Our board determines the budget, through a budget committee that is comprised mostly of board members (pres., pres elect, treasurer, and outside person).
We keep costs that don't directly touch the kids to a bare minimum. We estimate the amount we expect to bring in, deduct our programs (assemblies we bring in, HOliday Gift Shop, Arts Day, Summer Library, etc) and our overhead. Whatever is left is available to fulfill the school's wish lists. They could be school items (greenhouse, cameras and docks, tack strips) or they could be teacher-specific gifts. At the end of the year, we gift any remaining monies to the teachers, on a per-classroom basis...that money is held by the principal, who disperses it as teachers bring in receipts.
We were fortunate in our elementary PTO to have an excellent relationship with the principal. Early on, when the PTO "owned" all fundraisers we had a couple of really peak years. Especially then, we were able to help out the principal more and supplement his discretionary account (Activity Fund).
The principal always had large list of items he was purchasing - some quite mundane - for operations of the school. So he might want, say $3000, of the fundraiser for the activity fund to see him through the rest of the year. We'd give it but (on paper) allocate it to something specific in his plans - science supplies or field trips rather than "re-stocking paper goods" or a new mop for the janitor.
The school truly was a partner in the fundraiser. They didn't try to take over. And we really were just writing a check for $3000 to the school. But he helped us map it to items that best supported our mission.
We are 'legal' with 501(c)3 status, but I do feel that at one of the schools, we are treated as a civic volunteer committee that just happens to donate almost 30 thousand dollars to the schools.
I am certainly not saying that it was done wrong before, as I see on other posts that it is a system that works for many PTO's. There is just no teamwork or parent perspective in the way the old system was being opperated. Our finances were not streamlined, which we have fixed, and so we never really knew where the money was going. It's important for our board to be accountable for how we spend the money that parents entrust us with, and we'd like to share in the decision making.
Thanks for the input! We'll work on the diplomacy aspect
One more thing - it's not unheard of to split a fundraiser with the school. They certainly have even stronger vested interest in helping make it a success. And it would save having them run another fundraiser - potentially competing with yours.
You might consider changing it so the school simply gets X% Then you have system similar to the past, but you have full control over your share.
We have our committees submit a budget by October 15th and then look at our on hand funds and projected fundraising amounts. We then add in our own priorities of funding and always accept requests for support from the teachers. They must however, be vetted and signed by the principal as a funding priority and we are very lucky that she lends a caustic eye to ensure they are educationally required. If we get an "off the wall" request (like funding the tshirts for our substitute teachers so they can wear jeans on Friday), then they are sometimes sent to us and I request they use the form but let them know quietly that there ain't a snowballs chance __ ____...and the principal and I are usually in agreement. One sticky situation came up when a small group of children (8) were selected to compete in a world level competition. The mom leader (our Treasurer) indicated she would not request funds from the PTO for such a small group however a teacher went ahead and made the request, which is her perfect right to do. The treasurer recused herself from the voting and the board discussed the matter and decided that we would support with the full force of manpower as individuals to help the group raise the money requried but could not devote funds to such a small number of students since we know that we are setting precedents and would then not be able to justify other support that would be requested by onsies and twosies. In essence I told the teacher (who was also very gracious) that the intent of the PTO fundraisers are always to support events that will effect the majority of our students and not devote those dollars to smaller, although very deserving, groups of students. Everyone respected that decision and we moved forward without hard feelings. I really respected my treasurer after that...well I guess I always had!. d
