Although a few may do so, I think it would be uncommon to carry over an entire year's budget. Most PTOs I've corresponded with have a set amount - enough to get them started in the Fall and get things into gear before pushing a fundraiser.
Note, those carry over funds would be separate from funds already earmarked (like if you order your school T-shirts in the summer and that bill needs to be paid) or funds being saved for long-term projects (like a playground).
Our elementary school PTO required a minimum of $2000 carryover. Our middleschool had $1000 (it worked with a smaller budget all around.)
.....unless you have like what happened to our group and have an AMAZING year with money to carry over and budget. The problem/consern now that we have carried this balance for too long and need to spend it but not touch what we have raised. It's really like keeping two set of books to keep acurate track of what you raise and what you actually have to spend.
I've heard of some PTO's that carryover a whole year's worth of money and they budget only that money for the new year. The new money they raise during the year is set aside for the next year. If your PTO is on that sort of schedule, it should work ok. The difficulty comes when a group wants to switch from raising all its funds for the year in the fall to a huge carryover approach. Basically, in order to make that switch, you'd have to raise two year's worth of money in one year.
You can carry over as much money as you want especially if you're saving for a big ticket item (like playground equip.) unless your by-laws state how much you can or can't carry over. No it is not uncommon to carry over the budget. Hope this helped.
Hi! There is no law as to how much money you can carry over each year. When you say "Is it uncommon for a PTO to carry over their entire budget for the following school year? " Do you mean instead of spending the money at the end of the year to buy items for the school they are banking it? If so it really depends why. Do they have a bigger goal in mind that they are keeping the money for?
Can anyone tell me if there is a law stating how much a PTO can carry over from year to year in their bank account? Is it uncommon for a PTO to carry over their entire budget for the following school year?
