Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
It would seem that if your PTO is doing the collecting and running the Box Tops program, that the check would have been made out to your PTO and should have been deposited by your group. Are there other circumstances when funds raised going into a district fund, or do you normally deposit funds into your own separate bank account?

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Community Advice

firefighter464 writes:
It's very simple, really. Who is your BoxTops for Education coordinator? That person has access to the BoxTops site and that person can tell you to whom BoxTops writes the checks payable to. It is a check-box choice. There are only 2 choices available. Either the school or a PTA/PTO of the school. If you are a separate entity from the school and the checks are written payable to you as the PTA/PTO the money is yours and should be deposited into your bank account no matter what anybody else says. If the checks are written payable to the school, even if the PTO worked to collect/collate/submit etc the money rightfully elongs to and should be deposited to the school. In the instance where the entity to whom the checks were written to (checks only come out in April and December) actually did not receive those funds, you a problem. Whoever physically receives those checks at the mailing address they come to had a fiduciary duty to see to it that they got deposited to the proper owner. Anything else constitutes financial fraud and may be a crime.

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Community Advice

Theresagraz writes:
To firefighter464 and Rose C, these checks are made payable to PTO! WHich I found shocking that the bank deposits them into the District acct! This is a sore subject with us PTO officers and parents, we feel the money should go to our acct. However, in the end I suppose the funds are used for the kids no matter whos acct receives it.

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Community Advice

firefighter464 writes:
The 'bank' can't be the one depositing them. Who receives the checks at what mailing address and takes them to the bank for deposit? Are you saying its this secretary? Is your PTO a separate registered charitable group? Any audit will tell you the money belongs where the checks are written to and needs to be paid back. How long ago did you notify them your PTO wanted its money? Now if you want to mollify the school and let them keep what they've already taken/spent on the kids, go ahead. But rightfully the money is the PTO's and any other use after you have notified them of this may constitute bank fraud and theft. (No different than Joe Smith knowingly depositing John Smith's paycheck.) BoxTops advises changing the mailing address to go directly to a PTO address separate from the school mailing address.

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Community Advice

Priddy0917 writes:
We have had a similar issue with our school. Without getting into the gritty details I need to be able to find out how the checks come to our school. I am the box tops coordinator and the PTO President. I have looked at the box tops site and cannot find this check box that is referred to, where do I find the check box?

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