Question: Fundraising suggestion from parent who is part of a direct-marketing company

I am president of our PTO and was recently approached by a parent who is part of a direct marketing company and offered to do a "workshop" with her product and give a portion of her proceeds to the PTO as a fundraiser. My first instinct is to say no because it feels like a slippery slope and parents affiliated with all sorts of direct marketing companies may come out of the woodwork, putting us in the position of having to arbitrarily say yes to one and no to others. I am also wondering if there are any legal restrictions on a 501(c)(3) like our PTO in this situation.

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
Trust your gut on this one. We agree that it's a slippery slope. A few options: If you publish a newsletter, you can offer parents to post ads (sometimes folks just use business cards!) in the newsletter. Or, if you do some sort of spring event, you could offer parents who run businesses to rent a table (for a small fee) and set up products or information about their services.

Hope that helps!
Rose

Community Advice

teachme writes:
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