I have gotten so much help from the message boards through out this endeavour. I appreciate everyone's willingness to be available and support all of use newbies;) I hope that I'll be able to give back at some point. Thanks everyone!

Sounds like you are on the right track. Yes, many of us joined with the traditional image of a nice little organization that held bake sales now and then. The fact is, a PTO is a business, and some of the numbers are astonishing. We were never a big fundraising group, but one year we had $65,000 come thru the accounts (an all time high). That was "gross", not net, but it's still $65,000 that had to managed properly.

You've got the steps right.

1) Start organizing and get your infrastructure going
2) Incorporate at the state level
3) File with the IRS (charitable org status, exemption from federal income tax)
4) File for exemption from state SALES tax in your state (and maybe state income tax, if that applies).

All the while you are continuing to develop your procedures. That's the business side. Naturally, as a parent group, you are also spending time developing your programs and activities.

There are lots of folks here who will help. Good luck!

Thanks and good luck to you as well. Did you already write Articles of Association? Or are your Bylaws written in a way that incorporates all the necessary information?

Our PTO is doing the same and the Start Up Guide is priceless!! Be prepared for a mountain of paperwork to complete for your 501(c)3, however -- especially on the financial portion. As far as insurance goes, I'd recommend purchasing it through PTO Today -- it's much cheaper and covers the areas needed by a PTO.

Good luck on your filing!!

My mistake - it was $750 to file with the IRS for the 501c3:o My head has been spinning and I get confused sometimes about where what money goes and what forms for this or that. Thanks for the PTO Today + tip. I'm going to look into that. The state of CA is a $30.00 fee to file to become incorporated then we can apply to the IRS for the 501c3, then back to the state for exemption $25.00.

The PTO Today "Start-up guide" (free for plus members) is a reasonable place to start.

PTO Today also has insurance; it's on my list of things to do, to compare this to "AIM" which is what we have now.

$750 for CA? We paid $750 to the IRS to file for federal tax-exempt statuc (501c3). I'm waiting for that to come back before I can request sales-tax exemptions (for our purchase) in MA. I'm not aware of a requirement to file for state income/business tax exemption in MA.