It is a terrible idea to pay a PTA officer.
I know the positons are a lot of work- but they are volunteer positions. If you have to pay people to volunteer it is a job.
I DO think it is a nice idea to give a "gift" at the end of the year to all board members- incuding the President (especially if they are outgoing). I would not give cash- but a gift certificate might not be out of line. This is something you could put in your budget- "end of year gifts- or expenses".
Originally posted by backhoed:
[QB] PTOBoarder: How about rolling over the board in two years, have half the board step down and the others stay.
That would have worked great if the current members hadn't already run for their two years (can't run more than 2 in a row as stated in the bylaws) and we didn't have 2 members move out of town in the middle of the year so old members had to come back to fill spaces. We could NOT get anyone to step-up.
PTOBoarder: How about rolling over the board in two years, have half the board step down and the others stay. I think all organizations should roll the board over with only part leaving at one time so that there is smooth transitions.
See if some of your board are willing to stay an extra year.
As an aside and not to hijack the subject, but how many of you out there do that? I think most well run organizations roll their boards over a couple at a time and try to avoid the entire board leaving all at once. That is the disaster that looks like it is happening in the above situation.
I might be a little intimidated to step up to the plate if EVERYONE was new too.
These are all supposed to be volunteer positions and I can't for one minute imagine paying someone to do what is supposed to be a volunteer job.
I wouldn't even want someone who was only interested in the position for money.
I also think it opens the door to disaster. People will be much more critical and ready to complain about someone who gets paid for the job.
I can also imagine other board members thinking they should get paid as well. Why should they work for free?
I have been investigating this topic for the last month.
I don't believe in "paying" a volunteer board member either. However I DO believe in paying an executive director who oversees certain elements involved in running a successful PTO.
This comes about because we had a very productive and successful board the last two years and each board member is stepping down. Even by offering support through next year, everyone is too worried they won't live up to the road that has been paved. Afraid things will turn bad again. (previous years were horribly managed with funds stolen and clique's a plenty!)
It has taken 2 years to get back on track and see great improvement in parent involvement. The parents might be open to paying an executive director OR admin assistant just to take care of some of the 'detail's' that are specific.
Originally posted by Michelle B:
As for paying an officer, if you are a 501c3 you can't pay any officer with funds from your PTA per IRS regulations and unless the grant is being paid directly (and I don't think a grant would be awarded to an individual anyway) then it would be the PTA's money, so, no.
I don't thinking paying a parent group officer is a good idea, but -- just for clarification -- I don't believe this last statement is correct.
Nonprofit regs exclude "excess profits" from going to officers of the nonprofit (or to any individual, for that matter), but IRS regs do not exlude nonprofits from paying fair wages for commensurate work.
There are plenty of nonprofits where an officer collects a salary from the nonprofit.
