Question: Donation to School from PTO funds

I am the treasurer of a local middle school. I have an ethical question. In the past, the PTO writes out a check to the school for $2000. The Principal then decides what to do with that money. Cannot locate receipts for this.I am a bit uneasy about this. I think that this should not be done and if the Principal has requests, then it needs to be approved by the Board and the membership.

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Community Advice

mum24kids writes:
I'm with you on this one. You definitely need receipts to back up your purchases and to make sure you are accounting for the purchases correctly. This is especially important if you're a tax exempt organization--you need to ensure all expenditures meet your organization's purpose to preserve your exemption. In our school system, something like that would never make it past the district's audit--whenever we give them money, we have to be very specific on what it is supposed to be used for. One way of solving your problem may be to hand her the check with a letter that says "here's a donation of $x to XYZ School for the specific purpose of purchasing purchasing art supplies for the middle school after school art club." (A not so greatly worded example, but you get the idea.)