Question: How can we start a fund for students-in-need?

We would like to start a fund for students in need, but don't know how to manage/document it properly. On a similar question posted to PTO Today, the advice was: "The IRS recommends that you structure this contribution as a grant to the school and get an acknowledgment on school letterhead. It’s OK to ask your principal for general (not personal) information on how the money was used. But technically you have no say over the money once the grant is made. If your group has a good working relationship with the administration, that won’t matter." Does anyone have documentation on how they do this? Does the office/principal hold cash in office? Thank you!

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Liz L writes:
Hi - looks like you're looking for feedback from those who've done something similar, in which case I'm going to point you to our PTO and PTA Leaders group on Facebook. It's a great resource for questions like this one:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/parentgroupleaders/

-Liz from PTO Today

Community Advice

lindzcarol writes:
I don't know if we are doing it right, but we just have it as a line item in our budget and ensure that any funds donated specifically for that are added to that line item. We rely on school counselors to help us spend it but typically buy supplies/clothes with it rather than gifting it to the school. If we do gift it to the school, it has been for specific needs (paying for field trips for students that don't pay, we sponsored a child's after school activity, etc)