First, let me say that I am not a lawyer, nor do I work for or represent any attorney. I am not an IRS employee, or the representative of any IRS entity. That said...

This is precisely the reason that a PTO needs to be IRS compliant, re: 501(c)(3). If you are a registered non-profit organization (which you should be), and it does not state in your bylaws that you follow the same rule as formykids
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> all of our funds raised by the PTO must be transferred quarterly to the school's account and all financial decisions are the responsibility of the principal and pastor. These are written in our bylaws. We don't get to vote on expenditures <hr></blockquote>
then you have some issues to look into for legal recourse. If you are not IRS compliant, and you are using the school's EIN and working under their non-profit status, the money is legally the schools, no matter who or how it was raised. This is what almost happened to us.

Regardless of your status, it would probably be in your best interest to contact an IRS agent and/or an attorney and find out exactly where you stand. Especially if there is a decent amount of money sitting in your account. Don't let someone 'raid your treasure chest' without knowing where you stand and what your rights are.

Good Luck!

Thanks for your response. I read your post "can the PTO be dismantled?" Have your by-laws always been the way they are now? I am still trying to get a copy of ours to see how they read. I do know they are quite old, and from what I've been told, very vague. It appears that you have a mess to work out this summer, as well as we do.I do have a call in to the diocese of our church to possibly get some info. on what's what. As far as your situation goes, I agree with the response that if you get enough parents on the same page, you'd have a good chance at gaining some control and democracy!

Hi Nancy
I know that this is possible because all of our funds raised by the PTO must be transferred quarterly to the school's account and all financial decisions are the responsibility of the principal and pastor. These are written in our bylaws. We don't get to vote on expenditures but if you read the post titled "can the PTO be dismantled"-you'll see we have even more problems.

Sorry, I hit the wrong key and submitted my letter, but I wasn't finished! Anyway, I read the posts titled "Principal and fundraising money", and it was very helpful. But my question that I need an answer to is how do we find out if the pastor has this authority to make this change? We feel we are being strong-armed, and the whole outcome could be so bad for all involved. We plan on making proposals to the pastor to make everyone happy, but we also want to know our legal rights. I don't think that our school would follow the state/federal laws, nor the school districts laws, because it is a private school. Can anyone help?