Sounds like you have the bases covered! Our teachers did not like the idea of having so much independant control so we had to set up a petty cash policy for them, also some of the board members feel better about having some sort of audit on what they use the funds for. Personally, I am inclinded to trust the teachers more as your system does and still account for the money on the books, but then I dont get to vote unless the board cant agree [img]smile.gif[/img]
The money that we give is listed as a budget item listed as teachers and we show (or track) it on the budget and that it has been handed out but we do not track how they spend it.
You dispense funds of $150 times x each year and you don't account for it? Or am I confussed by your post? How do you line item it on the books? I can understand where you dont have the teachers account for it, but your post makes it sound like you don't account for it at all. I hope I am not reading that right.
I would suggest everyone who reads this and does not yet have it you call the IRS publications request line and obtain publication 557. this includes all the information you need to account for your funds and assests and includes IRS Code section 501(c)(3)
We give teachers $100 or $150 each year. We do not track it because we know this amount is just a fraction of what teachers pay out of their pocket for things for the classroom each year. We do not track it or place it on a petty cash report because we do not have that.
Hi, and thank you all for your imputs and insight regarding this very important issue. I spoke with an IRS rep about this matter last week. He told me that within our non-profit org guidelines, anything exceeding "diminious" amounts (more than $6.75) must require a receipt. Furthermore, our teacher fund is about 25% of our budget, therefore, he said that we must require receipts to prove those funds are going toward our non-profit mission. Otherwise, we could be found liable for engaging in "substantial activities" and our non-profit status could be revoked. That summed it up for me, any PTO funds spent must be backed up with receipts. I hope this information has been helpful to those of you who weren't quite sure how to handle your teacher fund. This site is a fantastic rescource for anyone who has questions or is in need of ideas for their PTO org. Thank you all again for your participation and attention to this issue. Take care! (Former) seltzerpresKS [img]smile.gif[/img]
We have an account set aside for teachers and staff. Certified staff gets $100.00 and Classified staff gets $50.00. If we have extra then the executive board can agree to give more for that year. The catch is they have to work an event in order to receive this money. They save their receipts give them to the treasurer and she in turn reimburses them. She uses a program(I am thinking it is Quicken) to keep up with everything and every so often she posts the log in work room so the staff will know if they still have funds available of if they have already spent their money. This is very helpful. After she did this one time an aide came to me and told me she didn't know that she received PTO money, she just thought she was working those events because it was expected of her.
If the teachers don't keep up with their receipts how do they know how much money they have spent? Also our Treasurer keeps every receipt that goes through the PTO for audits and tax reasons. I am not all that knowlegible about such things and choose not be! But nevertheless with my lack of knowledge receipts do seem very important.
