallowed your event, what does the FR company want you to do? Your habds are tied as are theirs. I hope both sides will handle respectfully and professionally. Tim