years ago i worked at the national hq of the march of dimes. there, we had a policy in place that prohibited use of the organization's funds for helping out individual families in financial need because of a child's health circumstances. this was a good policy because it removed us from the very tender position of having to decide which family or child was more needy. after all, who would feel comfortable having to make the call that one families needs are more important than another's? at the march of dimes, we also received many many requests of funding for community programs. if the proposal had no direct relationship to the March of Dimes mission (preventing birth defects) it was immediately discarded. if your pto doesn't have a mission statement it should. mission statements are an excellent basis for evaluating external requests. if there's no match between what the proposal is designed to achieve and your mission statement, then a pto would have a very reasonable basis for declining requests for funding. another way for handling such requests for support is to simply adopt a policy that your pto's funds can only be used to support "ON SCHOOL GROUNDS" projects or programs. having a mission statement and good policies in place can go along way towards fostering an understanding by the requesting party when you must say "no."