We do a staff appreciation week in May. We have parents donate food, except for Sandwich rings from Sams Club that the PTO buys (about $40). We get plates and napkins from the dollar store, parents bring in salads, desserts, bottled water, etc. And we get them small gifts, we've done notepads, lanyards for their ID, etc., and when ordered in bulk from a catalog it usually costs about $300 total. Last yr I had to cut the budget due to lousy fundraising, so we got paper mache boxes from the discount craft store, spray painted them and filled them with little survival kits, total cost for 65 ppl about $125, and 2-3 hours of my time to spray paint. Our Administration has said though that they want all schools in the district to cut out staff appreciation week as the money raised should be used for the kids.....I can see their point, but it does help to keep the teachers happy. With budget cuts across the board, losing teachers, etc., I don't think that $125 is too much to spend to keep them feeling worthwile. If they still put up a fuss this year, we can still do the luncheon, as all the food is donated anyway! We can do something else instead of the sandwiches. Those teachers and support staff work damn hard through the year, the least we can do is say thanks...they spend as much time with our kids during the week as we do!
Thought I'd jump in here, as I've been receiving a lot of email on this topic lately, as well.
I'm not a lawyer, an accountant or an IRS agent, so take this with a grain of salt. That said, I have spoken to IRS folks on this and similar and I've worked with thousands of groups on this.
A couple of thoughts:
1. There's certainly a fair debate about whether groups should spend on appreciation and, if so, how much? I've seen groups that spend a good deal of their budget on this kind of stuff and groups that spend virtually zero there.
2. Denise -- I think your reading of that article is a bit off. The article recommends conservatism (have you ever met a lawyer who doesn't?), but makes the point that there are ways to make appreciation OK. Article even points out that "modest items of food and refreshment "are likely just fine".
3. PTOMomof3 -- I think your auditor has an overly conservative take on this. It really depends on your mission. If IRS approved your mission as: "create community and build involvement around the XYZ school" then your expenditures should support that mission. And i can easily see teacher appreciation fitting that mold. If your mission is to "provide supplies for the kids of XYZ school", then that's much more specific. But most groups I work with are more like the former than the latter.
4. Kind of a key conclusion. I've never, not once, heard of any parent group getting in any hot water (or even questioned for that matter) from IRS over teacher appreciation. If you have a $20,000 budget and you're spending $500 per year on teacher appreciation, I suspect you're more than just fine.
5. Important note: an even more clear OK practice is stipends/grants for classroom supplies for teachers. That's different than this discussion.
There's this thought -- and I think it's a mistaken way to go and the IRS certainly doesn't require it -- that every penny of our money has to go to "stuff" for the kids. Thinking this way is short-sighted in my opinion. Will your group be better (and in the long-run will the kids benefit more?) if you have trained leaders? If you have more involvement because you invested in volunteer appreciation? If you have an easier time recruiting leaders because you have software to make the job easier? If you spend money on web design to give your group an even more effective face? Etc.
Again, no problem if a group decides that teacher appreciation is not for them. But it's not wrong. And it's not illegal.
We don't cater. We also don't have enough parental support to provide a meal for 70+. The PTO pays for supplies and we usually cook the food or it is somethig simple like sandwiches. We never do extreme, that is my point. If it is simple and it serves your purpose all the way around. It meets your goal and it shouldn't be a problem.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
We still provided lunch for teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week and dinner during Parent/Teacher Conferences but it was all pot-luck. And guess what? The teachers preferred to eat a homecooked meal rather than food that was catered. Catered food is quite costly and I'd rather spend that money on books for a new teacher. The teachers are fed, parents are happy that their hard-earned fundraising dollars are put toward something tangible rather than food, and everyone wins!
Providing lunch for teachers on the conference days they are required to be at school 12-14 hours benifits our children because it makes it possible for teachers to grab a bite when they have a minute so they can spend lunch time with the working parents who only have a lunch time to spare to learn how their child is doing and what they need to do to help them succeed. We never buy items specifically for one person but rather something that benefits the whole group. Because of bad weather we had to reschedule our Tech Night last year. The only time it could be done was at 5pm before the band/strings concert. The staff are on duty until 4:15 and there is nowhere nearby for them eat and only two out of 72 lived within a reasonable distance. It was a real easy decision to make to provide pizza that night since everyone had to stay. I have to admit, the first thing I cut when I took over was the budget for staff lunches but these are the things that give your staff the support they need that make them not complain when they handout your newsletter every month or the 2nd reminder to turn in the 3rd fundraiser of the year. I also look at it this way, when we have a carnival, we feed the volunteers, when we have a special event, we do the same for our teachers. In total, we spent more on our carnival than we spent on teacher appreciation and meals for the whole year. That seems like a pretty good trade off to me.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
While I agree with everyone that a PTO shouldn't go overboard on teacher/staff gifts, I think it reasonable to organize teacher appreciation activities, including an occasional lunch.
In our purpose/objectives for the 501(c)(3) application, Teacher Appreciation was listed as one of the key PTO objectives (along with volunteer coordination, support of educational programs, enhancement of school spirt, student safety, etc.)
I have no problem justifying this as a legitimate program area. We had it as an item on the application narrative and a line item budgeted. The IRS rep I worked with seemed to think it was a normal PTO function.
Naturally, if you are getting professional advice from someone, you'll want to consider that carefully. But I wouldn't want to scare off others.
That being said, we are very conscientious of how much/what percentage of the PTO budget is allocated for Teacher Appreciation. Many of the lunch/food items are organized via donations. But at least a couple times a year, the PTO does pay for food or supplement the donated food.
P.S. Our books are audited by an accountant each summer also.
