At the last meeting of the year, our Charter requires us to vote on a budget for the next year. The Charter is very specific in what it allows us to consider for fundraisers and it requires that the budget be in balance (i.e., non-negative). It basically forces us to keep a large balance from the end of one year to the begining of the next or significantly cut down on the services we can provide.
It is my personal belief and goal that all the money raised this year should be deposited in the bank to be spent next year. This way we have a very clear idea of the money available to spend come budget-time. It seems a more rational way of planning than guessing what next years fundraisers will bring in (and running the risk of being very surprised!). This is a goal that has never been met as things come up during the year that we vote to spend on, but I think we come out OK.
This is the way we have operated since I got involved when my eldest was in Kindergarten, so I don't get a lot of complaints about it. When I do get a 5th grade parent complaining about fundraisers, I point out all the things the PTO has provided their child while they were at the school. I then ask them where do they think the money came from when their child was new to the school? Yep, it was the previous years' 5th grade parents that raised the funds that provided the services to the next years' K class. That usually gives them the proper perspective.
We spend ours down to about 1000.00 the same year the money is made. This is never a problem as we try to really only fundraise when we really need to. Our family nights take care of most of the money we make in the year. If we had abundance of funds then I would suggest eliminating our first fundraiser of the next school year! Oh to wish...
"When you stop learning you stop growing."
Is this Inga from Hope Highland's? This is Lisa from Orchard Farms. We updated our bylaws this year and stated and budgeted 5000.00 must come forward. It really helps to have everything in writing! Call me if you need current bylaws.
We have two funds that continue from year to year. One is a 3,000 dollar basic fund that we keep so that if we are ever having a bad year we have some breathing room to fund our early programs and the other is our "Sun Fund". Our membership dues go directly into our Sun Fund (short for sunny day fund). Those dollars carry over from one year to the next and are designated for use in our structural school improvements or routine upgrades like playground remulching etc. That way no one year of students bears the brunt of having all their PTO earnings that year spent on that sort of improvement. We use those dollars for software upgrades etc...and right now have about 3800 dollars. We also work very hard to have our things be self supporting. We sell ads in our newsletter and that raises the money we need to support our reproduction costs and website. We charge for our clubs so that the money covers the required outputs for things like the books, licensing etc. We also use our dollars to support routine free events and that seems to make folks feel good enough to keep on contributing. We also very much encourage our teachers to create their own abilities to self support. For instance, our music department does a family dance that we support. She raised 4100 dollars this past week. Our tech person is going to run a tech camp for 3 days this summer. The PTO suggested the program will support it and we will charge a set amount for 3 days of computer classes etc....that will give her the money she needs upgrade her software or purchase things she wants for her program. I'm trying to get the math and science folks to do something similar. So the intent is fiscal independence for them and we at the PTO get to spend our families dollars on creating an atmosphere that enhances our school community. Probably WAY more than you wanted to know... [img]smile.gif[/img]
Dianna
Ingasmile,
The scenario you describe has always been my worst fear. That is why I always go over the presented budget with a fine tooth comb.
You have my sympathies.
Personally, I think the money raised during the year should be spent the same calendar year. Appropriated funds should only be earmarked if you have surplus. Excess surplus is donated to schools in forms of improvements, technology etc.
