We have the full budget set at the beginning of the year, but one of the expenses is a catch-all where we figure out our surplus and vote on requests from teachers/the principal and suggestions by parents.

We collect voluntary "dues" at the beginning of the year so we don't have to have all that much in the bank account over the summer.

Thank you for your help.

Your point about a fifth grade parent spending money for their own child is an excellent point. I will definitely use it.

So you only have 1/2 years budget allocated in advance?

Thanks

In Massachusetts, charities file "Form PC" with the Attorney General's office, rather than a "tax return" to the Department of Revenue. Your state will have its own rules.

You shouldn't hide the bank balance, but you can certainly put it deep inside the treasurer's report so that only someone with a reasonable understanding of the process will see it. I'm not quite sure I understand your exact circumstances, how much money you have in the account compared with your annual budget. Certainly you should keep a balance to fund beginning of year items. In our PTO, at the end of the year, we vote on how to spend the extra funds (conservative budgets -- our fundraisers bring in more than we "expect"), but I found when I took over that there was another big chunk of money unallocated in the account -- eg, we voted to spend $20k one year but only spent $15k on the things that were voted on, and no one ever thought to re-vote the remaining $5k on a new project.

I think it's odd that you "fundraise a year ahead" -- we try to spend the money raised in a year in that same year (and vote the extra), so that the 5th grade parents aren't contributing money that gets held over and spent on someone else's kids.

Our PTO realized that taxes had not been filed in years. Luckily someone filed with the IRS, but did not file with the State. We were able to avoid penalties luckily and our tax exempt status was renewed.

My question is don't you have to file with the state as well?

Also if you have extra money beyond your budget do you have to reveal the balance in the savings account on the Treasurer's report? The previous board did not want this disclosed b/c people don't understand how we fundraise a year ahead. Fundraising is touting that our funds are low yet that isn't the case we already have the budget for next year. I know to carry some balance over is fiscially responsible, but to not disclose it seems dishonest at best.

I want to do this honest and openly, but unfortunately I am having difficulty knowing just what to do and getting resistance at every turn.

Any thoughts?